Plane missing

[Suff]

Yes the outside environment. But they're not supposed to let the pilot do anything totally stupid. But when they do hand over, untrained pilots (Simulations in just this kind of situation), continue to believe that the plane will carry on supporting them. With, as you say, the inevitable result.

[meriad]

Part of the problem as well is that these poorer countries often buy their aircraft 2nd hand. So whilst BA will only buy a new plane and fly it for 20 years or so before taking it out of service, that plane then is sold on to the poorer countries because they cannot afford a new one.

And the problem is that the older a plane the more maintenance it needs and again - money comes into play. Cut corners where you can and hope to the Gods above that the plane will get from A - B


not that I fly that often, but it's one of the reasons that when I do fly I'd rather pay just that bit more for a somewhat more reputable airline (if there is a choice)

[Suff]

I recall a conversation between two flight line services employees. They were talking about a Ryanair plane which had a problem in Berlin and had to be repaired. German flight policy is that if you have a repair done the aircraft doesn't take off again until it meets German air worthiness. Same in the UK.

When the Ryanair rep was whinging to the German official, he was told, in no uncertain terms, that he had got off lucky. The next stop for the plane was the UK and if it had made it that far the bill would have been twice as much.... Ryanair planes fly to Irish airworthiness standards.

Nice to know....

[Suff]

BTW the plane, as I understand it, was owned and operated by a Spanish company. However I believe it operated predominately in Africa which would allow for more leeway in servicing and crew policies.

[Workingman]

When I worked with aircraft maintenance airlines very rarely bought their aircraft, they leased them through many types of lease packages. I do not think that things have changed that much today what with aircraft costing upwards of $100m each. One of the major rules within any lease was that the owner (the plane manufacturer) stipulated where the plane was serviced, and that was always with one of its licensed service centres with licensed engineers and up-to-date servicing equipment/systems. For in-op snags it had to be signed off to local or home standards, whichever was higher.

It is a bit like buying a a car and having to have it serviced with a dealership in order to maintain the guarantee, only when it is outside of guarantee is it OK to go to any garage.

The DC-9-MD83 (type) that just crashed was last delivered in 1999 making it, at least, 15 years old - though we do not know that age of the actual plane. The '83 major production years were from 1987 - 94. That is not to say that Swiftair were not having it serviced to the highest standards. As a European operator they probably were, given that the crew was Spanish, but it might have been nearing is end-of-life and in need of a lot of TLC.

My take on flying is that it is one of the safest ways to go, but I still prefer airlines that I know over ones I have never heard of.

[moondancer]

Apparently it was caught in a vicious sandstorm which blocked the engines, so it crashed.

[moondancer]

Sorry, posted twice.

[Suff]

Sandstorm height

A dust storm or sandstorm is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. They can be seen as solid walls of sand that are up to 5,000ft high

Doesn't work as an answer for me. Cruising altitude of MD83 is 30,000 feet.

Electrical storm, yes, volcanic cloud, yes, sandstorm at 5,000 feet???? I know the pilot asked for permission to go around the storm. But there was nothing said as to whether permission was granted or not.