29 plane crashes in year 2008

The Boeing 737 operated by Continental Airlines was a scheduled service from Denver, CO, USA, to Houston, TX, USA. 110 passengers and 5 crewmembers were onboard. During takeoff, the aircraft veered off the runway and caught fire. 38 people on board the plane have been injured. The plane was departing runway 34R of Denver International Airport. Forty-one seconds after takeoff, there became a bumping and rattling that started and that continued through the end of the recording. Four seconds later, one of the crew members called for the takeoff to be aborted as the Boeing 737 jet kept building speed down the runway. He noticed trouble at a speed of around 90-knots, but the plane kept accelerating to 119-knots. While the crew was braking the jet, the Boeing 737 veered off the runway, travelled down a ravine and caught fire. Tire marks were spotted at the 1,900 feet mark on the runway, some 700 feet before the plane veered left off the runway. Fire crews responding to the accident encountered a heavy fire on the right side of the jet but all the occupants were evacuated. Images of the aircraft show that it suffered severe structural damage. Its left engine and at least one undercarriage assembly detached. The right engine is badly smashed and the 737's fuselage has ruptured aft of the wing. Weather conditions at the time oh the accident were correct, with a good visibility, few clouds, but the wind was gusting to 28-36kt from the west.

An Air New Zealand passenger jet on a test flight with seven crew aboard has crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, off Saint-Cyprien (France), killing at least two people. The five other people are reported missing. The crashed Airbus A320 had been undergoing maintenance checks at EAS Industries in Perpignan, before it took off on a test flight for roughly one hour. The plane returned to Perpignan after having completed the flight, and while on approach to Perpignan Airport, the plane crashed in the Mediterranean sea, 7 km off the French coast. The plane had just been returned to Air New Zealand after flying for XL Airways. Maintenance operations performed by the EAS company was part of the process to return the plane to its owner.

The civilian An-12 cargo plane operated by Falcon Aviation took off from Al Asad Air Base in western Iraq en route to Baghdad, Irak. Six crewmembers and a passenger were onboard. The plane crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all seven people aboard. The Russian-made plane was on a cargo flight and was carrying FedEx packages among its cargo. The plane lost radio contact shortly after take-off and crashed near the city of Fallujah in western Irak. Both the U.S. military and FedEx say the Antonov was not brought down by hostile fire. It is believed the likely cause was mechanical failure or pilot error. Falcon Aviation, which has its hub in Dubai, is contracted by FedEx to transport cargo across the Gulf countries. It uses aircraft owned and operated by British Gulf International which has its hub in Dubai's neighbouring emirate Sharjah.

The Learjet 45 belonging to the Mexican Government departed San Luis Potosí, Mexico, on a flight to Mexico City, Mexico. Six passengers (including high official from the Mexican government) and three crewmembers were onboard. The airplane crashed while it was approaching Mexico on the street and caught fire. All the nine people onboard were killed. Several cars were destroyed and five people on the ground were killed. The flight was uneventful until the approach to Mexico. At that moment, the business jet was instructed to switch to the Tower frequency which the pilot acknowledged but never contacted Mexico Tower. The flight was observed approaching runway 05L before radar contact was lost several miles away from the airport, at an altitude of 9700 feet (2950 meters). The plane dived into rush-hour traffic, narrowly missing high-rise office buildings full of workers. The plane crashed on Avenida Reforma and burst into flames. Cars were flipped over and the side of a building was charred. 14 people died in the accident, including 5 fatalities on ground. A hypothesis is already evoked to explain this accident: as the Learjet 45 was trailing a Boeing 767-300 during its approach, the plane may have been destabilized by the wake turbulence.

The Boeing 737 belonging to Aeroflot took off from Moscow, Russia, bound for Perm, Russia, about 800 miles away in the Ural Mountain region. It was carrying 82 passengers, and 6 crew members. The plane plunged into scrubland and railway tracks on the edge of the city narrowly short of houses. All the 88 people onboard were killed. The jet had lost communication at the height of 1,100 metres (3,600 feet) as it approached Perm airport and disappeared from air traffic controllers' radar. At that moment, the Boeing 737 was in difficult weather conditions. The airplane was found within Perm's city limits completely destroyed and on fire. It crashed into an unpopulated area of the city, a few hundred meters from residential buildings. Shattered fragments of the plane were scattered over an area of more than four square kilometres and destroyed a 100-metre section of track used by the Trans-Siberian railway. One witness described seeing the plane pass over his house before watching in horror as it exploded and sent massive chunks of burning wreckage flying to the ground.

The Beechcraft 1900 operating on behalf of Air Serv International departed Kinshasa, Congo, on a humanitarian flight to Goma, Congo. 15 passengers and 2 crewmembers were onboard. En route stops were made in Mbandaka and Kisangani. The last stop before Goma would be Bukavu, a one hour flight from Kisangani. The airplane approached Bukavu and crashed. There is no survivor. The plane was carrying 15 UN and private aid workers and two crewmembers. It flew into a steep ridge while approaching on Bukavu in severe weather conditions, some 15 km northwest of Bukavu and broke into several pieces when it hit the ground. The 21-seat Beechcraft 1900 went missing on September 1st, but the wreckage was spotted the next morning. The circumstances of the accident are still unknown, but the weather was reported to have been particularly bad in the area at the moment of the accident. Financed by international donors, Air Serv International carries humanitarian aid workers throughout Congo. It also operates in Chad, Uganda, Mozambique, Iraq and Afghanistan. Air Serv International describes itself as a not-for-profit aviation organization that supports humanitarian programs worldwide.

The Boeing 737-200 owned by Venezuela's state-owned airline Conviasa took off from Caracas's Maiquetia airport, Venezuela, and was bound for Latacunga, Ecuador, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Quito. Three crew members (a captain, a first officer and a mechanic) were onboard. The plane crashed in mountainous area in Ecuador’s Andes, killing all the three people onboard. The Boeing 737 had been stored for a while at Caracas. It was being ferried to Latacunga, reportedly underway to a new owner. The plane lost contact with Ecuadorian ground controllers after it began its descent to Latacunga. The wreckage was found the next day. Wreckage location suggests that the airplane flew into the side of the Iliniza Volcano (elevation approx. 17000 feet), near Toacaso. The impact with the ground completely destroyed the aircraft.

The Boeing 737-200 was on a passenger flight from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, bound for Tehran, Iran. 83 passengers and 7 crew members were on board. The plane, owned by Itek-Air, a private Kyrgyz company, was chartered by the Iranian company Iran Aseman Airlines. It crashed minutes after take-off from Bishkek-Manas International Airport. 65 people died, and 25 survived the crash. The crew reported a technical problem shortly after it had taken off and tried to return to the airport. The plane had suffered a sudden loss of cabin pressure, causing the pilot to request an emergency landing. But the pilot was not able to reach the airport. Ten minutes after takeoff, the Boeing 737 crash-landed in a field a few kilometres away from the runway and caught fire. Plane wreckage and body parts were found strewn across a large area, suggesting the impact with the ground were violent, and that the plane skidded on a long distance before coming to a stop. Itek Air is on the European Union blacklist of airlines banned from flying in EU airspace (European Union blacklist applicable on August 25th 2008). The Boeing 737-200 involved in the accident was produced in 1979, which is quite old for a passenger aircraft.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-82 belonging to the Spanish airline Spannair was on a passenger flight from Madrid, Spain, to Las Palmas, Spain (Canaria). 162 passengers and 10 crewmembers were onboard. The plane crashed on takeoff and caught fire. A total of 154 people were killed, and 18 people escaped alive, with minor or severe injuries (mainly burns). The flight had a scheduled departure time of 13:00, and left the gate shortly afterwards, but the fatal take-off run occurred nearly two hours later. The first take-off attempt had to be aborted after technical issues: an air intake sensor had detected overheating while the jetliner was taxiing, causing the plane to turn back and resulting in an inspection of the plane. Technicians corrected the problem by essentially turning the gauge off, according to the standard accepted aircraft procedure (the device was not on a list of equipment that must be working for a flight). A few minutes later, the aircraft had been released for flight. The plane attempted a second take-off from runway 36L of Madrid-Barajas airport. The acceleration on the runway was rather long. The Spanair MD82 plane managed to rise only slightly from Madrid's airport before coming down quickly to the right of the runway, its tail section hitting the ground first with the right wing tip, just off the asphalt. Then the out-of-control plane skidded and bounced at least three times as it careered 1,200 meters (3,840 feet) across uneven terrain and exploded. It finally came to rest in a gulley. The plane being at the beginning of its journey was full of fuel, which contributed to inferno.

The Fokker F-27 belonging to Fly540 took off from an airport in Kenya, carrying a cargo of khat to Somalia. Destination was K-50 Airport, located about 50 km southwest of Mogadishu. 3 crewmembers were onboard. The plane crashed on approach to Mogadishu. All three on board perished. The weather was poor as the airplane arrived near K-50. A lot of humidity was around the airport, impairing visibility. The airplane was seen approaching the airport twice and going around before colliding with a telecommunication antenna owned by «Nationlink Telecom» about 2 kilometres from the airstrip, and crashing. The plane was carrying 5.4 tonnes of khat (khat is a flowering plant native to tropical East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula - In 1980 the World Health Organization classified khat as a drug of abuse that can produce mild to moderate psychological dependence).

The Boeing 747 freighter took off from Bogota, Colombia, bound for Miami, Florida, USA, with 8 crewmembers onboard. The plane was operated by Michigan-based company Kalitta Airlines as a wet lease to Centurion Air Cargo. The plane crashed minutes after takeoff in a farm field. The Boeing 747 was carrying a cargo of flowers to Miami. Seconds after takeoff, the Boeing 747-200 of Kalitta suffered the failure of both outer engines, after it took off from runway 31R. All was absolutely normal until after rotation, then engine number 4 (outer right engine) failed. The crew initiated the "special engine out procedure", that had been briefed and set up in the FMS fix page. Before the checklists could be worked or the airplane could turn back to the airport, engine number one (outer left engine) failed, too. The crew quickly recognized, they didn't have the thrust anymore necessary to get back to the airport and attempted an off airport landing. When hitting the ground, the plane broke up and caught fire. Witnesses on the ground watched the airplane as it descended. The witnesses reported, that they saw a growing fire on the left hand wing of the airplane. They could not tell, whether it was engine #1 or #2 though. Three people on ground died when the plane struck the farm house where they were living. The plane's eight crew members survived the crash and were taken to a hospital. Four of them were seriously injured.

The DC-9 freighter belonging to Michigan-based USA Jet Airlines departed Hamilton, Canada en route to Shreveport, USA where it arrived a few hours later. It took off again after a 30 minutes stop, bound for Saltillo, Mexico. The plane crashed during the approach to Saltillo-Plan de Guadalupe International Airport. The DC-9 was carrying load of auto parts it had pick up in Canada and intended to be delivered in Mexico. The DC-9 was on approach to runway 17 of Saltillo-Plan de Guadalupe International Airport of when it crashed in an industrial area just north of the airport, around half a mile (one kilometer) from the runway. The airplane broke up and burned. The pilot died, and the co-pilot received second- and third-degree burns.

The Ilyushin IL-76, chartered by a private Sudanese company called Ababeel Aviation, was on a cargo flight originating from Khartoum, Sudan. The plane was carrying goods to south Sudan's capital Juba. The plane crashed shortly after takeoff, killing the four crewmen. The accident happened just seconds after it took off. The Russian-made aircraft appeared to develop a problem with its wing or engines as it lift off. Then, the plane appeared to have careered across a major road, tearing down power lines in its way, and exploded in an open space near an office building. The whole plane blew up. Wreckage was strewn across a wide area. The Sudanese president has grounded all Antonov and Ilyushin planes from operating from all Sudanese airports and sacked the head of the Civil Aviation Authority after this latest in a series of plane crashes.

The Airbus A310 belonging to Sudan Airways was on a passenger flight from Amman, Jordan, to Khartoum, Sudan, with an enroute stop at Damascus, Syria. 203 passengers and 11 crewmembers were onboard. The flight came in to land at Khartoum in poor weather when it crashed. The airplane burst into flames. 30 occupants perished. Just after landing, the plane veered off the runway. There was an explosion in one of the engines, starting a fire that then spread to the inside of the plane. Television pictures showed flames tearing through the upper section of the fuselage. An emergency escape slide could be seen attached to one of the central doors of the plane, showing that crew or passengers had time to actuate evacuations devices. Many passengers had managed to escape the aircraft without injury or with burn wounds. 30 people have been killed in the accident, among which 29 passengers and one crewmember. It was difficult for the authorities to know exactly who boarded the plane. Some passengers had gone home directly after the crash making an exact count difficult. According to a meteorologist, a sandstorm had hit the area between some 6 hours before the accident, and there was a thunderstorm at the time of the crash.

The Airbus A320 belonging to TACA International Airlines was operating a scheduled flight between San Salvador (El Salvador) and Miami (United States), with a stop at Tegucigalpa (Honduras). The aircraft departed San Salvador with 124 passengers and crew members onboard and landed on runway 02 at Tegucigalpa Airport. But the aircraft was unable to stop on the runway and ended up in a ditch after crossing a road. 3 people onboard were killed (including one pilot and two passengers), and 2 other people were killed on the ground when the aircraft struck their car. The cloud ceiling was very low at the time of the accident and visibility was reduced. A first approach to Tegucigalpa Airport ended in a go-around. During the second approach, the pilot managed to land the aircraft, but the plane reportedly touched down too far along the runway and no longer had enough distance to stop. The aircraft violently overran the runway before ending up in a 20-meter-deep ditch. The Airbus A320 broke into three sections, but no fire broke out despite a large amount of fuel leaking from the aircraft. Rescue teams found two cars crushed beneath the aircraft. Runway 02/20 at Tegucigalpa Airport is 1,863 meters long and 45 meters wide. The runway surface is asphalt. Since the airport is located at an altitude of 1,000 meters, aircraft takeoff and landing performance is lower than at sea level. In addition, the mountains surrounding the area make approaches particularly difficult. At the time of the accident, the runway was wet.

The Boeing 747 Cargo belonging to Michigan-based Kalitta Air was on a flight from Bruxels, Belgium, to Gulf state of Bahrain. The plane skidded off the runway at Brussels airport and split in at least two pieces. None of the five crew members was seriously injured. The Boeing 747 carried 76 tonnes of freight. While the plane was attempting to take-off on runway 20 (a 3000 x 50 metres (9800 x 164 feet) asphalt runway), the crew reportedly heard one or two loud bangs. The crew decided to abort the take-off, but the airplane continued past the end of the runway, broke in two, and came to a rest 300 meters (980 feet) past the end of the runway, close to a rail line and some 500 metres (1600 feet) from housing. Fortunately the Boeing 747 did not catch on fire. The weather was clear at the time of the accident, after light rains doused Brussels a few hours before the accident.

The Beech 1900, rented from the charter company Southern Sudan Air Connection, departed Wau, Sudan, on a flight to Juba, Sudan, via Rumbek. The airplane was carrying 18 passengers, including key members of the southern Sudanese government, and 2 crewmembers. The plane crashed near Rumbek (the provincial capital of Lakes State, north of Juba) killing all onboard. The plane crash while it was on last leg from Rumbek to Juba. The cause of the crash is probably due to a technical failure with both engines of the plane. It is believed a double engine failure forced the pilot to perform an emergency landing, but the plane impacted the ground violently. The wreckage was bad and it takes time to open it up completely.

The Russian-made Antonov 32, belonging to the Equatorial Guinea National Guard, was flying from the city of Bata on the African mainland to the small southern island of Annobon, Equatorial Guinea. The plane crashed into the sea during landing. The plane landed on its destination airfield’s runway in very poor weather conditions: heavy wind and rain were prevailing at the time of the accident. But then, the plane did not decelerate enough, skidded off the runway and crashed into the sea. All five crew members (three air force officers and two Russians) and six civilian passengers -- who were campaigning ahead of municipal and parliamentary elections on May 4 -- were killed (state radio says the number of passengers and crew was 13. The government says 11 people were the plane). Equatorial Guinean airlines figure high on a European Union blacklist. Annobon is home to around 3,000 people, mainly employed in fishing. Flights to the mainland only started in 2007.

The DC-9 chartered by Hewa Bora Airways was taking off from Goma on a flight to the Congolese capital Kinshasa when it came down in the teeming market district of Birere, a warren of single-storey shops which were crowded at that time of day. The plane developed problem during takeoff and the pilot tried to brake. But the DC-9 skidded on water on the runway and crashed in the village located at the end of the runway. Residents heard a big explosion, which set several buildings on fire. A large plume of smoke rose from the crash site. Half of the plane has broken off. There is a fire towards the back. At the crash scene, the damaged cockpit and tail were visible, and in between was the fuselage - a burned, flattened and tangled mixture of rubble and debris and charred shops. The plane appeared to have burst through a thin fence separating the runway from a market district of wooden houses and cement shops where sugar, avocados, flour and fuel are sold. It is unknown yet exactly how many people were onboard and how many were killed. Conflicting reports indicates approximately 86 passengers and 8 crewmembers were onboard. 3 passengers died, but 37 people were killed on ground. More than one hundred people were injured, and severe damage were reported on ground. Potholes are part of the problem on the runway at Goma airport, which was damaged by lava during a 2002 eruption of a nearby volcano. It is in disrepair with broken tarmac all over. The lava flow had reduced the runway by a third and aviation officials said planes now had to make short takeoffs.