Airbus jet crashes in test flight

Tabnabs

One person has been killed and six are missing after an Airbus A320 aircraft crashed during a test flight after maintenance work, officials have said.

The plane went into the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of France near Perpignan with seven people on board.

One body has been recovered and search aircraft and ships are looking for the missing people.

The plane's fuselage has been located, a French rescue official told the Associated Press news agency.



The plane was last owned by XL Germany and was being returned to an aircraft leasing company.

XL Germany said there were two flight crew from XL Germany and 3-5 engineers on board.

The plane was undergoing maintenance checks at Perpignan airport.

The A320 is one of Airbus's most popular single aisle passenger jets.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7753270.stm

FOGOFUNK

Thats ****. Ill think twice before getting on a test flight now.

Xavi6

2 bodies found now with 5 still missing.

FlutterinBantam

Bit of rock & rollin' goin on I would guess....

highlydebased

Was on a post maintanence flight, was owned by XL Germany, going to Air NZ

*Kol*

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Bit of rock & rollin' goin on I would guess....

elaborate pls..

FlutterinBantam

edge of the envelope testing .. throw it about a bit

*Kol*

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

edge of the envelope testing .. throw it about a bit

Perhaps. Normally the A320 test flight procedure is very tame though. Will be interesting to see what the cause was.

FlutterinBantam

Indeed it will.

*Kol*

According to reports the aircraft was coming in to land when it crashed?

pclancy

Taken from PPRUNE.Org:

"Good evening,
I was listening on the Perpignan approach and tower frequencies all afternoon, and can assure you that living a crash "live", and living a few km from the location, gives me cold shivers.
The aircraft in question contacted approach about 1645. He was direct PPG descending through FL120. He was taken under radar control because the preceding traffic, a Ryanair, was on the STAR [approach, I presume]. Heading 90, I don't recall the level. Once the preceding traffic was established, the controller (our charming Perpignanaise controller) gave it a direct LANET, cleat LANET ILS 33, descend 4000 feet, qnh 1016. The pilot acknowledged and that was the last time he was heard from. No mayday, nothing. Then the pilot of a PA28 yelled "an aircraft crashed, an aircraft crashed" and everything went very fast. "Ulysse 34, confirm an aircraft crashed? Position?" "We are off Canet en Roussillon on 110 PPG, 10.5nm, Ulysse 34, we are beginning to orbit the crash site, 300 feet above sea level." Very quickly the Securité Civile helicopter took off from Perpignan. "Dragon66, authorized immediate takeoff from position, wind calm, left turn." As soon as the helicopter was on site, he announced "no visual on the aircraft, large white spot on the water, we can see debris over more than one km."
I will spare you the other details. The controllers kept their calm, made all the VFR traffic in the area land. EAS, who was to have met the A320, announced there were 7 people on board. As I write this, I am listening to the various aircraft at the crash site, and so far they are not finding anybody. I hope there will be survivors, but given the cold and the water temperature...
A Dauphin with specialized equipment is awaited in the next few minutes. An SNSM launch is also there.
I hope we'll quickly have explanations. I have a colleague who saw the aircraft 'fall' in the sea. It really dove as it had just begun its DME arc to establish. Really strange....

Philippe"


The media down here is really pushing how weird it is that it was on the 25th anniversay to the day of the other major Air NZ disaaster on Mt Erebus. Weird:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_New_Zealand_Flight_901

Update: They now think the plane had lost power and was heading for the small French town of Canet. They chose to ditch into the sea instead of hit the town is one theory. Obviously way too early in the invesitagtion to judge anything yet.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4777715a11.html

GBX

Black box has been found. More details will come soon.