'Contact lost' with Kenya flight

[Naim 6]

Last Updated: Saturday, 5 May 2007, 06:48 GMT 07:48 UK

 

'Contact lost' with Kenya flight

 

 

Kenya Airways says it has lost contact with a Boeing 737-800 airliner flying to Nairobi from Douala in Cameroon with 115 people on board.

 

The airline says the last message was received by the control tower in Douala immediately after take-off.

 

Flight KQ 507 left Douala at 2305 local time (0005 GMT) Friday and was due to arrive in Nairobi at 0315 GMT.

 

Kenya Airways says there were 106 passengers and nine crew. It has set up a crisis management centre in Embakasi.

 

Titus Naikuni, the company's chief executive officer, said: "Flight 507 was coming from Abidjan via Douala. The aircraft unfortunately has not arrived."

 

Kenya Airways is 26%-owned by Air France KLM's Dutch company KLM.

 

In January 2000 a Kenya Airways plane crashed into the sea after taking off from Abidjan airport in Ivory Coast killing 169 passengers and 10 crew.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6627485.stm

[Y. J. Foo 0]

The link now says the plane has crashed in Cameroon...

 

RIP to all that perished.

[Naim 6]

 

From REUTERS.

 

Kenya Airways plane crashes in Cameroon

Sat May 5, 2007 6:01AM EDT

 

By Tansa Musa

 

YAOUNDE (Reuters) - A Kenya Airways passenger plane bound for Nairobi with 115 people on board crashed in southern Cameroon on Saturday shortly after takeoff, the central African country's state radio said.

 

The radio said the plane had crashed near Niete, south of the Cameroonian port town of Kribi and north of the border with Equatorial Guinea. It gave no further details.

 

Kenya Airways earlier said it had lost contact with a 737-800 airliner bound for Nairobi shortly after it took off from Douala in Cameroon.

 

The plane was carrying 106 passengers and nine crew, Kenya Airways Group Managing Director Titus Naikuni told a news conference in Nairobi.

 

The company said the Douala control tower had received the last message from the aircraft right after takeoff. The plane had been due to land in Nairobi at 6:15 a.m. (0315 GMT).

 

An official at Douala airport said they had no information on the plane. Foreign diplomats in Cameroon said they had heard the Kenya Airways statement but had no further details.

 

Kenya Airways, one of Africa's few profitable carriers, said it had set up a crisis centre to monitor events and a passenger information centre at a local hotel.

 

The plane had landed in Cameroon after taking off from Abidjan in Ivory Coast, Naikuni said.

 

On January 30, 2000, a Kenya Airways Airbus A-310 crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff from Abidjan, killing 169 of the 179 passengers and crew.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/...546226620070505

Edited May 5, 2007 by Naim

[Imran K. 0]

...

 

I sure hope there are survivors...or else I'll be one best friend short...

[T Azahan 1]

still considered new aircraft..........

[Azuddin 1]

another accident involving a quiet new wingleted B737-800.

[Min Chun 0]

Sd to hear that.R.I.P

Secondrash involving new generation of 737 right?

[Keith T 2]

...

 

I sure hope there are survivors...or else I'll be one best friend short...

 

So sorry to hear that!

[Teoh Z Yao 0]

Second involving an NG 737. What is sad is we're losing 737NG's quite fast...

 

R.I.P. to the perished; certainly hope there are survivals...

[Azuddin 1]

Actually it's third crash invloving 737NG, but yes it's second if involving written off accident.

 

Southwest 737-700 (overshot the runway at Chicago midway) is the first and involving ground death. It was said that the damage of N471WN is beyond repair. I'm not sure if it's already written off.

Edited May 5, 2007 by Azuddin

[Imran K. 0]

Just got the email...R.I.P Graham...

[Seth K 3]

The Boeing 737-800 was carrying 114 people, including 105 passengers, from at least 23 countries

 

That will cause international interfere.........

We didn't know the current situation, still praying for the best........

 

Actually, the one in Chicago is not beyond repair, it can be repair but the cost is just too high, economic sense-insurance claimed

[Azuddin 1]

Actually, the one in Chicago is not beyond repair, it can be repair but the cost is just too high, economic sense-insurance claimed

 

I see, just find out from some source that The Southwest 737 is still in the hangar at midway today and still under repair.

[Min Chun 0]

What about the GOL 737 ?

[Y. J. Foo 0]

Talking about that WN 73G it seems the a/c has since reentered service with new registration.

 

N286WN

[H Azmal 0]

Actually, the one in Chicago is not beyond repair, it can be repair but the cost is just too high, economic sense-insurance claimed

 

Hence comes in the term 'damaged beyond economical repair'.

 

[Naim 6]

From the Nairobi Standard.

 

Sunday May 6, 2007

 

Nine Kenyans still missing following plane crash

 

By Sunday Standard Team and Agencies

 

The debris of the Kenya Airways aircraft believed to have crashed with 114 passengers, among them nine Kenyans, is still being sought.

 

Though there was no word on the cause of the crash, the Douala International Airport control tower received a distress signal from the plane as it roared to the skies. Villages around the area the search was being concentrated also reported hearing an explosion.

 

- Relatives walk into the JKIA arrivals lounge.

 

The search operation 100km South of Younde, Cameroon, where the plane crashed five minutes into the air, went on even as optimism on the fate of those on board faded.

 

"We could not locate any wreckage at NietÈ where first information suggested the crash may have occurred," a local government official in southern Cameroon, told Reuters.

 

He said the search had shifted to another area southwest of the capital – between the towns of Lolodorf and Ebolowa – where inhabitants said they had heard an explosion.

 

US assisting in the search

 

President Kibaki last evening said the Government shared in the anxieties of the families and friends of the missing persons.

 

He assured the nation the Government had put in motion a mechanism to help establish the status of the plane.

 

"This evening, I am dispatching a high level Government team led by the Minister for Transport, Mr Ali Chirau Mwakwere, who will be traveling to Cameroon,’’ the President said.

The team will work closely with the authorities in Cameroon and help co-ordinate with the families of the crew and passengers.

 

"At this moment, let us all pray to the almighty to be with all those who were aboard the plane together with their families and friends,’’ he said.

 

Mwakwere said the US Government was assisting in the search, with satellite images taken over the expected flight path.

 

Stung by the second worst crash involving a Kenyan plane in seven years, the Government declared it would ensure the country gets to know the cause of the crash.

 

The crash, which has the eerie ring of the January 2000 tragic tumble of Flight KQ 431, both having taken place at night, shortly after take-off and on the same region, threw the airline into a spin.

 

Search and rescue mission

 

By the time of going to the press, two public inquiry stops had been set up. There was also anxiety over the fate of the nine Kenyans, all crewmembers.

 

Those whose fate remain unknown include the chief pilot Captain Francis Wamwea Mbatia and his First Officer Andrew Kiuru Wanyoike.

 

The airplane, KQ 507, was travelling from Abidjan, Ivory Coast, with a stopover in Cameroon and had been due to arrive in Nairobi on Saturday 6:15am.

 

A distress signal was picked up on the West Coast of Africa and a search and rescue mission, initiated by the Cameroonian authorities, was at 11:05am Saturday.

 

Naikuni, who thrice spoke to journalists at the Panari Centre, insisted on the use of such terminologies as ‘lost’ or ‘missing’ instead of a crash. "At the moment you can’t make a clear statement until you see the aircraft," he said to reporters at a news conference in Nairobi.

 

By Saturday evening no report had been received yet from this mission, even as Cameroonian military personnel circled the zeroed zones with choppers and in thick weather.

 

Last message was received shortly after take off

 

Cameroon State radio said the plane, which KQ Naikuni said was only six months old and in superb condition, had crashed near Niete, south of the Cameroonian port town of Kribi and north of the border with Equatorial Guinea.

 

It gave no further details. But later in the afternoon the search was moved further south.

 

The last message from the aircraft was received by the control tower in Douala immediately after take off. There were 105 passengers, nine crewmembers on board.

 

Among those on board were 35 Cameroonians, 15 Indians, and seven South Africans. China, Nigeria and Ivory Coast each had six nationals in the plane.

 

Three of the passengers had not been identified by last evening, a fact, which Mr Naikuni said, had to do with Immigration bookkeeping.

 

KQ set up local passenger information centre at Intercontinental Hotel, where all questions can be addressed. The public enquiry numbers are 200353/3200354/3274349.

 

An international passenger information centre was opened where all questions can be addressed. The public enquiry number is +27 11 2071100.

 

Airline declined to confirm crash report

 

The plane had landed in Cameroon after taking off from Abidjan in Ivory Coast, Naikuni said.

 

There were reports the flight KQ 507 had been delayed for an hour due to poor weather. Naikuni told journalists heavy rains in Douala had forced the flight delay.

 

- Kenya Airways chief executive officer, Mr Titus Naikuni, during a news conference at the Panari Hotel, Nairobi, on Saturday.

 

Naikuni declined to confirm the radio crash report, but said authorities in Cameroon had picked up an automatic distress signal from the area where the plane went missing.

 

"The distress call came from a machine, not a pilot," he said.

 

Kenya Government spokesman, Dr Alfred Mutua told the news conference the signal was coming from an area about 35 nautical miles (64.8km) southwest of Douala.

 

"They have a helicopter in the area," he said, adding there had been no report yet from that mission.

 

Speaking during the 9am conference Naikuni said the aircraft, a Boeing 737- 800, disappeared from the Radar on take off from Douala.

 

"Initial reports indicate the plane went off the radar and lost communication immediately on take off shortly after 12.05am, local time," announced Mr Naikuni.

 

Plane changed crew at Douala

 

Naikuni told a hurriedly convened press conference at the Panari Hotel that the plane was carrying 105 passengers, eight crewmembers and one flight engineer.

 

The plane changed crew at Douala. It then took off shortly after midnight headed for Nairobi where, according to Naikuni, majority of the passengers were expected to take connection flights to other destinations.

 

"We do not have clear information on the flight. It simply disappeared from the radar and our team on the ground are doing their best to gather more information," said Naikuni.

 

Naikuni sparked off speculation when he initially indicated that six passengers in the ill-fated jet could not be identified and their nationalities remained unknown.

 

However, during a later press briefing, Naikuni said three of six unidentified passengers had been listed as two from Equatorial Guinea and one more from Cameroon.

 

"Some of the passengers had been picked from Abidjan and we have difficulties getting information from local authorities," explained Naikuni.

 

Naikuni said a team from Nairobi comprising the Kenya Airways and Government officials had been assembled and would be dispatched to investigate the accident.

 

Plane among the latest acquisition

 

Mutua, who accompanied Naikuni along with Transport Permanent Secretary, Dr Gerishon Ikiara, said the accident saddened the Government.

 

"The Government is saddened by news of the disappearance of the KQ plane. We are assembling a team that will be dispatched to link up with other investigators in this unfortunate occurrence," said the Government spokesman.

 

Mutua said the Government had kept close contacts with the Cameroonian authorities and called for patience among relatives of the passengers.

 

He said the Government team to Cameroon would be headed by Mr Mwakwere and would include officials from KQ, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, and Ministry of Transport.

 

Earlier in the day, Naikuni said the airline had set up a crisis-management centre at its Embakasi head offices and another one at Hotel Intercontinental where relatives and friends of the affected passengers could get information.

 

The plane is among the latest acquisition by the company having arrived last November and had a capacity for 164 passengers, sources at the airline told The Sunday Standard.

 

Over the years the national carrier has a good safety record and has recently posted impressive records, making it among the best-managed public organisation.

 

The carrier generally has a good safety record on a continent where air accidents are above the world average.

 

http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php...leid=1143968234

[Mohd Idham 0]

Really shocked news....you'll understand the feeling when you are in the industries...

[Pieter C. 5]

Shocking news of KLM's Africa partner

 

Moreover, it's an almost 'brandnew' 737

 

R.I.P. to all the victims: especially to you Imran with the loss of your friend !!!

[Naim 6]

Just got the email...R.I.P Graham...

 

Cannot find 'Graham' in this list:

 

http://www.kenya-airways.com/

http://www.kenya-airways.com/Nationalities%20List.htm

 

+++

Edited May 6, 2007 by Naim

[Imran K. 0]

That's his "English" name...

 

89

 

 

GNAMIEN AKAJEAN MR

 

 

Gnamien is kinda hard to pronounce...thus he was dubbed Graham...

 

Thanks Pieter for your condolences...

[Edwin Yii 0]

wreckage found..

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6630953.stm

[Teoh Z Yao 0]

Imran, I'm sorry for the lost of your friend Graham...

[Naim 6]

Thunderstorms, engine failure among possible causes of Kenya Airways crash, experts say

 

The Associated Press

Monday, May 7, 2007

 

BRUSSELS, Belgium: Severe thunderstorms in equatorial Africa can place aircraft in extreme peril, and may have been a contributing factor in the crash of a Kenya Airways Boeing 737-800, pilots familiar with the region say.

 

The danger is magnified because radar coverage is sparse to nonexistent over much of the continent, making it nearly impossible for air traffic control to warn pilots about storm cells on their routes.

 

The Kenya Airways jet took off early Saturday in torrential rain bound for Nairobi. Its wreckage was found on Sunday in a mangrove forest about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the airport.

 

"A plane never takes off into an actual thunderstorm, no crew or carrier would allow that," said Patrick Smith, a U.S. based-airline pilot and aviation writer. "But it is remotely possible that the plane could have inadvertently hit some extremely turbulent air and suffered massive hail damage or a sudden structural failure."

 

Analysts said it was too early for a conclusive analysis on the possible causes of the crash of the six-month old plane, the newest generation of Boeing's 737 family of jets of which more than 5,000 have been sold over the past 40 years.

 

But the fact that the crash occurred so close to the airport along what appeared to be a standard departure route, and that the crew never reported technical difficulties indicates that the pilots had very little time to react.

 

"Whatever happened must have happened very fast, which is usually a sign of catastrophic structural failure" most likely resulting from extraordinary weather conditions, Smith said in a telephone interview.

 

The plane took off from Douala in darkness just after midnight headed southeast, according to reports from civil aviation authorities.

 

A pilot familiar with the region said that like many airports in Africa, Douala is not equipped with weather radar giving air traffic control the information they need to order crew to delay takeoff until a storm dissipates or passes the intended flight path.

 

But modern jets such as the 737-800 are equipped with sophisticated weather radars to warn them of storm cells — particularly the violent cumulonimbus clouds that contain severe updrafts and downdrafts.

 

"However, if the pilots were concentrating on takeoff procedures, or did not have the radar turned on, it's possible they could have missed the warnings," said an experienced commercial pilot who could not be identified in accordance with his airline's policy.

 

Smaller planes are always instructed to fly around thunderstorm systems, which can be difficult to detect visually in flight because they are often obscured by other clouds. Passenger jets such as the 737 rely on their radars to avoid flying through patches of high wind shear.

 

"Can a storm cell cause a 737-800 to crash? It happened only a few times over the past 50 years, so it's a rare scenario but still conceivable," said Smith.

 

Another possibility is that both engines flamed out in the storm because of water or hail ingestion, Smith said.

 

"That's also an extremely unlikely occurrence, but it has happened in the past," Smith said. He cited an accident in 2002 involving a Boeing 737 in Indonesia, which crash-landed in a river after a double engine failure in a thunderstorm.

 

Smith said that despite their reputation, Africa's main commercial carriers, including Kenya Airways, have a good overall safety record.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/07/...rash-Causes.php

[Naim 6]

Last Updated: May 7, 2007 06:28 EDT

 

Kenya Airways Plane Wreckage Found in Cameroon Swamp (Update4)

 

By Antony Sguazzin and Eric Ombok

 

May 7 (Bloomberg) -- The wreckage of a Kenya Airways plane was found in a swamp about 20 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of Douala in Cameroon, the airline said.

 

The Boeing 737-800, carrying 105 passengers and a crew of nine, disappeared from radar screens just after midnight on May 5 after taking off from Douala, headed for Kenya's capital, Nairobi. The airliner came down in a nose dive, the Associated Press said, citing Douala airport's meteorology chief, Thomas Sobakam. The plane was found late yesterday.

 

``We have no confirmed information about survivors and casualties,'' Kenya Airways said today in an e-mailed statement. ``The site is difficult to access and clearing of the bushes started last night.''

 

The six-month-old plane had stopped over at Douala on its way from Ivory Coast's Abidjan. It was scheduled to arrive in Nairobi at 6:15 a.m. Kenyan time. Cameroon's civil aviation authority picked up a distress signal from the airplane when it was off the country's coast and sent a rescue team at 11:05 a.m., the airline said without giving the time of the signal.

 

Fishermen in Cameroon reported hearing a bang that was accompanied by water disturbance, Kenya Airways said yesterday. Cameroon's meteorology department forecast rain before the takeoff from Douala, Etienne Ondoua, the department's director, told Cameroon Radio on May 5.

 

Passenger List

 

MTN Group Ltd., Africa's largest mobile-phone company, said four of its workers were on the flight. They include the Cameroonian unit's chief executive officer, Campbell Utton, chief financial officer Sarah Stewart, company secretary Patrick Njamfa and network engineer Patrice Enam, Johannesburg-based MTN said in an e-mailed statement. Stewart's husband, Adam James Stewart, was also on the aircraft.

 

Chevron Corp., South Africa's Profert Trading Ltd. and ABB Ltd. also had staff on the plane, Johannesburg's Star newspaper reported. Anthony Mitchell, a Nairobi-based correspondent for the Associated Press, may also have been aboard, AP said. His name appears on the passenger list.

 

Passengers included 34 Cameroonians, 15 Indians, nine Kenyans, seven South Africans, six Nigerians, five Britons and one U.S. national, said Titus Naikuni, managing director of Kenya Airways. There also was one passenger each from Burkina Faso, Egypt, Mauritius, Sweden, Switzerland and Tanzania.

 

Enquiries about the flight, KQ 507, can be directed to an international passenger information center at +27-11-207-1100, Kenya Airways said.

 

There is no chance of finding survivors because the wreckage is mostly submerged, Reuters reported, citing Jean-Pierre Nana, director of Cameroon's civil protection service.

 

Air France-KLM

 

The airline flies to 30 destinations in Africa and 25 cities worldwide. Air France-KLM Group has owned 26 percent of Kenya Airways since 1999 and has a venture with it on routes between Nairobi and Amsterdam, KLM spokesman Bart Koster said in a telephone interview from Amsterdam. KLM has two representatives on the Kenya Airways board.

 

KLM doesn't plan to send anyone to investigate the accident, he said, though ``if any assistance of KLM would be needed, we are available.''

 

KLM chief executive Peter Hartman has written to Kenyan Airlines' chief executive ``expressing his concern and offering assistance,'' Koster said.

 

On Jan. 30, 2000, an Airbus A310-300 owned by Kenya Airways crashed after taking off from Abidjan on its way to Lagos. The plane was carrying 179 people of whom 10 survived. That aircraft had been in service for 14 years.

 

Boeing Co. sent officials to join a team of investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration at the request of Cameroonian authorities, the Chicago-based company said May 5 in a statement on its Web site. Pauline Bucaille, a spokeswoman for Boeing in Europe, said today in a telephone interview from Paris that the company had nothing to add to that statement.

 

To contact the reporter on this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net ; Eric Ombok in Nairobi through Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net .

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home