Suhkoi Superjet 100 missing during demo flight

[srgalahad]

"JAKARTA, May 9 (RIA Novosti) – The darkness, fog and rain complicate the search of Russia’s Sukhoi Superjet-100, which went missing on Wednesday on a demonstration flight near Jakarta, a spokesman of aeronautical airspace control in Indonesia said.

The plane has failed to return to the airport after a demonstration flight. Shortly before radio contact was lost, 20 minutes after takeoff, the pilots had requested permission to descend from 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) to 6,000 feet (1,800 meters), air traffic controllers said. After it was cleared for descent the plane started turning right and descending but then disappeared from the radar screens at an altitude of 6,200 feet in a mountainous area 60 kilometers from Jakarta."

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20120509/173339174.html
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/09/world/asia/indonesia-plane/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[SeanTK]

How unfortunate.

There is a volcano in the area that apparently goes up past the 7,000ft range. Sounds like it was possibly a CFIT case, but I'm sure we'll find out in the coming days/weeks.

The Superjet is interesting in that it's essentially a "Russian" aircraft in name, but is made up predominately of Western European components.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Superjet_100

[StormILM]

The wreckage was found, no survivors.

[Wing_Z]

An appalling and tragic incident...the worst possible outcome:
Invite all sorts of important players to come on board and be impressed by your new jet - and then drive it into a mountain.
Very sad, and a major blow to Sukhoi who have been battling the odds to launch this plane internationally.

[Naki]

Yeah feel sorry for the Russians (and families affected) ...this was their first really competitive and modern airliner to attack the westren market and a lot was riding on it.

[kilo delta]

A Sukhoi Sukhoi Superjet 100-95, registration RA-97004 performing a demonstration flight from Jakarta Halim Perdanakusuma Airport to Jakarta Halim Perdanakusuma Airport (Indonesia) with 37 passengers, 6 crew and 2 Sukhoi officials, was enroute near Mount Salak and Bogor about 36nm south of Jakarta about 30 minutes into the flight when the radio contact with the aircraft was lost. The aircraft did not turn up at Jakarta or any other airport in the area. The aircraft wreckage was found by a helicopter the following morning (May 10th) at about 09:15L (02:15Z) on the slopes of Mount Salak at an elevation of about 5300 feet MSL.

Rescue and Recovery teams are currently on their way to the crash site. First attempts to reach the crash site, including attempts to set rescuers down by helicopters, have failed so far (May 10th 16:45L) due to the extremely steep terrain rising at up to 85 degrees. About 450 rescue personnel are currently moving towards the crash site on the ground but will not reach the site before darkness.

The coordinator of the rescue operation said, that the aircraft appeared relatively intact from the air however has received substantial damage after leaving a trail away from the crater down the slope, there was no sign of survivors from the air. Rescue teams are currently on the ground about 1km from the crash site, the terrain being difficult to reach the wreckage.

The Air Force said the aircraft impacted the edge of a cliff (top of the cliff at 6250 feet MSL) about 1.7 nm from Cijeruk. Approximate final position of the aircraft is S6.7045 E106.7373

Indonesian Authorities reported the aircraft was enroute at 10,000 feet near Mount Salak when at about 15:30L (08:30Z) the crew requested and was cleared to descend to 6,000 feet. This proved to be the last radio transmission. Radar contact was lost when the aircraft was in a right hand turn descending through 6,200 feet between Mount Salak and Mount Gede at approximate position S6.72 E106.72. The aircraft was flying clockwise around Mount Salak at that time. A search operation has been initiated and is mounting, first search flights on May 9th did not yet found any trace of the aircraft. Search on the ground is under way, a first team has departed for Mount Salak in the evening, a second ground team is expected to depart on May 10th early morning, more than 600 ground personnel have been deployed by sunrise May 10th.

Sukhoi reported the aircraft registration RA-97004 (MSN 95004) was piloted by a very experienced crew that also flew the first prototype of the aircraft, the commander had more than 10,000 hours total. The crew did not report any anomaly and did not issue a distress call prior to the aircraft disappearing. The aircraft had already concluded another demonstration flight earlier the day. The accident aircraft had accumulated 800 flight hours in more than 500 cycles, there had been no serious technical problems since its first flight in 2009.

Mount Salak is 2,211 meters/7254 feet high, nearby Mount Gede is 2,958 meters/9,705 feet high.

At 15:30L the local weatherstation in Bogor reported visibility at 9000 meters (increasing to 10000 meters in the next reading), temperature at 31 degrees C, dew point at 25 degrees C, humidity 70% and winds arund 5 knots from northeast, no precipitation. In the morning the weatherstation had reported low visibility around about 2000 meters.

http://avherald.com/h?article=44f464f7&opt=0

[srgalahad]

From SuperJet International's Facebook page:

Our deepest thoughts and prayers go to the victims of the accident happened in Indonesia.

SuperJet International has created a dedicated section where updates and latest news will be shared with all of you.

www.superjetinternational.com

Thus far, not much has become available but footage I saw last night showed the impact point on a near-vertical face of the mountain

[stansdds]

Very sad, indeed.