Plane Impacted At Extreme Nose-Up Attitude, Little Forward
Motion
Turkish news reports state five airline employees, including
three pilots, were among the nine fatalities from
Wednesday's downing of a Turkish Airlines
737-800 while on approach to the runway at
Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.
Citing local media reports, the Times of London said Thursday
pilots Captain Hasan Tahsin Arisan, Murat Sezer and Olgay Ozgur
were killed when the Boeing narrowbody impacted a muddy field two
miles from the runway at 10:30 am local time Wednesday. Witnesses
say the aircraft came down at an extreme nose-up attitude and with
little apparent forward momentum, with the empennage striking the
ground first.
The tail assembly separated on impact from the fuselage, ahead
of the vertical stabilizer. The forward section appears to have
came down hard, with a second fuselage break forward of the wing
box. Photos from the scene show the plane's forward section largely
separated, and canted about 20 degrees to the right relative to the
center section.
There was no post-impact fire, a circumstance officials say
allowed 125 of the 134 passengers and crew reported onboard the
flight from Istanbul to evacuate the plane. At least 84 of those
survivors were injured, with six still listed in critical
condition.
Investigators retrieved the aircraft's flight data recorder and
cockpit voice recorder late Wednesday. Both "black boxes" have been
sent to Paris for analysis, said Dutch Safety Board spokesman Fred
Sanders.
The spokesman theorized the relatively low casualty count "may
have something to do with the fact that it came down in a muddy
field rather than on a concrete road or on a landing strip, where
sparks would have increased the chances of a fire." Sanders also
said the aircraft appears to have "lost its forward momentum, that
there was no motor function."
Turkish media strongly criticized the country's government and
the airline for their handling of the accident. Both entities
initially said all 134 persons onboard the plane had survived. The
Hava-Is union, which represents workers at Turkish Airlines, said
Wednesday "the respectability of the airline and the whole aviation
sector was damaged" by those first reports.
"In our sad condition our only consolation is that the total
loss of life and the number of injuries are fewer than expected in
such an accident," said Turkish Airlines president and CEO Temel
Kotil on Thursday. "We offer our condolences to the families and
friends of the passengers and crew members who lost their lives and
a speedy recovery to those passengers who are being treated for
injuries. We pray for the souls of the deceased to rest in
peace."