A Boeing 747 cargo plane flying from Hongkong to the capital of Kyrgyzstan Bishkek crashed killing more than 30 passengers. The plane crash in this remote Central Asian country which was at one stage a part of the Soviet Union is cause for concern. As per reports, the plane could have crashed due to poor visibility and bad weather. This itself raises serious questions about flight safety and the NAV equipment and its serviceability in this Central Asia Country. The plane belonged to Turkey, and the Boeing 747 is one of the most reliable airlines in the world.
Manufactured in the USA the plane is flying with many airlines all over the world. It has very few crashes and when a crash does take place it is cause for alarm.
The crash
The aircraft was operated by a sister cargo airline of Turkish Airways named ACT Airlines. This airline has its headquarters at Istanbul and was on a flight from the far east in Hongkong to the capital of Kyrgyzstan. The plane was tracked by Radar before it crashed. The plane was manufactured in 2003 and was initially operated by Singapore Airlines. It was subsequently bought by the Turkish cargo airlines. The 747 Jumbo is a great cargo plane and is used by many airlines. It is also used as a passenger airline.
Bad weather
Initial reports suggest that the plane crashed due to bad weather.
Unfortunately, the region is remote, and it will be some time before the exact reason for the crash can be pinpointed. One heartening aspect of this crash is that no terrorist activity is suspected. But other aspects of flight safety do come up. The Jumbo has been involved in quite a few crashes all over the world. A jumbo had crashed while taking off from Kabul airport in 2012 killing all seven onboard.
There have been other crashes as well, but all these were not due to aircraft malfunction but other extraneous factors. The Jumbo is inherently a safe plane.
Last word
The plane accident will be investigated, but the civil aviation authorities must address the issue as to why the plane was not diverted to another airport in case the weather was bad.
