<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Finding bodies without wreckage sounds like a mid air explosion.<hr></blockquote>
I know nothin of Aviation.
How does that work?
As a lay person, in a explosion, I would have thought flesh would have burnt up quicker/been blown apart easier, then the airframe and the metal would have stood a better chance being found?
10
mrnicky
11
foolsprogress
Finding bodies without wreckage doesn't necessarily mean that there was an explosion but it is indicative of some sort of mid-air breakup which allowed passengers to become separated from the aircraft before the crash. An explosion is one of the possible causes of a mid-air breakup. At this point though, I'd wait for more solid information before beginning any serious speculation.
12
hasher
#11 is right you can speculate a lot
It’s also possible that they where under bad weather and run into the mountain. Saying that this aircraft should be able to fly over any bad weather,
Here are some possibilities:
- Structural failure, on a pressurised aircraft this size it’s only about 5 psi cabin to atmosphere differential so I don’t think would be an issue. It’s not like a blow out you could expect on a 747. Which is why I am not thinking a break up.
- Fuel leak causing a explosion. If your doing decent maintenance properly ( its Cambodia) Avgas and Jet Fuel have dyes that indicate a leak within a structure so there easily spotted. For example in a Cessna 310 you check tip fuel tanks for cracking around the strobe light area so that vapours don’t get ignited , you get a green waxy build-up a long time before any fluid starts to leak.
- Incorrect configuration on take off. Many 'ghost flights' have occurred when warnings have been ignored of the cabin pressurisation not activating. The flights already up and cruising and once you get above the 10000ft level people pass out leaving the autopilot to take over a flight of already dead people. I would say this wouldn’t be an option as normally the flight keeps going until fuel is exhausted, unless the flights interrupted by bad weather.
Turboprops engines are amazing resistant to bad weather, I have even had a fire hose squirting straight into a PT6 turboprop engine and she still runs :-)
My money is on overloading or carrying something they shouldn’t like fuel, explosives or compressed gases. I work as a aircraft maintenance engineer in Australia and you find most accidents are caused in aviation by human factors rather than mechanical failure. Enjoying cheap fares can be at the detriment of pilot training and maintenance. Cambodia is alo a place that can hardly get a moto to run let alone a turboprop aircraft.
14
foolsprogress
Rumors are rife. All kinds of stories are going around. Seems too early to me to be trusting the details of such early news reports, especially coming out of Cambodia, even worse coming from "local sources." I am not even sure they've really found bodies already.
15
mrnicky
Pictuers Of the Search
I am not sure, but its almost like the Cambodian Gov has understood the power of the international press and is turning a tragedy in to some spin PR for the top brasS.
16
nijkerk
I flew with PMT some years ago ,PP-Banlung, and remember looking ,with unease, at the bald patches on the planes tyres, the fact that half of the seats seemed to be broken didnt give much confidence about maintenance............
17
swooshy
ummm..no
Don't you think it was strange that yesterday...having NO wreckage and NO idea of where it crashed..there were already officials CONFIRMING it crashed due to poor weather conditions.
Call me stupid, but without a scene to investigate, without the bodies, without the crash itself...how can anyone say what caused to to go down??? I'm sure the weather was bad and may have played a part...but really - how many planes around the world fly in bad weather conditions? How many of them crash?
Perhaps I just watch too much National Geographic channel's Air Crash Investigation...?
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