JUST IN: Five die as light plane crashes into mall in Australia.

A pilot and four American passengers were killed on Tuesday when a small plane crashed in to the roof of a shopping mall after taking off from an airfield outside Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, police said.

The twin-turboprop Beechcraft King Air plane suffered an engine failure and crashed into the mall near the end of the runway at Essendon Airport, Victoria state police assistant commissioner Stephen Leane told reporters in Melbourne.

Witnesses told Australian Associated Press the plane exploded on impact.

“There were five people on the aeroplane and it looks like nobody’s survived the crash,” Leane said.

The crash happened at around 9 a.m., about an hour before the mall was due to open and there were no fatalities other than those aboard the aircraft, he added

“All five occupants were male – the pilot was Australian and the four passengers were from the United States of America,” Victoria police said in later statement.

Sky News showed burning wreckage strewn across the mall’s carpark and a thick column of black smoke rising from the crash site.

The plane had been bound for King Island in Bass Strait between the mainland and the southern island state of Tasmania and Australian newspapers reported that at least two of the men were traveling to play golf on the island’s famed links.

A spokeswoman for Airservices Australia said flights in and out of Melbourne’s main airport were unaffected. Essendon Airport, which is used mainly by light aircraft, remained closed.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating the crash.

 

Source: Reuters

LATEST UPDATE: Pakistan Plane with some 47 people on board crashes in North Pakistan

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane with about 47 people on board crashed in the mountainous north of the country on Wednesday, police and the civil aviation authority said.

 

PIA said a plane bound for the capital, Islamabad, from the northern town of Chitral lost contact with the control tower en route.

 

The aircraft was carrying “around 40 people,” the airline said in a statement, but the civil aviation authority said 47 people were on board. It is not clear if there were any casualties.

 

Laiq Shah, a senior police official in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said the plane had crashed in the province’s Havelian area.

 

“Rescue teams are reaching the scene of the crash, and then we will know more,” Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Pervez George told Reuters.

 

Geo News and Dawn News TV stations, citing civil aviation sources, said the plane lost contact with civil aviation authority at around 4.30 p.m. (1130 GMT).

Presidential aircraft handed over to Air Force allegedly crashes in Makurdi

The Agusta AW 101, one of the presidential jets recently handed over to the Nigerian Air Force, has reportedly crashed at the Nigerian Air Force base in Makurdi.

The plane, which is a medium-lift helicopter specially designed for military operations, reportedly crashed due to poor training of crew members who manned its operation, according to a report by TheNewGuru.

After the handover, the aircraft was repainted from the initial white and green to camouflage.

A source told the website that damages to the jet were significant but no life was lost to the crash.

 

2005/2006 Plane Crashes In Nigeria Were Planned – Fani Kayode Reveals

Fani-Kayode a former  Aviation Minister  has revealed that the five plane crashes that occurred between 2005 and 2006 were man-made and planned and that the victims were sacrifices.

Fani-Kayode disclosed this in a Facebook post where the said: ”Most of our leaders are not human. They are what Mr. David Icke, the famous British historian and public speaker, describes as “hybrids” and “reptilians” who are working for a hidden hand and some very dark and sinister forces.”

“It is in that context that you can understand their exceptional callousness. They are cold-blooded reptiles and certified psycopaths.”

He added that the misery behind the crashes between 2005-2006 were for sacrifice.

“Between 2005 and 2006, just before I was redeployed as Minister to the Ministry of Aviation, there were five plane crashes in Nigeria in one year.

“Four hundred and fifty three  innocent souls perished in those crashes in that year alone. All of them were man-made and planned. They were sacrifices.

“In one case a bomb was planted on the plane. I know this because I took over as Minister and stopped it. I had access to all the reports, particularly the American NTSB reports.

” I wrote to the powers that be and demanded an international investigation only to find out that they were involved too.

“I was asked to drop it in very clear and almost threatening terms. Despite that I told the Senate Aviation Commitee in 2008 at a public hearing what my views were.

” I spoke about a blood cult that was in the aviation sector that derived their power from causing crashes. Because of my testimony at the Senate I became an enemy of the entire system.

“From being their darling and blue-eyed boy I became their mortal enemy overnight because I refused to guard their secrets.

“They forgot that I was a true believer and child of the Living God. I cannot be part of their evil.
Since then they have hated me and tried to destroy and discredit me in more ways than one but God has been with me. Members of the public know nothing about their political leaders. And it is worldwide phenomenon.

“There is a grand conspiracy to establish a New World Order and most of these world leaders are just puppets of the illuminati, paving the way for the Anti-Christ. All u have to do us to be in the inner circles of power for one hour to know that these creatures are not human. They are cold, unfeeling and callous. They kill, maim and destroy at the drop of a hat.

“There are many secrets that some of us will carry to the grave. They say knowledge is power and ignorance comes with a very heavy price and devastating consequences.

“This matter is for developed and enlightened minds and sadly beyond most people. The so-called Islamic agenda in Nigeria and elsewhere is obvious and we are here fighting it day and night risking life, liberty and limb.

“The question is who is behind it and why? What is the end game? The motto of a small branch of the illuminati tree known as the Freemasons is “out of chaos comes order”. It follows that theirs is to first create chaos from country to country and then to estasblish their ‘new world order’.”

Oil Price Crash Has Made Nigeria Poor– Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday  said  the crash in world oil prices has suddenly made Nigeria poor, adding that  the past one year has been very difficult for his administration.
He spoke at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja while receiving the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director and Under Secretary General, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin.

Buhari, however, said despite severe shortage of resources, commitment to transparency and accountability was serving his government in good stead.
“It has been a very difficult year for Nigeria. Before we came to office, petroleum sold for about $100 per barrel. Then it crashed to $37, and now oscillates between $40 and $45 per barrel. Suddenly, we’re a poor country, but commitment to transparency and accountability is not making people know that there is severe shortage,” he said.
Buhari appealed to UNFPA to bear with Nigeria in whichever area the country could not live up to its responsibilities for now.
He noted that an exploding population and different cultural practices in the country provided a fertile ground for research by organisations like the UNFPA.
The president described reports from the North-east of the country as encouraging as people were returning to their farmlands with a guarantee of relative security. He thanked UNFPA for its commitment to saving lives in Nigeria.

Read More: dailytrust

French President Francois Hollande Says Missing EgyptAir Flight MS804 Crashed Into The Sea

At a press conference in Paris, French President Francois Hollande says that all the information gathered so far indicates that flight MS804 crashed – but, he says, no hypothesis as to the cause has been ruled out

“The information we have gathered – ministers, members of government and, of course, the Egyptian authorities – confirm, sadly, that it has crashed. It is lost.”

French President Francois Hollande says flight MS804 crashed into the sea. The flight from Paris to Cairo went missing over the Mediterranean.

An EgyptAir plane headed to Cairo from Paris with 69 people on board disappeared from radar at dawn Thursday, the airline said.

Flight MS804 operating an Airbus A320 took off from Charles de Gaulle airport at 11:09 p.m. with 56 passengers including three children and 10 crew members, the carrier said in a statement.

Passengers included 30 Egyptians, 15 French and 10 other nationalities, including one Briton

It lost contact with radar at 02:30 Cairo time (01:30 BST). It was 16km (10 miles) inside Egyptian airspace when it went missing, the airline says

Recruitment: Police Websites Crash As 8,000 Applicants Register

Attempts by many candidates to apply for enlistment into the Nigeria Police Force were frustrated on Friday as the two police portals for the recruitment crashed and were inaccessible for most part of the day.

The Police Service Commission had directed interested candidates to apply through its website, www.psc.gov.ng or that of the Nigeria Police Force, www.npf.gov.ng, but the two websites crashed due to huge traffic.

It was gathered that many candidates could not apply online at different cyber cafés and had to go back home in frustration.

Attempts to access the websites between 2pm and 6pm were abortive as the PSC website simply said, “This Account has been suspended. Contact your hosting provider for more information.”

The police website –www.ngf.gov.ng – on the other hand, was inaccessible for over 10 hours during which our correspondents monitored the website. But police sources said about 8,000 candidates had registered as of 2pm.

“Candidates started registering online from 4am on Friday when the portals opened for registration; as of 2pm, over 8,000 candidates had registered online. The traffic was huge and this explains why many applicants could not access the websites because the servers were down,” a source explained.

Credit: Punch

Investigators Still Unsure Of Cause Of Bristow Chopper Crash

The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) said on Monday that it was yet to determine the cause of the crash of the Bristow Helicopters S-76 chopper, which went down into the Lagos Lagoon on August 12.

Six persons, including the pilot and the co-pilot, were killed after the helicopter, which was enroute Lagos from Akure, crashed into the Oworonshoki area of the lagoon.

Felix Abali, AIB’s Commissioner, while presenting the bureau’s preliminary report on the incident, said that preliminary findings revealed that the pushrod assembly of the chopper “became disjointed and could not hold together”.

The failure of the pushrod assembly can result in a loss of main rotor or tail rotor flight control and consequent loss of control of the helicopter.

Read More: dailytimes

Missing Indonesian Plane Found Crashed In Oktabe District Of Papua Region

The Indonesian domestic flight carrying 54 passengers and crew that went missing this afternoon has been found crashed in a mountain in Oktabe district in Papua region in Eastern Indonesia.

According to Indonesia’s transport ministry’s director-general of air transportation, Suprasetyo, some villagers in the region found the crashed plane and alerted rescue officials.

“The plane has been found by villagers. According to residents, the flight had crashed into a mountain. Verification is still in process,” an official said

Investigations Begin Into Crash Of Bristow Helicopter

The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), on Wednesday said it had commenced investigation into the Bristow helicopter that crashed into the lagoon in Lagos.

This is contained in a statement issued by the bureau’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Tunji Oketunbi, in Lagos.

The statement said the investigation had commenced with the AIB Commissioner, Dr Felix Abali, leading the team.

The statement said 12 persons were believed to be on board.

Bristow-owned helicopter crashed inside ExxonMobil Facility in Port Harcourt on August 3, 2007.

Another crash involving Bristow Helicopters also occurred on July 14, 2011 in Port Harcourt.

Credit: NAN

Malaysia Confirms Plane Debris Washed Up On Reunion Island Is From Flight MH370

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak confirmed that the wreckage found on Reunion Island last week belongs to the Malaysia Airlines plane that went missing with 239 passengers and crew on board in March, 2014.

“The international team of experts have conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370,” he said in a televised statement

Below is the Prime Minister’s statement in full: On 8 March 2014, flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared. The days, weeks and months that followed have been a period of torment for the families of those on board.

The plane’s disappearance was without precedent. At every stage, we followed the tiny amount of evidence that existed. But, despite the efforts of 26 nations and the largest search in aviation history, from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean, the plane could not be located. Neither could investigations by the world’s leading aviation experts answer why MH370 veered off course and went dark. While the plane’s disappearance remained a mystery, we have shared the anguish of those who could find no comfort.

Last week, on 29th July, we were informed by the French authorities that part of an aircraft wing had been found on Reunion, the French island in the Indian Ocean. Today, 515 days since the plane disappeared, it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts have conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370. We now have physical evidence that, as I announced on 24th March last year, flight MH370 tragically ended in the southern Indian Ocean.

This is a remote, inhospitable and dangerous area, and on behalf of Malaysia I would like to thank the many nations, organisations and individuals who have participated in the search.

Malaysian Plane Makes Emergency Landing In Melbourne

A Malaysia Airlines passenger plane has made an emergency landing in Melbourne, Australia, after reporting a possible engine fire.

Flight MH148 had just taken off from Melbourne for the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur when the problem occurred, the BBC reports.

Plane tracking sites showed the Airbus 330 circling Melbourne airport several times before turning back.

Fire engines were on site but airport officials said it landed safely at 15:00 local time (05:00 GMT).

All 300 passengers disembarked safely at Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport, Malaysia airlines said in a statement.

A preliminary inspection of the plane, which has been grounded, showed “no physical evidence of fire externally,” the airline said.

“Safety is our utmost priority,” it added.

A spokeswoman for Airservices Australia, the government’s aviation safety body, said the plane had reported an “engine fire” alert in the cabin.

“The plane proceeded to dump the fuel and returned to land and it landed safely at the aviation rescue sites,” she told Reuters news agency. Officials said this was standard procedure for an emergency landing.

Malaysia Airlines suffered two major disasters last year. In March, flight MH370 disappeared with 239 passengers and crew aboard and was never found.

Four months later, flight MH17 was shot down by a suspected ground-to-air missile while in Ukrainian airspace, with the loss of 298 passengers and crew.

The two disasters severely damaged the already struggling business, and earlier this month it announced it was “technically bankrupt.”

On Tuesday, new CEO Christoph Mueller said the airline would relaunch as an “entirely new company.”

“We will leave the old Malaysian Airlines behind,” Mr. Mueller told the BBC.

BREAKING: Air Force Helicopter Crashes in Lagos

A helicopter belonging to the Nigerian Air Force has crashed in Lagos. Dele Alonge, Air Force spokesperson, in a statement said the helicopter was a on a training mission in Lagos at about 10 a. m. on Friday when it crashed.

He said the helicopter, which suffered severe damage, was returning to the Apron after the completion of the training exercise when it crashed due to hydraulic failure while on taxi to the hanger. Mr. Alonge said there was no casualty although the main Rotor debris caused damage to some ground equipment on location. He added that the Chief of Air Staff, Adesola Amosun, has ordered an immediate investigation into the crash.

Creditpremiumtimesng

Germanwings Crash: Plane’s ‘Black Box’ Found

A black box recovered from the scene may hold clues to what caused a German jetliner to take an unexplained eight-minute dive on Tuesday midway through a flight from Spain to Germany, apparently killing all 150 people on board.

The victims included two babies, two opera singers and 16 German high school students and their teachers returning from an exchange trip to Spain. It was the deadliest crash in France in decades.

The Airbus A320 operated by Germanwings, a budget subsidiary of Lufthansa, was less than an hour from landing in Dusseldorf on a flight from Barcelona when it unexpectedly went into a rapid descent.

The pilots sent out no distress call and had lost radio contact with their control centre, France’s aviation authority said, deepening the mystery.

While investigators searched through debris from Flight 9525 on steep and desolate slopes, families across Europe reeled with shock and grief. Sobbing relatives at both airports were led away by airport workers and crisis counselors.

Credit: AP

Military Helicopter Crashes Again!!!

Reports reaching us provide that another military helicopter has reportedly crashed in Damare, near the Federal University of Technology in Yola, Adamawa State.

Sources add that this chopper crash occurred almost within the same vicinity where the last chopper crashed.

Authorities are however yet to confirm to this report and its authenticity.