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| In this photo released by Sergey Dolya, a Sukhoi Superjet-100 takes off from Halim Perdanakusuma airport in Jakarta. Photo: AP |
Search team from the air base Atang Sanjaya has managed to find the point of Sukhoi Superjet 100 airplane crash. The plane was expected to fall in the Cijeruk, Bogor.
"In the area of Cijeruk, located about 1.7 nautical mile," said Chief Pentak Atang Sanjaya air base, Maj. Ali, as confirmed AFP on Thursday (5/10/2012).
Ali ensure the physical, the plane had been found. "There has been at the edge of the cliff," he explained.
The team seeks to immediately evacuate by land or air. "Are we trying to do," he said.
A relative of a passenger of the missing Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft cries at Halim Perdana Kusuma Airport in Jakarta. Photo: Reuters
Indonesian authorities say they have found the wreckage of a Russian Sukhoi passenger plane that had gone missing during a demonstration flight near a volcano on Indonesia's Java island yesterday, officials said.
There were 48 people on board, but it is not yet known if there are any survivors.
The wreckage was spotted on the edge of a cliff at 1650 metres by a search helicopter, officials said.
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In this photo released by Sergey Dolya, captain pilot Alexander Yablontsev, left and first officer Alexander Kotchetkov pose with unidentified cabin crew next to their Sukhoi Superjet-100.
In this photo released by Sergey Dolya, captain pilot Alexander Yablontsev, left and first officer Alexander Kotchetkov pose with unidentified cabin crew next to their Sukhoi Superjet-100. Photo: AP
Head of the Mist Mountain Salak National Park, Agus Priambudi, said the Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft has been found. Based on the observation helicopter search team from the air, the crash site was discovered in Russia in the village of Cijeruk, District Cijeruk.
"The position of the Sukhoi aircraft is on a cliff near the peak of Salak, Cijeruk. Resort Salak one," said Agus told VIVAnews, Thursday, May 10, 2012. "The wreck of the plane and this time the victim has not been found," he said.
Meanwhile, the search coordinator of the plane, I Ketut Purwa, said the plane was found at coordinates 06.42.612 and 106.44.412 at an altitude of 2,500 feet, about 3.5 kilometers from Cijeruk.
"Found it," said Ketut. Once information is on the ground, aircraft search teams held a closed meeting immediately.
Sukhoi SSJ-100 was lost contact since Wednesday, May 9th, 2012 at 14:33 pm. The aircraft went missing after seeking permission from a height of 10,000 feet down to 6,000 feet. Coordinates last time contact was lost at 06:43:08 coordinates S and 106.43.15 BSN.
"The Super Puma (helicopter) we deployed this morning has spotted the Sukhoi plane in the Cijeruk area. For the time being we can say nothing about its condition because it was sighted from far away in the air," Ali Umri Lubis, a spokesman for a military airbase, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Indonesia's search and rescue agency said radio contact with the plane was lost about 2.50pm local time (5.50pm AEST) after the jet descended to 6000 feet around Mount Salak, a volcano 7254 feet above sea level, south of the capital Jakarta.
Shortly after dawn today a team of 40 rescuers headed towards Salak mountain, where the Superjet 100 went missing, an AFP reporter said, with helicopters also due to join in the search.
In this photo released by Sergey Dolya, a Sukhoi Superjet-100 takes off from Halim Perdanakusuma airport in Jakarta.
"If it had made an emergency landing we should have received some news via the radio or phone calls by passengers by now," Ketut Parwa, the capital's search and rescue agency chief, who is coordinating operations, said earlier.
Juanda, a 41-year old villager who goes by one name, said he was feeding his chickens when he heard a roar overhead.
"I looked up and saw a huge white plane moving unsteadily just slightly below the mountain summit. It was still way above the trees but veering left and right, and then it disappeared," he told AFP by telephone from Tenjolaya district near Salak mountain.
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"I heard a sound like firecrackers, but I couldn't see it anymore," he said.
Two helicopters searching for the plane yesterday evening were forced to turn back due to strong winds and bad weather, and Parwa said choppers would be sent out again after sunrise.
By midnight, hundreds of rescuers had set up three posts around the mountain as they prepared for search and rescue operations.
"We fear it might have crashed in a jungly area 2000 metres above sea level near Kawah Ratu," a crater on the slopes of Salak, Parwa added.
Businessmen, diplomats and journalists on board
The Superjet 100 plane - Russia's first all-new passenger jet since the fall of the Soviet Union - was carrying Indonesian businessmen, Russian embassy officials and journalists, Indonesian and Russian officials said.
Transport ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said the plane was flying at 10,000 feet and asked for permission to descend to 6000 feet. "The last contact was when they asked for permission to descend from 10,000 feet to 6000 feet," Ervan said.
"The plane was doing the first flight around midday and returned to the airport, but when it took off the second time, it lost contact around Bogor," Ervan said.
Those on board included eight crew and 42 guests according to the latest figures from the Russian embassy in Jakarta, Sunaryo, chairman of Sukhoi's Indonesian agent PT Trimarga Rekatama, told a news conference.
At least 40 people on board the jet were Indonesian, the Jakarta Globe reported, citing local officials.
An Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said consular officials were still trying to confirm if any Australians were on board.
There were eight Russians on board, including pilots and technicians, Dmitry Solodov from the embassy said earlier.
The French embassy in Jakarta confirmed there was one French national aboard.
Indonesia's search and rescue agency was looking for the jet near one of many volcanoes that form the backbone of Indonesia's main island. Air traffic accidents are common in the sprawling South-East Asian archipelago of 17,000 islands.
"Salak's a big mountain, I didn't hear anything," said Jocean Bowler, an American running an organic farm on the slopes of the mountain, visible from the capital on clear days and a popular tourist destination.
Rear Admiral Iskandar Sitompul, the spokesman for TNI, Indonesia's Armed Forces, told the Globe is was likely that the plane crashed as it only had fuel for a four-hour flight.
Olga Kayukova, a spokeswoman for Russia's United Aircraft Corporation, told Reuters the Sukhoi Superjet-100 was on a second flight as part of a demonstration programme in Indonesia.
"The first flight was carried out in a normal mode ... The pre-flight preparations were carried out in full and the plane was completely ready to fly," she said.
"According to information from Indonesia, the contact with the plane was broken after 20 minutes from the take-off, at 1435 local time," Kayukova said.
Russian PM establishes commission
The Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, has established a commission to investigate the disappearance, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said.
Sukhoi, which has orders for 170 planes worldwide, plans to produce up to 1000 superjets, primarily for foreign markets. It aimed to sell 42 planes to Indonesia, which is seeing a fast expanding aviation market to tap travel by a growing middle class in the world's fourth most populous nation.
The jet was developed with Western design advice and technology from Boeing and Italy's Finmeccanica , as well as avionics and engine equipment from French aerospace firms Thales and Safran.
Built in a converted corner of a Sukhoi fighter factory in Siberia, it was first unveiled in 2007 as part of a drive to curb Russia's dependence on oil and gas and restore pride in its aviation industry, but ran into a series of development delays.
The Superjet 100, with a capacity of 68-103 passengers, is already in service with Russia's Aeroflot and Armenian carrier Armavia and is half way through a 15,500-km, six-nation Asian tour to try to drum up more international customers.
The aircraft is being marketed internationally in partnership with Finmeccanica subsidiary Alenia Aeronautica.
