Trekking to the Sukhoi crash site
By Beawiharta
I think this has been my hardest assignment to get photos since I began working for Reuters.
Wednesday Wednesday afternoon at the office I received news that a Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 passenger plane with 46 people on board had lost contact with air traffic control at Jakarta’s Halim Perdana Kusuma airport during their demonstration flight over Mount Salak. After more than four hours of no contact, it meant the aircraft was lost, crashed or had made an emergency landing. I decided to spend the night at the office to figure out the fastest options for covering the Sukhoi news, and to prepare all the camera equipment in the pictures vehicle. After a discussion with Heru Asprihanto from TV and Indonesia bureau chief Matthew Bigg, we decided to wait until morning to head to the the nearby location Mount Salak.
Thursday After taking photos in the morning of volunteers preparing to climb Salak Mountain, I received information that the Sukhoi aircraft had crashed after hitting a slope atop Mount Salak. For Indonesians, it is common for aircraft to hit the mountain. Since 2004, four aircraft have crashed there, the worst an Indonesian air force aircraft in 2008 that killed 18 soldiers on board.
After eating lunch, I joined the first rescue team heading to the crash site. The team said it would need two to three hours to climb to the crash site from our position. I thought I would need between four to six hours to climb up and walk back down, before managing to send pictures to the desk at around 6pm local time. I joined the team, deciding not to carry a laptop and sat phone in order to lighten the baggage that I was carrying while climbing. It would also prevent any damage to the equipment should I fall. I had five chocolate bars, 1.5 liters of water, two camera bodies and three lenses, alongside a pocket knife, headlamp and rain coat in my backpack.
A window seat to Everest
By Tim Chong
I was covering the Singapore F1 Grand Prix over the weekend.
Sunday was race day and as usual I woke up a bit early to check the news. I saw on my twitter feed that a plane carrying tourists to see the Himalayan range and Mount Everest had crashed in Nepal.
I was on a similar flight a year ago myself and the tragedy felt especially personal because of its proximity.
Four airlines in Nepal operate these one-hour long mountain flights that allow travelers with limited time in Nepal to see a panoramic view of the Himalayan ranges and Mount Everest itself. I remember the day clearly, having arrived early at the domestic terminal of Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport. The aircraft was rather new; a twin-engine turbo-prop plane and I felt instantly relieved. Like any other flight, the usual routine applied. There was a safety demonstration, and everyone was made to buckle their seat belts.
Remembering the Concorde crash
On July 25, 2000, I had returned to Paris after four weeks of covering the Tour de France and was in the office waiting for my flight back to my home base Nice. It was a quiet day for news and that afternoon I relaxed in the office.
Paris photographer Philippe Wojazer told me, “because it’s quiet, there isn’t any need for the two of us here, I’m going back to my place.” I remember seeing him take his motorbike helmet and then seeing a news flash that said, “Plane crash at Roissy.” The adrenaline was pumping in the office when a second news flash announced “It is a Concorde.”
Philippe told me to head to Roissy on a motorbike with a driver and he would stay at the office to receive my photos. On the way to Roissy, I could see a column of smoke in the distance. Immediately I realized the severity of the situation and the fact that it was a Concorde heightened the news value of the event. Quickly we arrived close to the crash site but it was already surrounded by police who had blocked access to the area and the surrounding two miles.
After a moment’s consideration I told the motorbike driver, “We are going to break the barrier.” And that is what we did, despite the reluctance of my driver. While passing them, two police officers tried to grab my shirt to stop us. Finally, we arrived at the field where the Concorde had crashed. There was a lot of smoke and until that moment I hadn’t realized that the Concorde had crashed into a hotel. After taking several general view pictures, I started to cross the field to get closer to the crash site. In the distance I could see police officers running towards me and I realized that I wouldn’t be able to continue to take pictures for long.
I saw the plane’s wheels and the firemen surrounding the plane. I turned around and saw the police were now practically on me. I had started to take pictures of the site. Quickly, I took out the disc from my camera and hid it before being detained by the police and escorted from the site.
People, according to a “new” report from Smithsonian,
*the plane had 1000 lbs of extra luggage not accounted for.
*Took on an extra 2.5 tons of fuel for takeoff and only used half of it.
So, you’re looking at about a ton of extra weight totally unaccounted for.
Then there was the missing tire spacer left off/found in the maint. hanger that keeps the plane’s tires from wobbiling during takeoff. Concorde missed another AF 747 by 30 ft during takeoff because of wobble.
Not to mention, after the fuel tank rupture in 1989 @ Dulles, the European Aviation Safety Board recommended adding kevlar to line the fuel tanks and upgrading the tire and wheel carriage were totally ignored by Aerospatsiale (now Airbus). Naturally all this was added AFTER the crash @ a cost of $20mil.
from Our Take on Your Take:
Capturing the crash aftermath
Two hours after the news broke about a military jet crashing into San Diego homes, I received an email to You Witness from Ron Belanger with a link to dramatic photos of the incident. Here is Ron's account of events.
I was working at home near MCAS Miramar in San Diego mid-day Monday, when I heard the unmistakable "pop… pop…" sound of ejection seats firing nearby but hadn't heard the jet's engines. As a retired Navy pilot and aircraft accident investigator I suddenly realized this meant that a pilotless aircraft and ejection seats would soon be coming down. I took cover under my desk then heard a deafening sound as the plane crashed and the house shook violently.
When I ran outside there was a large black cloud of smoke rising and I could feel the heat. I tried to call 911 but the line was already busy as other witnesses called in the emergency. I grabbed my shoes and camera and ran down to the scene which is five houses over from mine. Several of us asked neighbors if there was anyone in the house. Since that wasn't known, we went down the right side, where part of the house was still standing, shouting out to anyone inside but there was no answer… just the roar of the fire and the sound of small explosions. We couldn't go in because the house was fully involved in flames at every opening we found. As we were checking out the back yard, a propane tank from the camper which had been pushed into the house exploded. We quickly retreated since there was nothing we could do.
Pilots and investigators who arrive early on an accident scene are trained to document the scene and take photos if possible so that's what I did. Copies of the pics are being provided to the accident investigators and public safety agencies.
We received Ron's images shortly afterwards and quickly had our senior photographer contact him and negotiate a payment and rights of usage. A little over an hour later, the images were on the Reuters Pictures wire and sent around the world. Ron has received calls from friends and family globally after they saw his images online and in print.
A selection of other You Witness images used on the wire can be found here.
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The Wall
if the caption was ommitted, i would have thought that the pictures are for a military excercise, well some of the pics. i wish to have seen the debris.