This hasn’t been a very good year for aviation safety so far, at least compared to last year. Reports are just coming in of a Russian-built Ilyushin Il-76 that crashed today in Algeria, killing over 250 people (the initial report suggests 257 casualties, including 247 passengers and 10 crew members).
The military plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Boufarik military airport in northern Algeria, not far from the capital of Algiers. The casualties are mostly army personnel and their families, and the cause of the crash remains unclear as of now.
This is the deadliest airplane crash since MH17 was shot down over Ukraine in July 2014, killing 298 people. It’s the second deadliest crash since an Il-76 carrying 275 people crashed in Iran in 2003.
My thoughts are with the families and friends of those onboard. What a horrible tragedy.
(Featured image courtesy of Bartek Kozłowiec)
@Anthony Generally I don't like personal insults, but I have to admit your insult of Debit gave me more than a little chuckle.
These dreadful old Russian things will continue to fall out of the sky. One day there will be none left , except in museums ( ie, where they belong).
Very sad.
"This hasn’t been a very good year for aviation safety so far..... " whether statistics back up that statement or not, I can't say, but I don't think incidents involving military aircraft should figure in discussions surrounding aviation safety in general.
All of my friends who have worked in civilian aviation over the years offered the same advice. Choose your airline carefully and, above all, choose an airline regulated by a respected aviation authority. For...
"This hasn’t been a very good year for aviation safety so far..... " whether statistics back up that statement or not, I can't say, but I don't think incidents involving military aircraft should figure in discussions surrounding aviation safety in general.
All of my friends who have worked in civilian aviation over the years offered the same advice. Choose your airline carefully and, above all, choose an airline regulated by a respected aviation authority. For those reasons I wouldn't choose to fly on an military aircraft coming out of Algeria.
I am very sorry for the loss of life but I think this matter is not one to be discussed on a civil aviation forum.
No icarus. What I mean is go through life with appropriate set of expectations for every situation so that you don't get disappointed. This is even more true on the internet when you deal with people you don't know.
@ Debit reading between the lines, I believe you agreed with my comments That being said, there is no option to amend comments once they’ve been posted
@Icarus, glad to hear you woke from your coma.
In terms of importance, as of a few years ago, the victims of tragedies fall behind nitpicking circumstances, promoting related political agendas, and grammar.
If there is a mass shooting, the shooter, their motive, and the weapon they used are discussed ad nauseam, and nobody save for the families and friends knows the name of any of the victims. Nor does anyone care.
To...
@Icarus, glad to hear you woke from your coma.
In terms of importance, as of a few years ago, the victims of tragedies fall behind nitpicking circumstances, promoting related political agendas, and grammar.
If there is a mass shooting, the shooter, their motive, and the weapon they used are discussed ad nauseam, and nobody save for the families and friends knows the name of any of the victims. Nor does anyone care.
To make it worse, we have not yet invented time travel to stop this trend before it started.
Sorry for the bad news.
Icarus, you missed a comma in your post. It's very important to have good grammar so that your post is taken seriously.
Amazing how a post regarding a tragic incident decended into a lecture on grammar
Someone’s entire family was killed when they were about to fly to the Ukraine
Oh no. How terrible. Our condolences
.. instead a lecture on grammar
Abuse of the definite article:
The Netherlands.
The Bronx.
The Congo.
The (insert any California highway number).
All stupid, lazy and crass.
I thought you only add "the" in front of the country's name if it includes a noun. So it would be "the United States", "the United Arab Emirates", "the Czech Republic" and "Ukraine" etc. Makes is easy to remember when to add "the" and when to leave it off.
@Guy
Creditable?
Am I also disallowed from saying The United States of America, or The People's Republic of China?
Also, German (which Ben is obviously a native speaker of) adds the definite article to many other countries than just The Ukraine.
@JJJ
Site something other than Wikipedia. This source is more creditable than some random person that could add anything they want to that page
http://time.com/12597/the-ukraine-or-ukraine/
@Guy Being a Dude
"However, in languages which possess definite articles, the question of whether the "official" name for Ukraine includes the definite article is subject to discussion. "Ukraine" and "The Ukraine" are both possible translations of the Ukrainian "Україна"."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Ukraine#%22Ukraine%22_versus_%22the_Ukraine%22
Someday the algorithm that writes Debit's posts will come up with a halfway decent joke. Until then we're stuck watching this machine learn how humans interact and communicate with one another. Good luck little buddy, you'll pass that Turing Test someday!
Oh Debit, the only thing authentic about you is your name.... when God assigned you an IQ, he gave you 120 & then debited it 130 points! I’ll give you a few hours to work on that... it’ll be tough with 23 fingers and toes to count that high but that’s what inbreeding does!
This is not news or a tragedy.
White house team out of trumps favorite cereals, that is a tragedy. The things the man puts up with for his country.
Do you se fake news media talk about it? You are fake news lucky.
It's "Ukraine" not "the Ukraine"