dOES ANYONE KNOW THE TAIL NUMBERS AND OR SERIAL NUMBERS ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jackson" <fubar@xxxxxxxxxx> To: <AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 3:50 PM Subject: Re: West Caribbean Airways Crash in Venezuela > Hi Gerard, > If the MD82 went down in the Goajira peninsula, it's seems less than 100 = > miles wide. The crew probably didn't really have a choice, but one = > wonders if there were a choice, wouldn't you choose ditching to trying = > to land on ground off an airport? > > The West Caribbean crash site is a good 150 km S of that peninsula's = > northern tip and well south of their intended track. Based on the comm = > exchange between the aircraft and Maiquetia CTR and Caracas CTR, I'd = > venture that the crew were already thinking about looking for a proper = > spot to put the airplane down - possibly Barquisimeto if they were they = > couldn't reach Caracas. One local source is stating that shortly before = > the acft went off the scope at FL140, the plane was already pegging 7000 = > ft./min descent rate - hardly the sort of situation where an aircraft = > could be considered under control, if true. > Anyway, the aircraft came down on the eastern slopes of the Perij=E1 = > mountain range, which tops 8000 ft. ASL. > > Does anyone know of survivals when bringing a large jet, say 737 or = > bigger, to a stop without touching down on an airport surface first?=20 > About two years ago or so, a TAM Fokker F100 performed a controlled, = > wheels-up landing on a mildly undulating field after it experienced a = > dual flame out due to fuel starvation. None of the passengers and = > crewmembers suffered injuries. I would have to check on it, but I = > understand that the aircraft was not a write-off and it was returned to = > service several months later. > > Regards > Jackson >