Another Airbus down - Yemen Airways A310 crashes into Indian Ocean

says, “It regrets to announce" the crash of Flight IY626. The Airbus was on a flight from the Yemeni capital of San’a (SAH) to Moroni (HAH), in the Comoros Islands. The carrier says there were 153 souls on board the A310-300 twinjet – 142 passengers and a crew of 11. Is reporting that 66 of those on board were French.

Reports say--so far--one victim has been pulled from the water alive. The survivor, a young girl, was rushed to a hospital. If she is, indeed, the only survivor of this tragedy it will mark the second time in the recent accident record where one passenger has made it out alive while all around them perished. August 16, 1987. Flight 255 crashed on takeoff from. (DTW). In that instance, a four year-old girl was the only survivor. 156 others died.

Reports the big airbus was attempting to land in bad weather when it went down over the water. The Comoros are located off the southeastern coast of Africa, in the Mozambique Channel. That’s a small section of the vast Indian Ocean.

It is far too early to determine just what went wrong with Flight IY626. Although there are superficial similarities between the June 1 crash of Air France Flight 447 over the South Atlantic, which killed 228, and the June 30 crash of the Yemenia Airbus, there are notable differences. The A330-200 was at cruise altitude, trying to traverse an especially virulent band of thunderstorms. The Yemenia A310-300 was getting ready to land. The lion’s share of aviation accidents occurs during the critical takeoff and landing phases.

There are other differences too. The A310 is an older technology aircraft. The A310-300 first flew in 1985. The A330 was developed in the 1990s. There's a wide technological gulf between the two aircraft. The last large U.S. carrier to fly the A310 in regularly-scheduled passenger service was. Delta inherited the craft when it took over the last vestiges of Pan Am in the early 1990s.

The A310 was the second widebody aircraft type produced by Airbus. The first was the airframe maker's then cutting-edge A300. It was launched in the early 1970s, and represented the first twin-engine widebody foray for the airline industry. Today, there are a scant few transoceanic airliners remaining that have more than two engines. Among them: the 747-400 and the Airbus A340. Both those aircraft have four powerplants.

source: www.examiner.com