Atlasjet Flight 4203

Infobox Airliner accident
Name= Atlasjet Flight 4203
Crash

Image caption= A pre-crash photo of the aircraft from 2006
Date= November 30, 2007
Type= Pilot error
Site= Near Keçiborlu, Turkey
Fatalities= 57
Origin= Atatürk International Airport, Istanbul, Turkey
Destination= Süleyman Demirel Airport, Isparta, Turkey
Aircraft Type= McDonnell Douglas MD-83
Operator= Atlasjet
Tail Number= TC-AKMcite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Passenger aircraft crashes in Turkey
work =
publisher = FlightGlobal
date= 2007-11-30
url = http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/11/30/219958/passenger-aircraft-crashes-in-turkey.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-11-30 ]
Passengers= 50
Crew= 7
Survivors= 0|

Atlasjet Flight 4203 was a scheduled flight from Istanbul's Atatürk International Airport to Isparta Süleyman Demirel Airport in Isparta, Turkey. On November 30, 2007 it crashed outside the town of Keçiborlu, 18 km (11 mi) from Isparta at around 01:36 EET (23:36 UTC on November 29). [Cite web
url = http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20071130-0
title = Accident description (preliminary)
publisher = Air Safety Network
accessdate = 2007-11-30] The flight took off from Istanbul at 00:50 EET with 57 people on board, including a six-week old baby which had not been counted on departure from the airport. [Cite web
url = http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/11/30/turkey.jet/index.html
title = Physics expert, baby among plane dead
accessdate = 2007-11-30
publisher = CNN] Atlasjet Airline's CEO Tuncay Doganer reported that no one had survived the crash. [Cite web
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7120268.stm
title = 'None survive' Turkey plane crash
publisher = BBC News
accessdate = 2007-11-30
date= 2007-11-30]

The plane was a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 which Atlasjet leased from World Focus Airlines, whose pilots were flying it when it crashed.Cite web
url = http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/11/29/turkey.jet/index.html
title = Plane crashes; no survivors found
publisher = CNN
accessdate = 2007-11-30
date= 2007-11-30]

Engin Arık, a nuclear physicist, died on the plane, along with five other academics on their way to a physics conference in Isparta. [Cite web
url = http://www.milliyet.com.tr/2007/11/30/son/sontur59.asp
title = Düşen uçakla ilgili kuşku dolu soru işareti...
publisher = "Milliyet"
language = Turkish
accessdate = 2007-11-30
date= 2007-11-30]

Crash site

Local officials said the plane had broken into two pieces, with its fuselage and rear landing in different places. The Anadolu Agency news service said the plane's wings and engine were at the top of a hill while the fuselage was 150 m (500 ft) lower. A local reporter at the scene described luggage and debris strewn across a large area, which police have cordoned off. It was reported that the plane crashed away from the typical flight path. Officials are confused as to how the plane ended up there. [Cite web
url = http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TURKEY_PLANE?SITE=VAROA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
first = Selcan
last = Hacaoglu
title = Turkey plane crash kills all 57 on board
publisher = Associated Press via "The Roanoke Times"
accessdate = 2007-12-01
date= 2007-12-01]

Investigation

Investigators found the two black boxes (the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder) during the afternoon of the day of the crash. Weather conditions were good at the time of the flight, [Cite web
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7121325.stm
title = Hunt for clues in Turkish crash
publisher = BBC News
accessdate = 2007-11-30
date= 2007-11-30] with a visibility of convert|12|km|mi, and the aircraft had no known technical issues. The pilots were experienced and had just come out of a routine training session a few days before the accident, as reported by the Anatolian News Agency. Speculation on the quality of technical attention the aircraft received by World Focus Airlines received major attention by the Turkish media.Fact|date=December 2007

Upon investigation of the black box of the aircraft in Lufthansa laboratories, the cockpit voice recorder device was found to have been inoperative for the 9 days leading up to the accident [Cite web
url = http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=130467
title = Black box of crashed plane was out of order
publisher = Today's Zaman (newspaper)
accessdate = 2007-12-31
date = 2007-12-31] , in contravention of regulations which specify that it must be made operable within 72 hours of the fault being discovered [Cite web
url = http://www.jaat.eu/secured/Operations/Public%20Documents/TGLs/MEL%20Policy%20%28TGL%2026%29.pdf
title = Temporary Guidance Leaflet No. 26
publisher = Joint Aviation Authorities
accessdate = 2008-01-01
date = 2007-06-01] . In addition, the flight data recorder was not working properly and only contained 15 minutes of flight data. [Cite web
url = http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=130467
title = Black box of crashed plane was out of order
publisher = Today's Zaman (newspaper)
accessdate = 2007-12-31
date = 2007-12-31] .Analysing the available data from the flight data recorder, the authorities declared that the accident was caused by pilot error as a result of the condition known as "spatial disorientation" [Cite web
url = http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=129224
title = Pilot error caused plane crash that killed 57
publisher = Today's Zaman (newspaper)
accessdate = 2007-12-31
date = 2007-12-12] . The pilot is believed to have lost the sight of line for the horizon and instead of trusting the flight instruments, diverted the aircraft to the route where the crash occurred.Fact|date=December 2007

Controversy

Shortly after the crash, an important amount of controversy raised about the death of 6 important nuclear physicists who were working on a project of CERN. [Cite web
url = http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2007/12/02/pz/haber,C37DEA389D064C9A9AB79CEDBFDA5484.html
title = Bilime adanmış hayatlar
publisher = Sabah (newspaper)
accessdate = 2008-01-18
date = 2007-12-02] The debate touched upon points such as the probability of sabotage because the preparation for building a new nuclear reactor in Turkey had just begun. [Cite web
url = http://arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=8020064
title = B Nükleerde maliyetin yüzde 60’ı güvenlikten
publisher = Hurriyet
accessdate = 2008-01-18
date = 2008-01-14]

References

External links

* [http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regsearch=TC-AKM&distinct_entry=true Pre-accident pictures of the airplane]