MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT 17
On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down while flying over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. The airliner was downed by a surface-to-air missile, launched from pro-Russian separatist-controlled territory in Ukraine. The Flight 17 was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At that day, it was operated with a Boeing 777-2H6ER, registered as 9M-MRD. The aircraft was delivered new to Malaysia Airlines on July 29, 1997. The flight had two captains, Wan Amran Wan Hussin and Eugene Choo Jin Leong, and two co-pilots, Ahmad Hakimi Hanapi and Muhd Firdaus Abdul Rahim. Contact with the aircraft was lost, when it was about 50 km from the Ukraine and Russia border, and wreckage of the aircraft fell near Hrabove in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine.
According to the original flight plan, Flight 17 was to fly over Ukraine at flight level 330, and then change to flight level 350 around the Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk. When it reached the area as planned, at 12:53 UTC, Dnipropetrovsk air traffic control asked Flight 17, if they could climb to flight level 350 as planned, and also to avoid a potential separation conflict with another flight, Singapore Airlines Flight 351, which was also at flight level 330. The crew asked to remain at flight level 330, and the air traffic control approved this request, moving the other flight to flight level 350. At 13:00 UTC, the crew asked for a deviation of 20 nautical miles to the north of course, on airway L980, due to weather conditions. This request was also approved by Dnipropetrovsk air traffic control. The crew then asked, if they could climb to flight level 340, which was rejected, as this flight level was not available, so Flight 17 remained at flight level 330. At 13:19 UTC, Dnipropetrovsk air traffic control noticed, that the flight was 3.6 nautical miles north of the centreline of approved airway, and instructed Flight 17 to return to the track. At 13:19 UTC, Dnipropetrovsk air traffic control contacted Russian air traffic control in Rostov-on-Don by telephone, and requested clearance to transfer the flight to Russian airspace. After obtaining the permission, Dnipropetrovsk air traffic control attempted to contact Flight 17 for handing them off to Rostov-on-Don air traffic control at 13:20 UTC, but the aircraft did not respond. When Flight 17 did not respond to several calls, Dnipropetrovsk air traffic control contacted Rostov-on-Don air traffic control again, to check if they could see the aircraft on their radar. Rostov-on-Don air traffic control confirmed, that the aircraft had disappeared. At 13:20 UTC, a ground-to-air missile, which had been launched from an area east from the aircraft, detonated outside the aircraft, just above the cockpit to the left, causing an explosive decompression, which resulted to both the cockpit and tail sections tearing away from the middle portion of the fuselage. All three sections disintegrated, as they fell rapidly towards the ground. The majority of debris landed near Hrabove. The debris spread over a 50 square kilometres area to the southwest of Hrabove.
About 90 minutes after the incident, Ukraine closed all routes in Eastern Ukrainian airspace, at all altitudes. The incident dramatically heightened fears about airliner shootdowns, leading to some airlines announcing, that they would avoid overflying conflict zones.
Soon after the crash, both American and Ukrainian officials said that a 9M38 series surface-to-air missile strike was the most likely cause, and if so, then the missile was fired from a mobile Soviet-designed Buk missile system, as this was the only surface-to-air missile system in the region, capable of reaching the altitude of commercial air traffic. Witnesses in Torez reported sightings on the day of the incident, of what appeared to be a Buk missile launcher, and AP journalists reported sightings of a Buk system in separatist controlled Snizhne.
On July 19, 2014, Vitaly Nayda, the chief of the Counter Intelligence Department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), told a news conference, that they had compelling evidence, that this terrorist act was committed with the help of the Russian Federation. Nayda told, that SBU knows clearly, that the crew of this system were Russian citizens. According to Nayda, a Buk launcher used in the shootdown, was moved back into Russia the night after the attack.
The responsibility for investigation was delegated to the Dutch Safety Board and the Dutch-led joint investigation team, who concluded that the airliner was downed by a Buk surface-to-air missile, launched from pro-Russian separatist-controlled territory in Ukraine. According to the joint investigation team, the Buk originated from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Federation, and had been transported from Russia on the day of the crash. It was fired from a field in a rebel-controlled area, and the launcher returned to Russia, after it was used to shoot down the Flight 17. On the basis of the joint investigation team's conclusions, the governments of the Netherlands and Australia hold Russia responsible for the deployment of the Buk installation.
With 298 fatalities, Flight 17 remains the deadliest accident involving the Boeing 777 aircraft.
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