27 NOV 2008 _______________________________________ *Airbus crash kills 2, wounds 5 *Witness: Air New Zealand A320 'Turned Brutally Towards The Ground' *Preliminary Data *************************************** Airbus crash kills 2, wounds 5 PARIS (AP) - An Airbus A320 passenger plane crashed off France's southern coast during a maintenance flight Thursday, killing two people and leaving the five others on board missing, authorities said. The airplane had undergone checks at the EAS Industries aircraft maintenance center in the French city of Perpignan, near the border with Spain. It was being leased by German charter airline XL Airways and was due to return to service for Air New Zealand next month, officials from those companies said. The jet plunged into the Mediterranean as it was approaching the Perpignan airport, from which it had taken off on a circular flight an hour earlier, France's civil aviation accident investigation bureau said. French and German investigators, as well as civil aviation officials and Airbus experts, were heading to the crash site about 12.5 miles off the coast, it said. Two bodies were recovered at sea, the local government said, without identifying the victims. FIND MORE STORIES IN: France | Spain | Mediterranean | Frankfurt | Airbus | Antarctica | Auckland | Airbus A320 | Air New Zealand | Mount Erebus | Perpignan | XL Airways Five boats, two helicopters and a patrol airplane were searching choppy seas for the other five people who were on board, the regional center for Mediterranean rescue operations said. "The fuselage has been located. The rescue operations will determine if there are any survivors," said First Officer Sandrine Parro, with the center. The airplane - owned by Air New Zealand - has been operated by XL Airways under a 2006 lease, the German charter company's spokesman Asger Schubert said in Frankfurt. The maintenance checks were part of plans to hand the plane back to its owner. The crew included two German pilots, Schubert said. Another pilot and three engineers from Air New Zealand were also on board, as well as an aircraft inspector from the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority, Air New Zealand's CEO Rob Fyfe said at the company's headquarters in Auckland. He said the plane had been due to return to Air New Zealand's service next month. Airbus said the 150-passenger plane had accumulated approximately 7,000 flight hours since its delivery to Air New Zealand in July 2005. The plane maker said it would be "inappropriate" to speculate on the cause of the crash before the investigation was complete. Divers were expected to search for the aircraft's black box recorders on Friday, said Bernard Celier, spokesman for the maritime prefecture for the Mediterranean. Maritime affairs officer Nicolas Renaud said French authorities had been alerted to the accident by the skipper of a sailing boat who said he saw the plane go down. "The plane appears to be in several pieces," Renaud told BFM television. It was the nearly 29th anniversary of Air New Zealand's worst air disaster. In late November 1979, a passenger plane crashed into Antarctica's Mount Erebus, killing all 259 people on board. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-11-27-france-airbus-crash_N.htm *************** Witness: Air New Zealand A320 'Turned Brutally Towards The Ground' Two Fatalities Reported Among Seven Onboard ANN REALTIME UPDATE 11.27.08 2000 EST: A witness to Thursday's downing of an Air New Zealand A320 told a French radio station he saw the plane dive abruptly into the Mediterranean Sea as it approached to land at Perpignan. "I could see it was an airliner because I saw two large engines. There was no fire, nothing," the witness, a local policeman, told France Info radio. "It was flying straight, then it turned brutally towards the ground. I said to myself it will never pull out and there was a big spray of water." Reuters reports search teams have recovered the bodies of two of the seven people onboard the airliner, which was on a maintenance checkout flight following a retrofit. The airliner, one of 12 Airbus A320s operated by Air New Zealand, was slated to return to the carrier following a lease to Germany's XL Airways. According to an Air New Zealand release, the plane was bound to Frankfurt on a ferry flight operated by XL Airways... but at least four employees with the Auckland-based carrier may have been onboard. The airliner had already been repainted in ANZ livery (shown below and at bottom). In a sad bit of serendipity, Thursday's accident occurred on the 29th anniversary of New Zealand's worst aviation accident -- the CFIT crash of Air New Zealand 901 into the side of Mount Erebus. All 257 people onboard the DC-10 sightseeing plane were killed. "To have this incident occur on the same day just adds to the sense of tragedy," said Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe, who added he still held out hope survivors might still be found from Thursday's accident. "I'm hopeful there still may be survivors, early indications are that the plane and debris were floating on the water, and I certainly haven't given up hope," he told a news conference in Auckland. Earlier Reports UPDATE 11.27.08 1321 EST: ANN is monitoring industry reports that indicate the aircraft involved in this accident is an Air New Zealand 'Freedom Air' airframe that had been leased to XL Airways of Germany. The aircraft was reported to have undergone maintenance prior to the flight (ostensibly a maintenanance test operation) before it was ditched in the Med. The aircraft was due to return to service for Freedom Air, following the end of the XL lease. At least one fatality is now being reported in the French press and no survivors have been confirmed. 11.27.08 1147 EST: Search efforts are underway for as many as seven people onboard an Airbus A320 that ditched in the Mediterranean Sea off the southwest coast of France Thursday. Reuters reports the airliner was on a training flight when it crashed for as-yet unknown reasons off the coast near Perpignan, at around 1700 local time. French news channel LCI adds the plane was attempting to land when it crashed. Debris has been spotted in the water. A spokesman for the French regional maritime authority said the aircraft was an A320, one of the most popular narrowbody airliners in service. CNN states the aircraft wore Air New Zealand livery, though at this stage it's unknown whether the plane was a new aircraft or one already in service. The airline lists 12 A320s among its fleet of mostly Boeing aircraft, of which 10 are leased. The accident site is approximately 315 miles from Airbus' headquarters in Toulouse. FMI: www.airbus.com aero-news.net **************** Status: Preliminary Date: 27 NOV 2008 Time: ca 17:00 Type: Airbus A320-232 Operator: Air New Zealand Registration: ZK-OJL ? C/n / msn: 2500 First flight: 2005 Crew: Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7 Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0 Total: Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7 Airplane damage: Written off Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: 7 km (4.4 mls) off Saint-Cyprien (France) Phase: En route (ENR) Nature: Test Departure airport: Perpignan Airport (PGF/LFMP), France Destination airport: Perpignan Airport (PGF/LFMP), France Narrative: The Airbus A320 had undergone maintenance at EAS Industries in Perpignan (PGF). The aircraft crashed at sea during a post-maintenance test flight. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the airplane involved was ZK-OJL. This plane had just been returned to Air New Zealand after flying for XL Airways as D-AXLA. (aviation-safety.net) ***************