Royal Airlines Cargo Ilyushin Il-76 crashes in Kabul

[Abbas Ali]

TEPYE SHAHEEDAN, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A cargo airplane plowed into a mountain near the Afghan capital of Kabul on Friday killing all eight of its mostly Russian crew, officials said.

Hours after the crash, a Taliban commander telephoned Reuters saying the Islamist rebels had shot down the plane, but Western military officials said the cause of crash was unknown. Taliban claims of responsibility are often not borne out.

A U.S. military spokesman said the plane was making a short hop from Kabul airport to the U.S. military's air base at Bagram, north of the city, when it crashed.

"It was carrying communications equipment for coalition forces, but it never made it," said Colonel Jerry O'Hara, adding that the aircraft belonged to a private civilian company.

The plane was operated by Pakistan's Royal Airlines and belonged to a Georgian company, Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanezai told Reuters.

"It had come from Bahrain with some goods for the U.S. forces," he said. "Five of the crew members were Russians, two were Ukranians and one was Pakistani," he added.

Claiming responsibility, Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah described the plane as a combat aircraft.

"We used a new weapon to shoot down the plane," said Dadullah, whose claims have often proved unreliable in the past.

Debris was spread over several hundred metres, and a Reuters reporter at the crash site saw documents in Russian and rouble banknotes inside the wreckage.

"It was a Russian-made civilian cargo plane," Lieutenant Colonel Cristoni Riccardo, a spokesman for the NATO-led peacekeeping mission told Reuters.

The crash occurred in cloudy weather during the morning.

A passenger plane hit a snow-covered mountain southeast of Kabul in February, killing 104 people.

Source: Yahoo News

[Abbas Ali]

Link to Royal Airlines website: http://www.royalpakistan.com/

[hajafri]

Can anybody list the names of people died in this accident please? how many other aeroplanes does Royal Airlines Have in their Fleet? was'nt it the one came to KHI aeroClub for Maintenance, Tie-Down, Parking.
Regards
jafri

[Abbas Ali]

A Royal Airlines Cargo Ilyushin Il-76 at Lahore Airport in summer of 2005 - Photo copyright Aroosh Naqvi

Georgian company says it leased plane to Pakistani airline

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - A plane that crashed into an Afghan mountain, killing at least eight people, had been leased to a Pakistan-based airline by a Georgian company, aviation officials in the former Soviet republic said Saturday.

Levan Beridze, the head of Global Georgian Airways, said the Soviet-built Ilyushin Il-76 was owned by a company in the United Arab Emirates but was temporarily in the hands of his company, which had leased it to Pakistan's Royal Airlines as of Sept. 1 to carry out cargo flights.

Beridze said company officials have left for Afghanistan to look into the crash.

The head of Georgia's Civil Aviation Administration, Georgy Mzhavanadze, also said that Global Georgian Airways had the right of use of the plane but did not own it.

The 20-year-old Il-76 was carrying cargo for the U.S.-led coalition when it crashed into mountains near Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, on Friday. A police commander at the crash site said there were no survivors.

A spokesman for the NATO-led force in Afghanistan said 10 people were on board, while Aijaz Faizi, manager of Pakistan-based Royal Airlines, said there were only eight: five Russians, two Ukrainians and a Pakistani.

Source: CNEWS

[umar.islam]

Can anybody list the names of people died in this accident please? how many other aeroplanes does Royal Airlines Have in their Fleet? was'nt it the one came to KHI aeroClub for Maintenance, Tie-Down, Parking.
Regards
jafri

The Pakistani's name is Hasnain, and from Lahore. He was a Flight Coordinator, in which he had to assist the Russian Crew in speaking proper English over the Radios, among other things.

Royal Airlines currently has three IL-76, three AN-12, one Fairchild Metroliner, one Cessna 402, one Hawker Siddley and one Cessna 182.

The aircraft that you saw at KHI Aeroclub for maintenance was either the Metro, or the Hawker. Nowadays, you'll find both our Metro and the C402 parked at the Night Parking area at JIAP.

[Abbas Ali]

Thank you Umar for sharing information. I'm trying to find out registration marks of all aircraft in Royal Airlines fleet including Il-76s and An-12s. I will appreciate any info about registration marks of their aircraft.

[umar.islam]

Thank you Umar for sharing information. I'm trying to find out registration marks of all aircraft in Royal Airlines fleet including Il-76s and An-12s. I will appreciate any info about registration marks of their aircraft.

Hawker Siddley - AP-BGI

Cessna 402 - AP-BHS

Metro - ZS-OMV (Soon to be registered as a Pakistani aircraft, currently South African)

Cessna 182 - AP-BGD

Regarding the AN-12 and IL-76 aircrafts, I'll have to get back to you on that.

In addition from my last post, Royal Airlines, two weeks ago, had acquired two B737 under Wet-Lease Operation. These will phase out the AN-12 fleet.

[Abbas Ali]

Thank you Umar for the information, really appreciate it very much. I would certainly to know registrations of their An-12s and Il-76s.

In addition from my last post, Royal Airlines, two weeks ago, had acquired two B737 under Wet-Lease Operation.

That's very good to know! Do they plane to use them on scheduled passenger flights and is there any information available about their registrations? Are these 737-200s or new generation 737s?

Thank you again for your reply.

[PK777]

Have Royal Airline got right to allow passenger transportation or are they just cargo based ??

[AP-BGL]

Have Royal Airline got right to allow passenger transportation or are they just cargo based ??

Some months before probably two, I read that they have got the liscence for starting its passenger service. There M.D claimed to start the service soon at that time but still they are giving just cargo services.

[umar.islam]

A correction from my last post, in which Royal Airlines only has TWO
AN-12 and HAD one IL-76, which went down last week.

Registrations:

AN12 - EX-160
EX-164

IL-76 - 4L-ZIL

B737-229 - EX-050

In reply of the series of the B737, it's a -200 series currently being operated for Cargo, and will be for (RPT) Regular Public Transport (Scheduled Service) flights in the coming months.

Royal Airlines has had it's RPT License for over two years now. A fully operational Commuter Airline is to be expected by January or February.

[Abbas Ali]

Thank you Umar for detailed information about Royal Airlines fleet. I really appreciate it very much.

Abbas