Many feared dead after plane crash.

[Anark]

Dozens of people are feared dead after a plane crashed on landing in bad weather at the Thai resort of Phuket, aviation officials say.
The plane, carrying 123 passengers, a number of them foreigners, crashed after hitting the runway heavily in strong winds and heavy rain.

The exact number of casualties is not clear but survivors are reported.

Flight OG 269, operated by budget airline One-Two-Go, was landing after a journey from the capital, Bangkok.

Rescue operations are under way at the airport and doctors are being flown to Phuket to treat the injured.

Rescuers said the plane caught fire after crashing.

Civil aviation official Chiasak Angkauwan said: "The airplane asked to land but due to the weather in Phuket - strong wind and heavy rain - maybe the pilot did not see the runway clearly.

"The plane then fell onto the runway and broke into two."

One-Two-Go is owned by Orient Thai Airways.

From http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 997381.stm

Looks like a bad weekend for aviation.

[ozzy72]

The pilots of many of these foreign cheap airlines seem to have questionable abilities as they seem to have been having a far higher percentage of accidents this year than the regular airlines.
Let us hope the death toll is low....

[Triple_7]

Was going to post this myself.  Last I heard the death toll was over 60

Seems to be a lot of crashes or accidents lately :-/

Edit:  According to CNN 66 confirmed dead so far.  Aircraft was a MD-82.

[Brett_Henderson]

Horrible stuff  :'(   .. and unfortunately, I think Ozzy is correct. I don't know the situation in Europe, but over here in the states, we're facing a pilot shortage to the point where BIG carriers are canceling flights by the hundreds. I can't imagine how these small, obscure airlines are keeping qualified pilots in their cockpits. I asked one of our club's instructors (he's back after a right-seat stint with Continental) if he had thought about flying over-seas for one of these "lesser" airlines. When all is said and done, the pay ends up being worse.. AND he's not comfy with the maintenance reputations. Right now, he's instructing and ferrying GA planes across the pond. He just got back from getting a Lake Renegade from Bangor, Maine.. to .. Stockholm, Sweeden. These airplane brokers are feeling the pinch, too. You'd be surprised how many pilots are flying for hire, sans a commercial rating. All the would-be airline pilots who'd build time that way, are getting scooped up as soon as they get that commercial rating.

[Ashar]

Airline was One-2-Go...Very sad...May all RIP