4 ms·

Boeing 737-800 Passenger Jet Crashes in Iran Due to Technical Issue

51 points by frutiger 7y ago

anewguy9000 7y ago
it seems like every day there is a new 737/747 plane headline on hn. what gives? is it that interesting??
- leesec 7y ago
  This is crash just happened.
- 0x40490FDB 7y ago
  Headlines aren't crashes. Not much info on this accident so far. If that was 737 Max 8, things are going to get MUCH worse for Boeing. Edit: Max 8 is still grounded, my bad.
  - fgonzag 7y ago
    It'd get much worse because they aren't even supposed to be flying currently.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - floatingatoll 7y ago
    737-800 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21988137 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21988137
- floatingatoll 7y ago
  Yes. The 737-MAX breaks a history decades of planes not generally not crashing, and introduces instead a plane that tries very hard to crash with hundreds of people onboard. The process and leadership errors and regulatory capture that led to that afflict tech companies as much as any other. It’s going to remain news for some time to come. ps. I flagged this post. It has no content and doesn’t deserve to be on HN yet.
- aphroz 7y ago
  A plane crash from an american constructor in a country that was just attacked by US army is rather interesting. Then maybe it is not related to any "hacker" topic, but the potential engineering fails behind the boeing 737 Max is probaly rather interesting for "hackers".
- duelingjello 7y ago
  No 747 has been used for mainstream commercial passenger service for almost a year because it’s an old, uneconomical design that simply can’t compete anywhere except in cargo.
  - pintxo 7y ago
    Are you sure? According to this [1,2,3] there are currently 99 747s in the air, a quick check [4,5,6,7] shows, that at least some are passenger planes. [1] https://de.flightaware.com/live/aircrafttype/ https://de.flightaware.com/live/aircrafttype/ [2] https://de.flightaware.com/live/aircrafttype/B744 https://de.flightaware.com/live/aircrafttype/B744 [3] https://de.flightaware.com/live/aircrafttype/B748 https://de.flightaware.com/live/aircrafttype/B748 [4] https://de.flightaware.com/live/flight/BAW117/history/20200108/0835Z/EGLL/KJFK https://de.flightaware.com/live/flight/BAW117/history/202001... [5] https://british-airways.flight-status.info/ba-117 https://british-airways.flight-status.info/ba-117 [6] https://de.flightaware.com/live/flight/DLH462/history/20200108/0910Z/EDDF/KMIA https://de.flightaware.com/live/flight/DLH462/history/202001... [7] https://lufthansa.flight-status.info/lh-462 https://lufthansa.flight-status.info/lh-462
  - dotancohen 7y ago
    I flew a 747 on El Al last year. It's a great plane and I'll be sad to see it go, but it's not gone yet.
bbddg 7y ago
Interesting timing to say the least.
tyingq 7y ago
737-800, not a MAX. ALJazeera has better detail than the linked story. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/ukrainian-airliner-crashes-tehran-iranian-media-200108032720868.html https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/ukrainian-airliner-cr... Here's the specific tail number / aircraft: https://www.flightera.net/planes/UR-PSR https://www.flightera.net/planes/UR-PSR Crash site photo: https://twitter.com/isna_farsi/status/1214762556289667077 https://twitter.com/isna_farsi/status/1214762556289667077
- dang 7y ago
  Ok, we'll add 800 to the title above.
- pcurve 7y ago
  my god, it was going down in flame before crashing...
- duelingjello 7y ago
  That makes it a 737 NG. The NG’s structural components were mostly manufactured (badly) by a subcontractor, Ducommun, but Boeing insisted on installing them anyhow. In 2010, there was a cover-up and a whistleblower; Al Jazeera broke it in a long-form documentary that apparently no one watched.
WaxProlix 7y ago
What a bingo card of an article. Iran, Ukraine, 737. Synchronicity (or pareidolia?) makes me want to think there's intentionality here, when in reality it's probably just a tragedy.
- mey 7y ago
  No matter what happened, it is a tragedy.
  - ethbro 7y ago
    Seriously. 180 people crashed in an airliner. Even for HN, have a little compassion.
    - WaxProlix 7y ago
      Absolutely, it's easy to lose sight of it from such a vantage point.
      - larnmar 7y ago
        To be fair, none of those 180 people, if they had lived, would have cared if I died. 150,000 people die each day, of whom 50,000 die of causes not labelled as “age related causes”. If I died in a non-newsworthy way, nobody outside my own corner of global society would know about it; the fact that some random individuals you don’t know happen to have died in a slightly more newsworthy way today probably shouldn’t change how you feel about them, versus the other 50,000 or so premature deaths for the day.
        dotancohen 7y ago
        Why is this downvoted? For lacking compassion? This is one of the few truthful comments on this thread, which is otherwise full of speculation and rumor.
m0zg 7y ago
As if things could not get even worse for Boeing. Double the attention from the press, and I'm sure it'll also be misreported to hell and back. They might even have to fire the bean counter CEO they've just appointed.
ogre_codes 7y ago
Considering the current climate, be interesting to see who was on the plane and/ or what the fallout from this is. Assuming this isn't some kind of political attack, you have to wonder how much this is due to Iran's inability to trade due to sanction would impact its airlines ability to get updates to their aircraft. (Update: Not an Iranian jet so likely not an issue) Which suggests Russia might be at the heart of this. Back to the original question about who was on the plane.
- jlgaddis 7y ago
  Geez. The fire from wreckage is probably not even out yet and you've done dove headfirst off of "speculation" cliff! In your defense, though, you certainly aren't the only one. There's nothing but rampant speculaion in this thread -- some from folks who should know better.
- pooya13 7y ago
  Iranian media is reporting that most passengers were Iranians.
- duelingjello 7y ago
  You watch too much CNN or MSNBC to dredge up the disproven Russiagate conspiracy theory FUD. Maybe you should wait for investigators to provide their preliminary findings, eh?
war1025 7y ago
I wonder if the "technical" issue would have anything to do with measures we (the US) may currently be taking against Iran? Could just be a Boeing related error, but that is definitely one of the hottest places in the world tonight. Edit: Just so this isn't misconstrued as me implying that the US shot down the plane or something, I meant some sort of passive signal scrambling type thing that would confuse instruments on the plane. Not knowing a lot about the technical possibilities of all this, just wondering.
- mopsi 7y ago
  Navigation systems are built on very conservative assumptions. They fall back to autonomous inertial guidance, if satellite and ground-based navigation aids become unavailable. This reduces airspace throughput (airplanes need larger separation distances due to lower navigation accuracy), but is completely safe. See: https://aviation.stackexchange.com/a/2276 https://aviation.stackexchange.com/a/2276
dang 7y ago
There's almost no information here—not nearly enough for a substantive discussion. We should wait until more becomes available. On HN, there's no harm in waiting: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adang%20%22no%20harm%20in%20waiting%22&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
ibarrajo 7y ago
Not sure yet, but it looks like it might be this flight: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/AUI752 https://flightaware.com/live/flight/AUI752 no further data updates and last reported altitude of 7,350ft at 277kts. Keep in mind the airport is at 3,305ft
pcurve 7y ago
https://www.flightstats.com/v2/flight-tracker/PS/752?year=2020&month=1&date=8&flightId=1027215904 https://www.flightstats.com/v2/flight-tracker/PS/752?year=20... Interesting it's showing as en-route. n/m. Bloomberg updated it with better tracker. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ps752#23732569 https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ps752#23732569
tempsy 7y ago
Video and reports suggest it was accidentally shot down. It’s not even a question when you see it. There’s no way state media could’ve concluded it was a “technical issue” so quickly. They are trying to pass blame on Boeing but they really messed this one up.
- cjbprime 7y ago
  It's worth not trying to understand what happened in the first few hours, you'll rarely be correct. The video could have been an old one that someone uploaded as misinformation. The video can show you that the plane looks like it was shot down, but it can't show you that it was done accidentally by Iranian military. The "reports" of it being accidentally shot down could just have been made up by someone, unsourced. Actually, it looks like they're coming from Al Hadath, which appears to be a Saudi-controlled news TV channel.
  - tempsy 7y ago
    I’m pretty confident on this one. So much so I will buy some Boeing stock if it irrationally crashes tomorrow as futures are suggesting

51 points by frutiger 7y ago

anewguy9000 7y ago

it seems like every day there is a new 737/747 plane headline on hn. what gives? is it that interesting??

leesec 7y ago
This is crash just happened.
0x40490FDB 7y ago
Headlines aren't crashes. Not much info on this accident so far. If that was 737 Max 8, things are going to get MUCH worse for Boeing. Edit: Max 8 is still grounded, my bad.
- fgonzag 7y ago
  It'd get much worse because they aren't even supposed to be flying currently.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- floatingatoll 7y ago
  737-800 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21988137 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21988137
floatingatoll 7y ago
Yes. The 737-MAX breaks a history decades of planes not generally not crashing, and introduces instead a plane that tries very hard to crash with hundreds of people onboard. The process and leadership errors and regulatory capture that led to that afflict tech companies as much as any other. It’s going to remain news for some time to come. ps. I flagged this post. It has no content and doesn’t deserve to be on HN yet.
aphroz 7y ago
A plane crash from an american constructor in a country that was just attacked by US army is rather interesting. Then maybe it is not related to any "hacker" topic, but the potential engineering fails behind the boeing 737 Max is probaly rather interesting for "hackers".
duelingjello 7y ago
No 747 has been used for mainstream commercial passenger service for almost a year because it’s an old, uneconomical design that simply can’t compete anywhere except in cargo.
- pintxo 7y ago
  Are you sure? According to this [1,2,3] there are currently 99 747s in the air, a quick check [4,5,6,7] shows, that at least some are passenger planes. [1] https://de.flightaware.com/live/aircrafttype/ https://de.flightaware.com/live/aircrafttype/ [2] https://de.flightaware.com/live/aircrafttype/B744 https://de.flightaware.com/live/aircrafttype/B744 [3] https://de.flightaware.com/live/aircrafttype/B748 https://de.flightaware.com/live/aircrafttype/B748 [4] https://de.flightaware.com/live/flight/BAW117/history/20200108/0835Z/EGLL/KJFK https://de.flightaware.com/live/flight/BAW117/history/202001... [5] https://british-airways.flight-status.info/ba-117 https://british-airways.flight-status.info/ba-117 [6] https://de.flightaware.com/live/flight/DLH462/history/20200108/0910Z/EDDF/KMIA https://de.flightaware.com/live/flight/DLH462/history/202001... [7] https://lufthansa.flight-status.info/lh-462 https://lufthansa.flight-status.info/lh-462
- dotancohen 7y ago
  I flew a 747 on El Al last year. It's a great plane and I'll be sad to see it go, but it's not gone yet.

bbddg 7y ago

Interesting timing to say the least.

tyingq 7y ago

737-800, not a MAX. ALJazeera has better detail than the linked story. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/ukrainian-airliner-crashes-tehran-iranian-media-200108032720868.html https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/ukrainian-airliner-cr... Here's the specific tail number / aircraft: https://www.flightera.net/planes/UR-PSR https://www.flightera.net/planes/UR-PSR Crash site photo: https://twitter.com/isna_farsi/status/1214762556289667077 https://twitter.com/isna_farsi/status/1214762556289667077

dang 7y ago
Ok, we'll add 800 to the title above.
pcurve 7y ago
my god, it was going down in flame before crashing...
duelingjello 7y ago
That makes it a 737 NG. The NG’s structural components were mostly manufactured (badly) by a subcontractor, Ducommun, but Boeing insisted on installing them anyhow. In 2010, there was a cover-up and a whistleblower; Al Jazeera broke it in a long-form documentary that apparently no one watched.

WaxProlix 7y ago

What a bingo card of an article. Iran, Ukraine, 737. Synchronicity (or pareidolia?) makes me want to think there's intentionality here, when in reality it's probably just a tragedy.

mey 7y ago
No matter what happened, it is a tragedy.
- ethbro 7y ago
  Seriously. 180 people crashed in an airliner. Even for HN, have a little compassion.
  - WaxProlix 7y ago
    Absolutely, it's easy to lose sight of it from such a vantage point.
    - larnmar 7y ago
      To be fair, none of those 180 people, if they had lived, would have cared if I died. 150,000 people die each day, of whom 50,000 die of causes not labelled as “age related causes”. If I died in a non-newsworthy way, nobody outside my own corner of global society would know about it; the fact that some random individuals you don’t know happen to have died in a slightly more newsworthy way today probably shouldn’t change how you feel about them, versus the other 50,000 or so premature deaths for the day.
      - dotancohen 7y ago
        Why is this downvoted? For lacking compassion? This is one of the few truthful comments on this thread, which is otherwise full of speculation and rumor.

m0zg 7y ago

As if things could not get even worse for Boeing. Double the attention from the press, and I'm sure it'll also be misreported to hell and back. They might even have to fire the bean counter CEO they've just appointed.

ogre_codes 7y ago

Considering the current climate, be interesting to see who was on the plane and/ or what the fallout from this is. Assuming this isn't some kind of political attack, you have to wonder how much this is due to Iran's inability to trade due to sanction would impact its airlines ability to get updates to their aircraft. (Update: Not an Iranian jet so likely not an issue) Which suggests Russia might be at the heart of this. Back to the original question about who was on the plane.

jlgaddis 7y ago
Geez. The fire from wreckage is probably not even out yet and you've done dove headfirst off of "speculation" cliff! In your defense, though, you certainly aren't the only one. There's nothing but rampant speculaion in this thread -- some from folks who should know better.
pooya13 7y ago
Iranian media is reporting that most passengers were Iranians.
duelingjello 7y ago
You watch too much CNN or MSNBC to dredge up the disproven Russiagate conspiracy theory FUD. Maybe you should wait for investigators to provide their preliminary findings, eh?

war1025 7y ago

I wonder if the "technical" issue would have anything to do with measures we (the US) may currently be taking against Iran? Could just be a Boeing related error, but that is definitely one of the hottest places in the world tonight. Edit: Just so this isn't misconstrued as me implying that the US shot down the plane or something, I meant some sort of passive signal scrambling type thing that would confuse instruments on the plane. Not knowing a lot about the technical possibilities of all this, just wondering.

mopsi 7y ago
Navigation systems are built on very conservative assumptions. They fall back to autonomous inertial guidance, if satellite and ground-based navigation aids become unavailable. This reduces airspace throughput (airplanes need larger separation distances due to lower navigation accuracy), but is completely safe. See: https://aviation.stackexchange.com/a/2276 https://aviation.stackexchange.com/a/2276

dang 7y ago

There's almost no information here—not nearly enough for a substantive discussion. We should wait until more becomes available. On HN, there's no harm in waiting: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adang%20%22no%20harm%20in%20waiting%22&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

ibarrajo 7y ago

Not sure yet, but it looks like it might be this flight: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/AUI752 https://flightaware.com/live/flight/AUI752 no further data updates and last reported altitude of 7,350ft at 277kts. Keep in mind the airport is at 3,305ft

pcurve 7y ago

https://www.flightstats.com/v2/flight-tracker/PS/752?year=2020&month=1&date=8&flightId=1027215904 https://www.flightstats.com/v2/flight-tracker/PS/752?year=20... Interesting it's showing as en-route. n/m. Bloomberg updated it with better tracker. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ps752#23732569 https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ps752#23732569

tempsy 7y ago

Video and reports suggest it was accidentally shot down. It’s not even a question when you see it. There’s no way state media could’ve concluded it was a “technical issue” so quickly. They are trying to pass blame on Boeing but they really messed this one up.

cjbprime 7y ago
It's worth not trying to understand what happened in the first few hours, you'll rarely be correct. The video could have been an old one that someone uploaded as misinformation. The video can show you that the plane looks like it was shot down, but it can't show you that it was done accidentally by Iranian military. The "reports" of it being accidentally shot down could just have been made up by someone, unsourced. Actually, it looks like they're coming from Al Hadath, which appears to be a Saudi-controlled news TV channel.
- tempsy 7y ago
  I’m pretty confident on this one. So much so I will buy some Boeing stock if it irrationally crashes tomorrow as futures are suggesting