Talk:Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

WikiNews

Is there a wikinews article yet? 76.66.193.90 (talk) 11:03, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Nope, not yet apparently. 81.175.86.66 (talk) 11:45, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

redirects

TK1951 & THY1951 & TURKISH 1951 redirects needed. (and one from the tailnumber, TC-JGE) 76.66.193.90 (talk) 11:11, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Thank you. Joshdboz (talk) 11:47, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Possible bird strike

I've added in the infobox that it might have been a bird strike, however, I have not done so in main the article, as it may be incorrect, if it is, please revert it and let me know. Ta, Shnitzled (talk) 12:02, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

I will revert it until it is well sourced. -- BaldPark (talk) 12:31, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

I did not here it in the Dutch news, in the official press conf there was no information about it. And I can not find it on other news sites. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.176.204.96 (talk) 14:41, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

This engine damage looks defiitely like a bird strike may of happened notice the diffrence between the top blades and the bottom blades... [1] -WxHalo(T/C)

According to interview with one of the survivors (i watched it from cnnturk)""Plane lost altitude instantly then both engines were full throttled then crash happened"".As you see you cant throttle engine after bird strike, it generally stops working.--Zulkarneyn (talk) 02:31, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Map of Location

Approximate Location, CC-BY-SA. Attribution: OpenStreetMap —Preceding unsigned comment added by Firefishy (talk • contribs) 12:25, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Passenger count

Better source than CNN for passengr count: http://www.thy.com/DarkSiteEN/index.aspx Still no info on fatalities though. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.253.250.124 (talk) 12:32, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Im confused. If there at 127 passangers and 7 crew that means there is only 134 people total. Am I right? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.9.1.74 (talk) 16:29, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Press conf

official press conf 9 fatalities, 50 injured. --TheDJ (talk • contribs)

Reports

The Hungarian online news site index.com's artice Template:Hu icon says:
1.) One reporter of index.com (who are in amsterdam) told, that local radio stations reported engine failure, including one engine on fire mid-air, but got extinguished.
2.) The crash-site got plowed before, the rescue team have difficulties in reaching the site with heavy machinery.
3.) The Türkish medias quote a survivor, who told: that most peapole left the plane on foot, the plane's rear landed 1st, and the crash itself was like a big turbulence.
Placi1982 (talk) 14:26, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Distance from the runway.

The reports are 3km, but that is of course a "guestimate" by reporters. Google Earth shows a distance of at most 2.4 km (this includes the "runoff strip" [where you are not supposed to land yet] and the furthest position into the field that I could choose). If I measure as accurately as possible, it's more like 1.8km until it would have been "safe". So, for all you curious ones out there, now you know. --TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:39, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Good point, TheDJ. Let's keep an eye for reputable source coming up with a better estimate, because we can't write up original research. masqueraid 14:54, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

I've been near the site myself, and I saw that it was much less than 3 kilometer. I think it was about 1, or 1.5 kilometer. Ssmm987 (talk) 14:59, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Agreed. Either the coordinates or the distance given are wrong. It's a pity to have missed the runway by so little. --AVM (talk) 23:32, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

I just saw that BBC is reporting the distance as being "several hundred yards short of the runway." Here is the article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7911587.stm (it's about the 6th paragraph down). Maybe that would be better than giving an exact distance for now. 222.216.169.1 (talk) 04:46, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

I believe the coordinate information is accurate enough to stay as the single piece of distance information in the box. If we get some solid source we can add explicit distance information back. --Ferengi (talk) 08:58, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Amount of ambulances

In the article is standing that there arrived about 20 ambulances, I've been near the site myself, and saw much more. I think there were about 50 or 60. Also a journalist from the NOS counted 33 ambulances himself, about 3 or 4 hours after the accident. Ssmm987 (talk) 14:59, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Nationalities of passengers / dead not notable?

Why is that? --AaThinker (talk) 15:28, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Because the nationality of the passengers has nothing to do with the accident. MilborneOne (talk) 23:23, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Nationalities of dead/injured are normally mentioned in connection to disasters. I'm not sure why, perhaps because embassies/consulates of the nations in question may have involvement. Whatever the reason, it's usual, thus can be in this article. 131.111.245.195 (talk) 01:55, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Weather at the crash site

I'm getting conflicting reports on the weather at Schiphol at the time of the crash. Whereas CNN reports quotes an RTL journalist saying that the weather at the time was partly sunny with no wind or rain, this source reports that the weather was rainy and very foggy (translation). Anybody have confirmation? masqueraid 15:30, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

light fog interspersed with just the littlest of sun. No unusual condition for Amsterdam airport. --TheDJ (talk • contribs) 15:45, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

6 AM UTC Feb 25 37(3) 35(2) 30.33(1027) SSW 9 mph mist -WxHalo(T/C)

I'm not a reliable source and I'm not a meteorologist, but the weather has been virtually the same throughout the country. Cloudy, hazey (?), a slight rain, a typical calm late winter's day. Nothing out of the ordinary, and definitely not windy. Aecis·(away) ^talk 19:30, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Journalism

Oh great, they just botched up the international report during the press conf. I counted at least 5 errors in it. --TheDJ (talk • contribs) 15:45, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Unfortunately, your saying that is OR. So can't go in article. 131.111.245.195 (talk) 02:01, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Possible engine falloff

A statement from Dutch sources airing at the moment in Turkish news channels speculate that one of the engines fell off the aircraft prior to the crash. Anybody have confirmation? Aportakal (talk) 15:49, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Considering the fact that both engines are visible in the field, i doubt that is likely. --TheDJ (talk • contribs) 15:57, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

In here(Türkiye) news channels says that "Dutch news channels speculate that one enngine fell off the plane before crash". They show the source of this news is Dutches :).I still hear news that "Is it possible one engine fell off and crashed near the crashed plane."--Zulkarneyn (talk) 02:06, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

I've been watching Dutch news since about 11am and I haven't come across anything like that. If that does turn out to be the cause of the crash, it would be an eerie reminder of our worst plane crash, El Al Flight 1862. Aecis·(away) ^talk 02:13, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Motorways

Which motorways have been closed as a result of the crash? I have removed the A13 (The Hague - Rotterdam) and the A6 (Muiden - Joure). They weren't mentioned in any source and because of their location they were highly unlikely to be closed. The motorways most likely to be closed are the A4 (Amsterdam - Delft), the A5 (alongside Schiphol) and the A9 (Diemen - Alkmaar). Aecis·(away) ^talk 16:08, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

The newsreports I have seen only mention the A9 motorway being closed between Rottepolderplein (near the crash site) and Badhoevedorp in order to facilitate the arrival and departure of emergency units. I have seen nothing that suggests that the A4 or A5 have been closed. Gjemmens (talk) 22:21, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Possible Micro-Burst

I think it's definitely weather related accident,microburst,I heard from some survivors that plane vibrated like turbulence and loose altitude quickly then crash down in seconds.If you look at Delta Air Lines Flight 191 plane behaves just like this one.It descended unexpectedly while approaching and pilot involuntary landed early.In this case we can see similar plane behaviours.Only big difference is Delta Flight 191 was in bad weather condition and wind shear appears more stronger than this one.It seems good weather near schiphol airport but micro bursts are very dangerous because they appears suddenly and they disappear in short time.This wind shear seems weak but enough to force a plane to crash landing.--Zulkarneyn (talk) 01:55, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

The symptoms you describe could be from any of a number of causes. Besides, testimonies that engines were not running rule out weather-related causes. CuriousOliver (talk) 16:22, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

The cause of the crash is still undetermined and under investigation. It would be wrong to speculate on the cause. Aecis·(away) ^talk 16:15, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

I would doubt the microburst idea because in order to have a microburst you have to have a convective storm... At the latitude of the accident and time of year. A convective storm is near impossible. -WxHalo(T/C)

it could be a dry-micro burst that doesn't need rain or storm.it must be a very small wind .But if it is weather related airport management can see it from special radars.i don't know whether they say something about weather.--Zulkarneyn (talk) 02:18, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Possible Education Flight

They talk about to much here that there are three pilot in cockpit and one of them is a student pilot and captain pilot gave the landing controls to him.He reduced engine at wrong time then captain full throttled engines to correct him but failed.--Zulkarneyn (talk) 03:34, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

The recording of crew's last transmission with the tower indicates that the aircraft intercepted (or at least switched frequency to) the ILS localizer, after which the landing should supposedly be automated. Pilots do like to fly the glideslope themselves, but I wouldn't count on that on an international flight. --139.179.20.143 (talk) 12:43, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Possible pilot-autopilot dispute

According to my knowledge pilot uses ils system for approach then disengage autopilot then land manually.China Airlines Flight 006 had an incident that plane had uncontrolled movements in sky nearly crashing.In that case pilot disengaged autopilot for an engine failure followed problems, plane starts to move crazy movements in sky after this.Maybe something like happened in THY fligt.Pilot disengaged autopilot then engines lost power (in any way)(maybe manual engine speed was mistakenly at low torque ), he tried to correct it but failed.Of course any experienced pilot easily can say that's not possible.--Zulkarneyn (talk) 03:34, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Photos usable?

Are these photos usable: [2], [3]. They are uploaded to Flickr by the copyright holder under the following license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

There are a lot of photos uploaded by "Radio Nederland Wereldomroep" of the incident. Mahalo. --Ali'i 16:55, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Yes, I think you can. Those images are uploaded by Radio Netherlands Worldwide, a Dutch public broadcaster, so it makes sense that images produced by that broadcaster are indeed freely usable as indicated by the cc-by-2.0 licence. I suggest you use the Flickr-to-Commons tool for moving the images. Fentener van Vlissingen (talk) 17:13, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

this image is now being uploaded by the Flickr upload bot as commons:File:Crash Turkish Airlines TK 1951.jpg. Fentener van Vlissingen (talk) 17:18, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks... I know very little about Commons, and less about Flickr to Commons tools. :-) I figured if I at least identified the images, that someone else would want to collaborate with me and actually upload them. Wiki works! Mahalo and thanks! --Ali'i 17:25, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Wiki indeed works :). Thanks for pointing to the free images. Several others are now being uploaded as well. Cheers! Fentener van Vlissingen (talk) 17:34, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Looks like the tool overwrote the old image (you listed above) with a different one. Something wrongly labeled or something? --Ali'i 17:57, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Those images are not free according to Flikr. They are copyright. — Preceding unsigned comment added by LeadSongDog (talk • contribs) 19:12, February 25, 2009 (UTC)

They are loaded under the CC-by-2.0 license. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that mean we can use them as long as we attribute where they came from? Mahalo. --Ali'i 19:43, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

@ Ali'i: indeed, I did make a mistake with uploading a second image from Flickr to Commons by using the same name. The tool accepted it as the first image hadn't been uploaded yet. I noticed it soon, but I could do nothing more than wait for the tool to upload the second image. But I guess everything is sorted out now as the first image has been re-uploaded as File:Crash Turkish Airlines TK 1951 wreck.jpg. @ LeadSongDog: the fact that the images are copyrighted doesn't mean that they cannot be released under a license that is compatible with Wikipedia (in fact they have to be copyrighted to be released under a license). The images were released under cc-by-2.0 and thus are perfectly compatible with Wikipedia. I guess you are the same person as the anonymous user that flagged the images as copyright violations on Commons. In the future please make sure that you understand copyright law a bit, before flagging the images right away. Thanks. Fentener van Vlissingen (talk) 20:15, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Opening sentence

Will the flight number now be retired and another number assigned to the route? If not, should the opening sentence "Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 was a flight from Istanbul, Turkey to Amsterdam, Netherlands." be changed to "Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 is a flight from Istanbul, Turkey to Amsterdam, Netherlands."? 90.215.157.50 (talk) 18:14, 25 February 2009 (UTC) Turkish Airlines Flight 634 crashed in 2003 now that route named 630, 640.--Zulkarneyn (talk) 01:53, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Leave it as 'was' unless and until it's confirmed the flight number is NOT retired. Fatal accidents normally result in retirement of flight number, and until another flight USES the number again 'was' is perfectly reasonable. It also 'reads better'. 131.111.245.195 (talk) 01:59, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

I agree. No person coming to this article will be looking for general flight information, timetables, things like that. They will be looking for information about the crash. And since the crash took place in the past (DUH), the past tense is imo more appropriate than the present tense. Aecis·(away) ^talk 12:08, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Crew fatalities

Were both pilots killed? this BBC article seems to imply it, without stating it. The 737-800 has two cockpit crew, and the BBC article states three members of the cockpit crew were killed. Hiberniantears (talk) 19:26, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

According to both Turkish and Dutch media, both the pilot and the co-pilot have been killed in the crash. Rescue teams have confirmed that the bodies of three deceased crew members have been removed from the cockpit in the course of the late afternoon/early evening, but they haven't said anything about the position of these crew members. Aecis·(away) ^talk 19:33, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Also a Pilot in Education has been killed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.54.214.254 (talk) 21:22, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

It was just in the dutch press that the pilot, co-pilot and a student pilot were the 3 dead crew members in the cockpit. --TheDJ (talk • contribs) 22:11, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

According to one of the survivors pilots was yelling "Ay! ay ay"(similar to "Oh no" in english)just before the crash.--Zulkarneyn (talk) 14:48, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

If he did, it will have been recorded on the black boxes. When they are released, probably with the results of the investigation, we can include it. Aecis·(away) ^talk 14:56, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Possibly out of fuel

Although the cause of the crash is still unknown, pending an investigation, rumor has it that it is quite likely the plane was out of fuel. Considering no fire broke out, in fact, there is no evidence of -any- fire damage whatsoever, this seems a real possibility. An eye witness reports that it seemed as if the plane was out of fuel, it came in 'like a glider'. "Volgens een ooggetuige op Schiphol leek het of het Turkse toestel geen brandstof meer had en „als een zweefvliegtuig” kwam aanvliegen." http://www.nrc.nl/binnenland/article2162550.ece/Negen_doden_bij_vliegtuigcrash_Schiphol See also: http://frontpage.fok.nl/nieuws/106883/-Toestel-viel-letterlijk-uit-de-lucht.html and http://frontpage.fok.nl/nieuws/106877/-Tekort-brandstof-mogelijk-oorzaak-crash.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.85.172.58 (talk) 19:42, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

It could be, but let's not speculate on what caused this crash. This is the fourth rumour raised on this talk page (after bird strike, microburst and engine falloff), at least three of them are bound to be wrong. Aecis·(away) ^talk 19:54, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

That's fun and all, but totally unsubstantiated speculation. And history has proven that when it comes to "technical crashes", the media hasn't been very good at making guesses. --TheDJ (talk • contribs) 19:55, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

We can't put original research in the article, but it's more than just speculation and it can help us to find more relevant information. The picture of the engine shows fan blades bend, but still attached. I'm no expert, but I believe if a running engine was hit, all fan blades would detach. Hopefully, we will soon find a reference to some expert discussing the causes. CuriousOliver (talk) 22:55, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

If you're talking about birdstrike, then no, blades don't necessarily detach. There's a well known picture floating around on the web.

Anyway, our speculation is OR. That's fine on WikiNEWS, but not here. 131.111.245.195 (talk) 02:03, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

According to interview with one of the survivors (i watched it from cnnturk)""Plane lost altitude instantly then both engines were full throttled then crash happened"".As you see you cant throttle engine after bird strike, it generally stops working.

And, THY(Turkish airlines) announced that plane had enough fuel for to land to backup airport.9.600 lt (8000 lt is enough for ist-amst).In here news channels announce that theory shows dutches are jealous of THY (because its groving to fast)--Zulkarneyn (talk) 02:38, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

News chanells also saying "They are blackening THY".Yesterday have talked about this subjects but today nothing about them.--Zulkarneyn (talk) 14:56, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

• And we've got our first conspiracy theory... Let me get this straight: we, the Dutch, somehow brought the plane down because we were jealous of THY's success, even though we've got the oldest and one of the biggest airlines in the world (KLM)? (no attack on you, just curious about the conspiracy theory) Aecis·(away) ^talk 02:44, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

I think they mean the dutch didnt want to (completely) underreport the casualty numbers.24.132.170.97 (talk) 15:09, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

A survivor responds smelling kerosine, so if he's right, the plane probably wasn't out of fuel. NRC Handelsblad reports another eye-witness saw the plane just "fell out of the sky", which is witnessed by the fact that it didn't slide along the trajectory it was on. A passenger noticed an onboard display showing an altitude of 400 metres with 12 minutes left in flight, although, considering they were this close to the runway, 12 minutes seems a little too much. But for whatever reason, the plane was probably flying to low and too slow. No emergency was reported to passengers inside the plane, no report yet if an emergency was declared to Air Traffic Control, although the media keep talking about an emergency landing. CNN reports the Cockpit Voice Recorder and Flight Data Recorder have both been found, so they'll probably be able to find out what happened.

http://www.nrc.nl/binnenland/article2162881.ece/Ooggetuige_ziet_toestel_recht_naar_beneden_vallen http://www.nrc.nl/binnenland/article2163390.ece/Na_een_paar_seconden_was_er_een_grote_klap http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/02/25/holland.crash/index.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.85.172.58 (talk) 08:59, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

As stated above, ground crew reports indicate the aircraft had more than enough fuel for the run, and considering it didn't hold at a pattern for an extended period, fuel exhaustion is unlikely, unless the ground crew in Istanbul screwed up or the pilots somehow forgot to switch tanks or accidentally switched to an empty tank. The lack of fire is consistent with the fact that the plane was on final approach: in any case, most of the fuel had been spent and the soil around Schiphol is extremely damp, especially at that time of the day and under inclement weather.--139.179.20.143 (talk) 12:53, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

There's nothing odd about the lack of fire. See for example SK751 (crashed into a field only four minutes after take-off, no fire). Bo Lindbergh (talk) 14:34, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Tekirdağ

Which source says the name of the airliner is Tekirdağ ? And if so, shouldn't there be a hatnote there to this page? 76.66.193.90 (talk) 19:53, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Searching for the plane's tailnumber with Tekirdag indeed brings up several results supporting this name. I'm just not so sure about "authoritative sources" in this case. Most are mentions from plane spotters. --TheDJ (talk • contribs) 20:01, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

It's mentioned here and here. Aecis·(away) ^talk 20:06, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

WhisperToMe has added a link to the Turkish Airlines website, confirming that the plane was named Tekirdağ. Aecis·(away) ^talk 20:10, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Ok, so I've listed the plane at that page as a "namesake". Perhaps a redirect from Tekirdağ (plane) and Tekirdag (plane) is in order? 76.66.193.90 (talk) 20:21, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Seems reasonable, I've created both. Perhaps we could include the link to this article as a hatnote in the article Tekirdağ. Any thoughts? Aecis·(away) ^talk 20:40, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Highly unlikely anybody would use the aircraft name to search for the accident so the redirects are really of no value and a hatnote at Tekirdağ is probably not needed. The more normal search would be the registration and flight numbers all of which have been covered already. MilborneOne (talk) 21:09, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

It's not the likeliest of queries, I agree, but it's still reasonable to expect some of our Turkish users and some plane spotters to use this query to find the article. For the same reason Clipper Maid of the Seas redirects to Pan Am Flight 103 (an incident on a different scale, granted). And redirects are cheap. Aecis·(away) ^talk 00:25, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

In Turkiye nearly nobody knows flight number of this plane because televisions says only its name "tekirdag".Only from web sites and if you search you can learn flight number.And you know flight number doesn't crashes plane crashes.Tekirdag plane crashed, i dont know why internationally crashed planes announced with its flight number instead of tail number.In Turkiye(Turkish Airlines) plane names are unique.--Zulkarneyn (talk) 01:50, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Response time emergency services

News coverage in the Netherlands mentions quick response by emergency services. It's very unlikely that the first response took half an hour, seeing its near Schiphol and a number of other cities. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.101.96.196 (talk) 21:36, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

The BBC is using a witness who claims there were ambulances within 5 minutes. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7909683.stm "I saw dozens of people making it out very quickly, and as I was about to dial 911 the first sirens were noticeable, and within five minutes there were 10 or 15 ambulances."

My wiki-skills are a bit rusty, so can someone else edit that in? -- Mystman666 ^(Talk) 21:52, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

-But the sources you removed AND my relative that survived the plane point the other way, now why did you remove my sources, you could have added yours on the side. There's a whole fuss going about this in Turkey, survivors are calling in the press to say that "help only came in 25 or 30 minutes ALTHOUGH the airport was so close", and that they were sheltered for hours in a barn or so while waiting to be treated, latter information that has also been confirmed by the dutch. --85.99.6.50 (talk) 23:57, 25 February 2009 (UTC) Translation of the first Turkish sourcing:

KAZA YERİNE GEÇ MÜDAHALE ETTİLER

Uçaktan kurtulan başka Hüseyin Sümer isimli bir yolcu da yetkililerin uçağa geç müdahale ettiklerini öne sürdü. Yolcu, "Uçağın kırılan bölümünden çıktık. Yetkililer olay yerine geç ulaştı. Şu anda yaralı olan insanlar var. Ayakları, kolları kırık, yaralı insanlar bulunuyor. Ancak bu insanlar hastaneye götürülmedi. Nedenini bilmiyoruz."

THEY INTERVENED LATE ON THE ACCIDENT SITE

Another passenger named Hüseyin Sümer also attested that the authorities came very late at the crash site. The passenger added "we made it out from the fractured part of the plane, the authorities were on the site very late. There are wounded people, with broken limbs and wounded in general, but these people were not taken to hospital. We do not know why.

I have hidden the disputed section for the moment. It's still there, but it's formatted in such a way that the reader can't see it. Please use this talk page to come to a consensus. Aecis·(away) ^talk 00:19, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Well I say that we remain "wikipedia neutral" and say "according to some sources including survivors the help was late" and then also write the anthihesis "according to some other sources, help arrived quickly". Yes although I'd like to resolve some matters personally with them, as a survivor relative, those people have the right to exist. --85.99.6.50 (talk) 00:32, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Possibly related to this: An anonymous firefighter has told De Telegraaf newspaper that the initial report they received said that a plane had crashed at the Polderbaan runway. When they arrived at the runway, they obviously couldn't see the plane, as it had crashed several miles to the north, on the other side of the motorway. Only when they drove through the area, they found the crashed plane. This is obviously only one unconfirmed report, but it is one that could combine the two stories here: 1. We immediately heard the sirens; 2. It took a long time before they were here. Aecis·(away) ^talk 00:48, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Congrats!! :)) Well we could start with the survivors stating the help has not arrived swiftly, then, state the more or less obvious reasons, since they were at first misguided. (I kinda understand them when I place myself into their shoes, I mean all that panic after a plane crash has been reported, then you go where the tower tells you, and *bam!* no plane on the spot.

Minor edit: I have merged the two sentences, since they both said that the accident "happened very close to the Schiphol Airport". Aecis·(away) ^talk 01:22, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Well it seems that late help is more strong viewpoint.User:Yousaf465 (talk)

NRC Handelsblad, a major Dutch newspaper, claims that help arrived relatively swift, but when actually reading the article, it contradicts that statement. The crash happened at about 10:31 CET in the morning, but at 12:00 CET ambulances were still waiting around. Traffic jams resulted due to the large number of vehicles being deployed, despite a nearby highway and a nearby main road being cut off for normal traffic so it could be used exclusively by emergency traffic.

"De hulpverlening komt vrij snel na het ongeluk op gang. In totaal veertig ambulances zijn betrokken bij het afvoeren van gewonden. Het toestel ligt, ten opzichte van de Polderbaan, aan de andere kant van snelweg A9, nabij Zwanenburg.

Het afvoeren van gewonden verloopt chaotisch. De weggetjes waarover de gewonden worden afgevoerd, zijn smal. Rond het middaguur stonden er zeker acht ambulances op elkaar te wachten op de Kromme Spieringweg bij Zwanenburg. Ook tractoren en twee Schipholbussen zijn ingezet om gewonden af te voeren. De ambulancemedewerkers bij het toestel stralen rust uit. "

Translation: "Emergency services respond relatively quickly after the accident. A total of 40 ambulances are involved in carrying off the injured [passengers]. The plane lies, relative to the Polderbaan (runway the plane was attempting to land on) on the other side of highway A9, near Zwanenburg.

Transport of the injured is chaotic. The little roads used to carry them off, are narrow. Around noon there were at least 8 ambulances waiting for eachother at the Kromme Spieringweg near Zwanenburg. Tractors and two Schipholbuses (normally used to ferry passengers from and to the airport) are deployed to carry off the wounded. Ambulance personell near the airplane look very calm."

Source: http://www.nrc.nl/binnenland/article2162881.ece/Ooggetuige_ziet_toestel_recht_naar_beneden_vallen

If it took well over one and a half hours to evacuate all of the injured passengers, then that is not such a fast response, considering the fact that Amsterdam is nearby and ambulances are supposed to be on the scene within 15 minutes, even in rural areas.

Another article, on Nu.nl, points out that the municipality of Haarlemmermeer has only been solely responsible for emergency response in case of a crash at Schiphol sincs 2006. Before that, it was already the responsible authority, but emergency services would also respond from Amsterdam. This was thought to be a recipe for trouble, so they changed this manner of operation. As a result, emergency response is now -only- from the emergency services from the region Kennemerland, instead of also including Amsterdam-Amstelland, the region of Amsterdam. Considering that the municipality of Haarlemmermeer has a population of less than 150,000 and Amsterdam is the nation's capitol, with over 750,000 inhabitants, local authorities do not have the same amount of resources and are probably not used to any large emergency. In addition, during exercises the autorities performed below the required standards. Very poorly, in 2006, quite a lot better, but still not without reservations, in 2008. Source: http://www.nu.nl/vliegramp-schiphol/1923447/vliegtuigcrash-enorme-test-voor-hulpdiensten.html, as well as information from Wikipedia itself.

I personally don't see how any huge emergency at Schiphol could be left solely to the local emergency responders. After all, the municipality of Haarlemmermeer is comparitively small and in -any- huge emergency it is policy to just alert neighbouring emergency departments anyway.

All of this is way too much of discussion and interpretation. Lets just stick to sources telling specifically what the survivors and witnesses said about response times. I just added a reference to a Dutch news article in which both viewpoints are mentioned. --Reinoutr (talk) 10:01, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Just because of the fact that they are the official "first responders", and the people in charge, does not mean they don't have the authority to pull resources elsewhere of course. I saw 3 helicopter ambulances on the field there. The municipality definitely does NOT have 3 ambu. helicopters. --TheDJ (talk • contribs) 11:32, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

I think this picture (http://www.anp-photo.com/search.pp?page=5&ShowPicture=9260860&pos=38) may be of some interest in this matter. It shows survivors still climbing out of the plane, with (in the background) emergency personnel just arriving on the scene. Note the white & orange ambulance just above the nose of the plane and the white van in front of the barn behind the aircraft, which seems to me to be a police vehicle. To the left of this van there's some people in fluorescent yellow jerseys, presumably police officers. Also note the time of the picture: 10:43AM, or about 12 minutes after the crash. To me this picture indicates that yes, the first emergency personnel arrived on-scene within the required 15 minutes, but no, a full-scale rescue was not in place at that time. 193.172.244.202 (talk) 13:43, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

The emergency services in the Netherlands use the following colours for their vehicles: ambulances are yellow with blue and red stripes, police vehicles are white with red and blue stripes, and fire trucks are red with blue and white stripes. The van above the nose is white, so it's presumably a police car. To the left of the van are probably ambulance workers, they wear fluorescent yellow/green uniforms. Aecis·(away) ^talk 13:54, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Some ambulances at the crash site use an orange & white colour scheme, see here: http://www.anp-photo.com/search.pp?page=6&ShowPicture=9260266&pos=46. And at least one policeman on site wore a yellow jersey: http://www.anp-photo.com/search.pp?page=5&ShowPicture=9259425&pos=34 (the guy on the right of the picture). But after a second look, I think you're right: the van on my first picture looks more like a police car. But it's hard to be sure from these lo-res images. It's a pity ANP does not release full-sized versions of its pictures for free 193.172.244.202 (talk) 14:39, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

BBC as source

I have reservation it being used as source here.It article seems to be a official press release from Schiphol airport.User:Yousaf465 (talk)

The BBC is a perfectly reliable source for news facts, I do not think we want to go on this slippery slope. ---Reinoutr (talk) 10:04, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Three or four pieces?

Most sources are describing it as three,but from what I see there are 4 or more parts scattered around. User:Yousaf465 (talk)

Lets stick to what the sources say to avoid any issues with proper referencing of statements. --Reinoutr (talk) 10:02, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Sure there are parts all over the place. But the fuselage broke in 3 pieces. --TheDJ (talk • contribs) 11:27, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

I agree with TheDJ. Remnants of the plane have been scattered across the area, but the fuselage of the plane has broken into three pieces: the cockpit, the wing area and the tail. Aecis·(away) ^talk 12:05, 26 February 2009 (UTC)