The Plane That Should NOT Have Been Flying | The Crash Of Sunway Airlines Flight 4412

IL76 Image: Alan Lebeda

This is the story of Sunway airlines flight 4412. The Il76 is a soviet workhorse and to this day it is used in militaries around the world and as a cargo plane. Ive said it before and Ill say it again the soviet union knows made some beautiful planes and the IL76 Is no exception. This particular IL76, was owned and operated by Sunway, a georgian airline, Georgia the country not the state. The plane flew from the UAE to Jinnah international airport in karachi, pakistan on the 27th of november 2010 at 10 am UTC carrying a boeing 747 enigne. The next day that is the 28th of november the plane was being prepped for take off, Today the plane would be hauling relief materials to khartoum international airports in sudan and so the plane was loaded up with tons and tons of tents. Between 8 21 and 8 24 pm UTC the 4 engines roared to life.

After the crew were satisfied with the way their engines were running they extended the flaps and slats to their take off positions. The plane was good to go, the crew did have some trouble starting engine number 4 on a few previous flights, but not today. At 8:43 and 53 seconds the plane started down runway 25 L of karachi's Jinnah international airport and the plane was airborne. As the plane climbed away it started a slight left bank, The crew checked in with ATC “1255, good day MGC22..” their transmission was cut short. On board a crisis was developing the high pressure compressor in the number 4 engine was shutting down, the crew also had a fire warning on engine number 4. The plane was now 1.24 miles away from the runway and it was at 328 feet in altitude.

A few seconds after engine number 4 failed the plane started to bank right, The pilots were commanding a left roll with the ailerons and the spoilers, but the right bank persisted. In a few seconds the plane was banked to the right by 14 degrees. Engine number 4 was now idling. But the plane continued to bank, now at 32 degrees of bank, the IL76 reached an altitude of 500 feet and it began to descend. As it descended the bank grew worse now at 70 degrees to the right. At this point the plane was unrecoverable and it crashed into housing being built for the pakistani navy near karachi airport. 8 people on board and 4 people on the ground did not make it.

Looking at the wreckage of the plane it was clear that the plane hit the ground in a hard right bank. The wreckage also told them that the there were not flight control issues with the plane as the flight control linkages were all still intact even after the crash, but as they soon discovered not all of the plane was there at the crash site, along the flight path from runway 25L and the crash site they found the shattered battered innards of an IL-76 engine, Engine number 4 had failed as the plane took off from karachi. Parts like shafts, compressor blades and cowlings had fallen off the plane as it tried to climb out. Finding out what happened to Engine number 4 might hold the clue to what happened to sunway flight 4412.

They found that the Low pressure compressor stage disk was the first part to fail, and when that part failed it damaged the right wing of the plane. The damage punctured a fuel tank and that started an inflight fire. The flaps on the right wing of the plane also sustained damage. However the Low pressure second stage disk was lost during the investigation so they couldn't test it extensively to figure out how it failed.

[novusaldynn]

I just love that "Ultimately, you can break Laws, but Not the Laws of Physics" line. . .

[healthent]

The worst part is the pilot probably had no idea, indeed, the whole flight crew probably just showed up to work that day and assumed the company provided them with a safe workplace. Who here goes to work and checks whether their office building is condemned or not?

[Matta]

Aircraft can keep flying as long as good maintenance is done, but at a increasing costs.
To save costs, they use cheap labour in 2nd world countries.
I once saw an An-12 with a bottle cap used to hold lockwire on the outside skin.

[fabianzimmermann]

Probably one of the best videos you made so far. Very interesting accident I didn‘t know about and the animation worked great as a replacement for the lack of footage.

[deeanna]

I love that you narrate these. I watch the visuals when I can, but I love being able to get all the details by just listening when I'm not able to watch the screen.

[stanislavkostarnov]

an Ilyushin 76 (pronounced 'Jill' or 'Yill' seventy six) can have its life extended beyond a certain manufacturing limit through total overhaul, however, there are no clear regulations how that overhaul needs to be done, nor are there any mechanics who are able to verify it, since the division meant to be in charge of this has been effectively suspended and none of the past mechanics are current and qualified... a few airlines (usually airforce auxiliary agencies) do keep these machines going by their own methods, none of the methods however are official or approved on a global basis.
(have flown these planes quite a lot to various remote locations, a lot of fun but not the most comfortable flights) also, these planes require physically very heavy inputs to control, if the hydraulics are even by a degree partially out, I can imagine it would be a great difficulty for the pilots to regain level flight...

[jimbojones]

Thanks for the animation. I can only imagine the terror the flight crew felt once the nose dropped below the horizon.

[WilliamRWarrenJr]

Takeoffs are optional. Landings are mandatory. Pilot discretion is essential.

[hostrauer]

The design of a lot of those Ilyushin and Tupolev planes is top notch (although, the Soviets really struggled with the high-bypass turbofan engines so a lot of the Soviet-era engines were really underpowered). It was maintenance and procedure (both of airplanes and airports) that led to most Soviet air disasters, not design flaw.

[thedie-castaviator]

I love the IL76, one of the loudest aircraft I've ever had the pleasure to see takeoff from close range.

[drmichaelshea]

Your narrations are generally far mor informative and technically sophisticated than some other popular aviation-related YouTube channels. At first I wasn’t happy with stock footage of unrelated aircraft with no direct relevance, but I have learned that the fancy virtual images really don’t add much value. You provide a great educational service, and yours has become my favorite aviation channel. Thanks for your hard work.

[nikotimms]

Your videos got me doing visual inspections before I board any flight now.

[ivebeenmemed]

Amazing job, Mini ACI. At first I was a bit unsure about the new "simulator recreation" type videos, but you pulled it off perfectly. Love the videos.

[Rustamay]

I remember this plane crashed near our office, I was at night shift ..we heard a big bang and all our office windows shake like earthquake..when we get out of our office there was a big ball of fire in the naval area.our office was very nearby to this accident area..You remind me my frightening memories.

[ItsDefinitelyNotEli]

your doing an amazing job with these visuals

[miraflynn]

The visuals on this make it really easy to visualize exactly what happened, great accompaniment to the commentary.

[eyesofstatic]

More animations, please! You're growing! Woot! Gratz on near 40k! Been here since 7ishk

[DevangLiya]

How to make this channel famous?

You are one of the most hardworking youtubers I have seen. Always on schedule and with interesting content.

[islastewart]

i love the little details on these vids like when you say the day after then clarify the date. i find it really helpful because i struggle remembering previous sentences if u get me aha. great vids man :)

[susanbrettdavis]

You do a great job reporting these incidents😁