JUST IN: Air Algerie loses contact with plane over Africa

[regedit]

Airline: 'Air navigation services have lost contact with an Air Algerie plane Thursday flying from Ouagadougou to Algiers, 50 minutes after takeoff'

ALGIERS, Algeria UPDATED) – Air Algerie said it lost contact with one of its aircraft nearly an hour after takeoff from Burkina Faso on Thursday, July 24, bound for Algiers.

"Air navigation services have lost contact with an Air Algerie plane Thursday flying from Ouagadougou to Algiers, 50 minutes after takeoff," the airline said, cited by national news agency APS.

[Wesley]

Seriously, again?

Let's hope this one doesn't turn out to be yet another crash.

[BCEmporium]

Damn! Not again!
What in the hell is going on with aviation this year?!

[Sindelar1938]

The somalization of the air waves continues at a rapid clip
 

[300]

More information:

New agency AFP reported that the missing aircraft was a DC-9, which can seat up to 135 passengers, chartered from a Portuguese firm.

An Algerian official said the plane is an airbus A320 carrying 110 passengers to Algiers.

Flight AH 5017 had 110 passengers and six crew on board, officials said.

It seems planes are dropping out of the sky like crazy these days. Very sad.

Edit: Also there seems to be conflicting reports about whether the plane was a DC-9 or an Airbus A320. There are also reports that it was a Boeing 737-200:

Air Algerie said it lost contact with one of its aircraft nearly an hour after takeoff from Burkina Faso on Thursday bound for Algiers. The plane, a Boeing 737-200, lost contact after taking off, officials said.

Edit 2: It was an MD-83 apparently:

MADRID, July 24 (Reuters) - Spanish private airline company Swiftair on Thursday said the plane on route from Burkina Faso to Algiers it had lost contact with was a MD-83.

An Algerian official had previously said the missing Air Algerie plane was an Airbus A320. (Reporting by Julien Toyer; Editing by Tracy Rucinski)

[gmx95]

This is terrible. too often.

[DrG]

Well as the number of planes in the sky goes up the number of incidents will go up as well (assuming the malfunction and human error rate stay the same).  MD83 - guess they haven't modernized the fleet but for short hops it gets the job done.

[Mt. Gox]

Seriously, again?

Let's hope this one doesn't turn out to be yet another crash.

It's 11:50 am in Algiers. The plane was supposed to land at 5:10 am. I think it probably already crashed.

[petestheman]

There is no evidence of a crash yet I do not understand why everyone lost hope all we can do is pray now and hope nothing bad happens. Aviation must do an over hull of security, communication, and mechanics. This is really sad

[Godye Scaro X9]

First it was MH370, then MH17, then the Taiwanese plane crash, and now this?

[DrG]

There is no evidence of a crash yet I do not understand why everyone lost hope all we can do is pray now and hope nothing bad happens. Aviation must do an over hull of security, communication, and mechanics. This is really sad

5 hours no communication is assumed to be a crash unless there was suspicion of a possible hijacking.  NTSB always assumes a crash has occurred once there is no communication past the point where the plane would run out of fuel.

[serje]

Why it takes them so long to find the plane?

With all this technology they still can't find it fast!

[Lorenzo]

Why it takes them so long to find the plane?

With all this technology they still can't find it fast!

Hopefully this won't turn into another MH370. Nevertheless, it's very likely that the plane involved in today's disappearance isn't in the air anymore. At this point, the best case scenario would be discovering that it had made an emergency landing with survivors.

[shogdite]

Glad I'm not flying again any time soon, even if it is the safest form of transport

Surely there's some satellite images of the flight?

[bitllionaire]

it is strange what it is happening with planes