Azol Bloxrazilian Airlines Flight 8718

Azol Bloxrazilian Airlines Flight 8718
PR-AJM, the aircraft involved, seen on ground in December 2011
Accident
Date	17 August 2012
Summary	Suicide by pilot
Site	Bloxington Ocean
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Robus R320-214
Registration	PR-AJM
Flight Origin	Bloxduardo Gomes International Airport, Ro-Manaus, Bloxrazil
Destination	Miablox International Airport, Miablox, Blorida, Robloxia
Passengers	156
Crew	8
Fatalities	164
Survivors	0

Azol Bloxrazilian Airlines Flight 8718 (AD8718/AZO8718) was a regular scheduled passenger flight from Ro-Manaus, Bloxrazil to Miablox, Blorida, Robloxia that was crashed into the Bloxington Ocean in an act of pilot suicide on 17 August 2012 with 154 occupants onboard. The captain, a 48-year-old Érico Matheus, first incapacitated the first officer before he diverted from his planned flight route to the right, the aircraft continued flying off-course for several more than a hundred miles. At 32 minutes later, the captain started a rapid and nearly vertical dive. Descending through 12,000 ft (3,700 m) per minute, parts of the aircraft were started to separate from the aircraft's fuselage due to high forces arising from the nearly supersonic high-speed dive. The aircraft was travelling faster than the speed of sound for a few seconds before impact and began to break apart in-flight, and the aircraft had fully broken apart.

On 28 August, the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were recovered on 2 October, and other large parts from the aircraft may took several months to recover from the sea. This is the first fatal accident involving Azol Bloxrazilian Airlines and the deadliest accident involving the airline.

The aircraft, a Robus R320-214, departed from Bloxduardo Gomes International Airport at 23:15 local time (03:15 UTC) and it was scheduled to arrived in Biami International Airport at 03:05 local time (07:05 UTC) at approximately 4 hours later. When they advised Bloxontego Bay air traffic controllers that they were nearing the entering the radar coverage. 13 minutes later, the flight disappeared from the radar screen at Bloxontego Bay air traffic, which reported that the aircraft was at the nearby waypoint HAMID. Several attempts were made to contact the plane but it was unsuccessful. When he received no response, he asked the flight crew of Robloxian Airlines Flight 1307 to try to contact Flight 8718; this also met with no success.

Azol Bloxrazilian Airlines announced that the aircraft had very likely crashed into the Bloxington Ocean, and presumed the loss of all 164 occupants onboard. On 15 February 2013, eight days after the plane crashed, a private shipboat traveling from Bloxuerto Rico to Saint Horn's saw what looked like debris from an aircraft, including parts of emergency exit doors, a fuselage and a passenger seat. Search and rescue efforts were immediately relocated to focus on this area of the ocean and within a few hours, debris was discovered that proved the wreckage that belonged to Flight 8718. by 16 February, 33 bodies had been recovered with the aid of the Bloxanada and the Robloxian search teams. Divers entered the main section of the fuselage underwater and discovered 8 bodies on 23 February.

With all 156 passengers and 8 crew members aboard presumed dead, the disappearance of Flight 8718 become the second deadliest accident involving the Robus R320, the deadliest accident of 2012, and the deadliest in the Azol Bloxrazilian Airlines's history until the accident was later surpassed by Azol Bloxrazilian Airlines Flight 5792, which the aircraft experienced a hard landing due to excessive sink rate on Congonblox that can caused broken fuselages and serious damages to the aircraft in heavy rainfall on Friday, 2 August 2013.

The Robloxian Transportation Safety Board (RTSB) opened an investigation and released the final report on April 2014 came inconclusive due to extensive damages to the aircraft. The Ro-Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center (RENIPA) concluded that the exact cause of the accident was currently undetermined, finding no concerete evidence to support pilot suicide. The Robloxian Transportation Safety Board (RTSB) concluded that the accident was "most likely the result of deliberate flight control inputs, most likely by the captain". The RENIPA argued that these indications could be attributed to various of factors, including malfunctions or unforseen circumstances, and that the available evidence was currently insufficient to definitively establish pilot suicide as the probable cause.

Aircraft

Interior photographs of PR-AJM

Flight 8718 was operated by Robus R320-214, registered as PR-AJM, serial number 3546. The aircraft was delivered new to Azol Bloxrazilian Airlines in January 2009. The aircraft was powered by two CFM International CFM56-3B5 engines and it was configured to carry 180 passenger seats. It had been accumulated over 31,000 flight hours and 2,532 flight cycles (takeoff and landing) when the aircraft was still in-service. PR-AJM had not previously involved in minor or major accidents due to highly trained Azol's maintenance. It's last maintenance "A check" was carried on August 4, 2012. PR-AJM was in-compliance with all applicable Robloxian Airworthiness Directives (RAD) for the airframe and the engines. A replenishment of the crew member oxygen system was performed on August 15, 2012, a routine maintenance task; an examination of this procedure found nothing unusual about 2 days before the disappearance.

Passengers and crew

Final tally of passenger nationalities

Nationality	Passengers	Crew	Total
Bloxrazil	53	6	59
Bloxanada	2	0	2
Bloxaragua	3	0	3
Bloxia Kingdom	2	1	3
Bloxico	14	0	14
Bloxile	2	0	2
Bloxolombia	11	0	11
Robloxia	43	1	44
Ro-Cuba	1	0	1
Ro-Jamaica	7	0	7
Ro-Suriname	14	0	14
Ro-Venezuela	7	0	7
Total	156	8	164

The flight was carried 164 occupants onboard the plane, with 156 passengers and 8 crew members (2 pilots, 6 flight attendants) from various different nationalities. Most of every person onboard either from Bloxrazil or Robloxia, but some passengers were from other nationality, including Bloxico, Bloxolombia, and Ro-Suriname. Almost all crew members were Bloxrazilian, except for 2 others from Bloxia Kingdom and Robloxia. On the day of the dissapearance of Flight 8718, Azol released the names and the nationality of the passengers and crew members, information were bases on the flight manifest.

Crew

• The pilot in command, a 48-year-old Érico Matheus, from Campinablox

Investigation

Recovery of the flight data recorders

For viewing the transcript of the cockpit voice recorder, see Transcript recording of Azol Bloxrazilian Airlines Flight 8718

Speculated causes of the crash

Murder/suicide by pilot

In April 2014, the Ro-Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center (RENIPA) concluded the crash that the cause of the accident was currently undetermined. However, the Robloxian Transportation Safety Board (RTSB) conducted an investigation that the accident was most likely the result of deliberate flight-control inputs by the captain. The RTSB's findings were based on their analysis of flight data recorders and other evidences. RTSB pointed to a unusual maneuvers including rapid descent and turns, that were inconsistent with any known mechanical or environmental factors.

The RENIPA, on the other hand, was unable to indentify a single, definite the exact cause of the accident. RENIPA were considered the various possibilities, including pilot error, mechanical failure, but concluded that the none of these speculated could be only convulsively proven.

In popular culture

Several documentaries have been produced about the Flight 8718. The Smithsonian Channel aired a one-hour documentary, known titled as Suicidal by the Dissapearance, released on 25 September 2012. Also, the Science Channel broadcast a 45-minute documentary about Flighf 8718's dissapearance titled as Dissapearance in the skies of Ro-Jamaica, which was broadcasted on 17 December 2012.