History: Malaysia Airlines Flight 17

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, shortened MH17 or MAS17 also codeshared as KLM Flight 4103 or KL4103 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. On the 17th of June 2014 the aircraft performing the flight, a Boeing 777-200ER registered 9M-MRD crashed in the vicinity of Hrabove in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, approximately 42 km from border with Russia. The aircraft was carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew members. There were no survivors of the crash.

Ukrainian authorities claim that the aircraft was shot down by pro-russian separatists. The separatists claimed that the Ukrainian government shot down the plane. Initial Twitter reports attribute to the separatists the responsibility for shooting down the plane. U.S. intelligence officials confirmed that the initial intelligence assessment showed that a surface-to-air-missile had been fired at the plane, however they could not confirm its origin.

Aircraft

Background

Accident

Search and recovery

Passengers and crew

Investigation

Conclusions

Aftermath

Shortly after the crash several airlines decided to avoid eastern Ukrainian airspace. One after another representatives of Lufthansa, Air France, Delta Air Lines, Aeroflot, British Airways, Air India, Transaero, Turkish Airlines, Wizzair, KLM, Jet Airways, UTair, Alitalia, Virgin Atlantic announced that their companies will fly on alternative routes completely avoiding the airspace near the accident site.

U.S. based airlines were informed by NOTAM to avoid to fly in the Ukraine area and the United Kingdom's Department for Transport ordered flights already airborne to bypass south-eastern parts of Ukraine, including advising pilots around the world to plan routes that avoid the area.

There are reports that separatists blocked rescue workers and police from entering the area. They also claimed that they have found the flight recorder of the aircraft and they plan to hand it over to Russia.

Further reading

Aircraft disasters