Flight TK 1951 Crashes ourside of Schipol Aiport (Reuters)

Updated 12.55 (London time): Local Dutch authorities have been quoted as ” Up to 9 people have died”. This conflicts with initial reports from the Turkish Airlines.  As of this update, Turkish Airlines has yet to release a formal written statement ot the press.

According to Turkish Airlines press office in Istanbul, TK1951 was on approach to Amsterdam’s Schipol airport (Runway 36L-18R) when it crashed at approximately 1130 Istanbul tme/0930 Amsterdam time.

They can confirm that the aircraft was a Boeing 737-800 with 135 passenger and 7 crew on board at the time of the incident.”, said a Turkish Airlines spokesperson from Istanbul. He went on to say “that all on board the aircraft have survived.”  Previous media reports had advised that at least one person had died, however, official sources including the Turkish Transport Minister are now advising that all aboard have survived.

The aircraft has come to rest in a rather muddy field, where rescue workers are having some slight difficulty. The weather at the time of the incident has been reported to have been foggy, and Instrument Flight Rules were in place.

Dutch media sources are advising that eyewitnesses are saying that the aircraft “appeared to be flying slowly” at the time of impact.

At this time, however, we are unsure if the aircraft had declared an emergency or was on a final approach.

A quick examination of our photo’s courtesy of Reuters, show that the aircraft does appear to be in three pieces, and the aircraft appears to otherwise to have come down in a such a manner that kept the wings even and nose up on impact.   While we are not speculating, it appears that the aircraft had landed in much the normal pitch as it normally would, which as the story emerges may prove to be a key element of why no fire broke out on board.

It is an established fact in air crashes that survivability is greatly diminished by on “on-board” fire.  Luckily,  for these survivors that was not something that they were faced with.

Turkish Airlines advises a written statement should be available shortly. At this point, the official website for Schipol airport is only giving basic flight data and appears to be otherwise unavailable.  Normal operations do appear to be in place on the other runway at this time. Expect, however, severe delays.

In the meantime, our thoughts go out to those who have been injured and shaken.   We wish you a speedy recovery.