AeroParaboca Flight 8

AeroParaboca Flight 8

An AeroParaboca Toring 727 similar to the aircraft involved in the incident
Shootdown
Date	19 May 2022
Summary	Shot down by a missile fired from the Yuaneze naval vessel Kuanhang during the Jinchon Sea crisis
Site	Sancheon Gulf, near Gangkou
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Toring 727
Operator	AeroParaboca
IATA flight No.	AP655
ICAO flight No.	AP655
Call sign	AEROPAR 655
Flight origin	Siniapore International Airport Siniapore
Destination	Cardoza International Airport Cardoza, Paraboca
Occupants	166
Passengers	156
Crew	10
Fatalities	166
Survivors	0

AeroParaboca Flight 8 was a scheduled passenger flight from Siniapore to Cardoza that was shot down on 19 May 2022 by a surface-to-air missile fired from Kuanhang, a guided-missile cruiser of the Yuan People's Liberation Navy. The aircraft, a Toring 727, was destroyed and all 166 people on board were killed. The jet was hit while flying over Gangkou's territorial waters in the Sancheon Gulf, along the flight's usual route, thirty minutes after departing Siniapore International Airport. The incident occurred during the Jinchon Sea crisis, which had been escalating in tension after the sinking of the Huangshan.

The Yuaneze government initially denied the shootdown, but President Xi Jingyi eventually admitted to it. Yuaneze officials claimed the plane was conducting "hostile surveillance" of Yuaneze naval vessels in the Jinchon Sea and Sancheon Gulf. However, the majority of the Coalition of Crown Albatross condemned the shootdown and several nations, including Siniapore and Paraboca, closed diplomatic contact with Yuan. The Yuaneze military asserts that the Kuanhang had made ten attempts to contact the aircraft both on military and on civilian frequencies, but had received no response. According to the Zamastanian navy, the cruiser negligently shot down the aircraft, which was transmitting signals that identified it as a civilian aircraft.

The shootdown was the deadliest aviation disaster of 2022 up to that point in the year. It was also the greatest loss of life for Parabocans since the 2001 Rainsa Day Massacre. President Atticus Moreau sent more naval vessels into the region to back the ZMS Dubois carrier fleet in response to the shootdown. On May 22nd, Moreau and Xi met in Kynnport, Alecburgh, and pledged to decrease their military activity in the region. Yuan continues to insist that Kuanhang was acting in "self-defense".

Shootdown

The ZMS Winterschede, a Tregueux-class cruiser, discovered Flight 8's blackbox on the seabed on May 22nd.

According to Parabocan authorities, the Toring 727 took off from Siniapore at 8:10 PM local time on May 19th, 2022, on a routine 11-hour flight from the small Ausianan nation to the Parabocan capital. The plane made a simple flight pattern: climb to 14,000 feet (4,300 m), turn due north, and keep heading for Cardoza. The airliner was transmitting the correct transponder "squawk" code typical of a civilian aircraft and maintained radio contact with appropriate air traffic control facilities in Siniapore, Gangkou, Shanghan, and Kalea.

At the same time, the Yuaneze guided-missile cruiser Kuanhang was passing through the Sancheon Gulf during an escort duty with other Yuaneze warships. The Kuanhang fired two EM-2MR surface-to-air missiles, one of which hit the airliner. The plane disintegrated immediately, disappearing from the radar at 8:40 PM, around which point several shipping and fishing vessels reported a streak of light streaking from the waterline into the atmosphere, with many calling it akin to a missile. Some boats reported witnessing the plane itself crash into the sea. Bodies were recovered from the water, as were fragments of the plane, and there were no survivors.

The black box of the plane was discovered on the ocean floor by the ZMS Winterschede on May 22nd, making for the recovery of the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder.

Nationalities of the victims

Nationality	Passengers	Crew	Total
Paraboca	128	9	137
Siniapore	19	0	19
Yuan	4	0	4
Zamastan	2	0	2
Shoassau	2	0	2
Caspiaa	1	0	1
East Chanchajilla	0	1	1
Total	156	10	166

Aftermath

Reaction

President Oriol Miguélez called the shootdown the "greatest act of terror on our nation [Paraboca] in two decades", and he ordered the embassy in Shanghan to close while recalling all diplomatic staff.