Two pilots killed as Tu-95MS bomber crashes after all 4 engines fail

siberian times ^ | 14 july 2015 | The Siberian Times reporte

[DUMBGRUNT]

Two pilots killed as Tu-95MS bomber crashes after all 4 engines fail

Five crew safely parachuted from stricken jet in latest of spate of accidents afflicting military aircraft.

The accident was the sixth involving Russian military aircraft this summer, reported news agencies. The ministry said the crash was probably caused by a malfunction, although other causes were not ruled out, reported Sputnik News Agency.

[Hulka]

Or bad fuel. . .

[ex91B10]

[BenLurkin]

Good.

One less of those to worry about.

[MasterGunner01]

For all four engines to fail it had to be a fuel problem. Either bad fuel (water in the fuel) or empty fuel tanks. I'll bet on bad fuel. The Tu-95 has been in-service with the Russians since 1956. It is the Russian equivalent to our B-52 Stratofortress that entered service in February 1955.

[elcid1970]

How about ice crystals in the fuel?

I was deployed to Uzbekistan at an old Soviet air base. The Uzbeks had a few Sukhoi Su-27’s which they would light off before dawn & spool up to full throttle for what seemed like forever before finally rolling for takeoff. Very noisy.

Asked Basops what was gong on & the reply was that Russian jet fuel had no anti-ice additives so the airframes were gotten good & hot before flight to prevent fuel starvation due to ice in the fuel.

[elcid1970]

There’s an old joke that DEW line folks will hear Tu-95s approaching long before they see them on radar.

[USNBandit]

My guess as well, except the article said the fuel valves failed to all engines. Of course we will never know the truth.

[superfries]

Fuel Boost pump failure. If it even has one:)

[Seruzawa]

50 years isn’t bad. There are older DC3s still flying around from the 30s.

Of course they aren’t maintained by Russians.

[cynwoody]

For all four engines to fail it had to be a fuel problem. Either bad fuel (water in the fuel) or empty fuel tanks. I'll bet on bad fuel.

According to the article, "TASS news agency cited sources saying a failure of the plane's fuel valves led to the failure of all four engines."

[MasterGunner01]

If the fuel transfer valves are electric and there was an electrical problem, that would point to why the four engines suffered from fuel starvation. My guess is these fuel transfer vales are controlled by the flight engineer.

[DesertRhino]

And who do you think may have shot down a Tu-95 in the middle of nowhere, in far eastern Siberia?

[X Fretensis]

or the fuel was water/contaminate laden