The navigation equipment used in former Yugoslavia was soviet made, it wasn't what you would find in the west and wasn't up to western standards. Pretty much everything electronic of that era made by the Soviets was crap. The instrument approach to Dubrovnik that you have to use to land in low visibility was an ADF approach which required receivers that wasn't compatible with western aircraft like the CT-43(Boeing 737) that Brown was in. It's my understanding that the pilots told Brown before they took off that they couldn't go because the weather was too low and they weren't legal for the only approach procedure into Dubrovnik but Brown pulled rank and insisted they go. That's what I was told shortly after the crash by people familiar with it.
Take that for what it's worth, I don't have any official knowledge of anything. I do know from being nearby at the time that the weather was really bad and there's no way I'd try to land in that weather at an airfield with soviet era navigational aids. I believe it was a case of a cabinet member pressuring pilots into flying into weather they weren't equipped to handle and against better judgement they went ahead.
I heard the exact same thing from some Air Force friends.
Your explanation is very reasonable. Thank you.
That’s how I remember the weather being portrayed also - but there was something else in the mix, but I cannot remember what - just that there was something else.
It’s my understanding that the pilots told Brown before they took off that they couldn’t go because the weather was too low and they weren’t legal for the only approach procedure into Dubrovnik but Brown pulled rank and insisted they go. That’s what I was told shortly after the crash by people familiar with it.
Take that for what it’s worth, I don’t have any official knowledge of anything. I do know from being nearby at the time that the weather was really bad and there’s no way I’d try to land in that weather at an airfield with soviet era navigational aids. I believe it was a case of a cabinet member pressuring pilots into flying into weather they weren’t equipped to handle and against better judgement they went ahead.
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“the worst storm in a decade”
yes, I’ve read that was the “official” explanation.
what else would you expect them to tell you?
what ever happened to the black box?
what happened to the transponder?
what happened to the cockpit radio?
what happened to the control cables?
what happened to Sgt Shelly Kelly?
what happened to the photos & xrays of the hole in brown’s head? (ask chris ruddy maybe??)
why did dubrovnik airport maintenace chief commit arkancide?
<> asking for a friend.
happy new year.
To add a bit to your succinct explanation, I happened to be close by having breakfast at a French army camp that morning. A runner entered and exchanged some words with the Commander, who excused himself, pointing to a plume of smoke about ten miles away and saying a plane had crashed. It was sunny where we were dining but I did notice a line of low clouds behind the smoke. I fly a bit and it did not strike me at the time that it was a weather related accident. That is my informed opinion and somehow I was not surprised by the aftermath.