Posted on 02/27/2004 10:36:02 AM PST by Destro
Tapes May Unlock Macedonia Crash Mystery
Fri Feb 27, 2004 12:42 PM ET
By Nedim Dervisbegovic
ROTIMLJA, Bosnia (Reuters) - Instrument and cockpit voice recordings from the plane in which Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski died are being examined to determine the cause of the mystery crash, officials said on Friday.
The accident in the mountains of southern Bosnia on Thursday was at first attributed to aircraft failure, but Macedonian officials said there were signs other factors were involved. They gave no further details.
"They've found two black boxes and those black boxes were taken away by the (Bosnian) civil aviation authority and the Macedonian civil aviation authority," said Captain Dave Sullivan, spokesman for the NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR).
Bosnian deputy state prosecutor Medzida Kreso said SFOR was in charge of air traffic control in the Mostar zone.
A recording of the last conversation between the pilot and Mostar control tower "will be carefully examined," she added.
IF NOT AIRCRAFT FAILURE?
Almost as soon as news of the crash broke on Thursday, Macedonian officials were describing the aging, twin-engined Beechcraft as a known danger and an accident waiting to happen.
Former Foreign Minister Slobodan Casule said he tried to have it scrapped but was stopped by an outcry against politicians allegedly feathering their own nests.
But in the Macedonian capital, Skojpe, on Friday, Defense Minister Vlado Buckovski said the government had "indications that show the plane was not the reason for the accident."
Bosnian officials showed signs of irritation with NATO's handling of the crash. Bosnian Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic said the wreck was quickly spotted by a Bosnian army helicopter once SFOR let them start looking.
Bosnia complained on Thursday that SFOR had prevented it from flying over the site for the first six hours.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
A perfect day to provide accident justification. Reminds me of 1964 Red Army crash when 7 highest ranking Red Army generals were conveniently written off 'due to bad weather'.
Well, if it went across the Black Sea to Bulgaria and terminated at Durres in Albania -- it would probably have to go through the Tetovo Republic now wouldn't it?
Greater Albania will start looking better and better to the American voter as gasoline hits $2.50/gallon in the U.S. by summertime.
Hello Mr Fusion
I know you are rather busy in Bosnia these days tracking down Dr Karadzic and reshaping the Balkans according to the neo-conservative mandate, but I was wondering if you might be able to comment on this event? I remember you wrote much about the liberation of the Tetovo Republic in this space during the conflict in 2001...
And you spent a good deal of time wandering between the Tetovo Republic and Tirana last year. You vowed then to finish the job versus Skopje I am told...
I also seem to recall you and the one you refer to as the "Hawk" were on the ground in Dubrovnik about 24 hours after Ron Brown's plane crashed there. Those photos you published in Albania Briefings got a lot of people upset then...
So please Sir, share with us the same insight you shared with Mr Nano's people recently about the coming ANA war of national liberation. How will this shocking event impact the coming battle?
Westerby
For the latest information, press [1]
Albanian AMBO pipeline is a pipe dream. The pipeline will go through Ceyhan, Turkey, if ever constructed. The reason? There is not enough oil in The Stans. But there is a lot of natural gas, and it will go EASTWARD through Afghanistan towards Pakistan and India.
Mr. Fusion, wake up, you have customer on the line...
/forces of deception on the march... stockmarket tumbles/
For the latest information, press [1]
Albanian AMBO pipeline is a pipe dream. The pipeline will go through Ceyhan, Turkey, if ever constructed. The reason? There is not enough oil in The Stans. But there is a lot of natural gas, and it will go EASTWARD through Afghanistan towards Pakistan and India.
Mr. Fusion, wake up, you have customer on the line...
/forces of deception on the march... stockmarket tumbles/
Gravity factors in over 78% of all air crashes, yet the government does nothing! Stop the consipiracy and the gravitational-industrial complex!
And this had two black boxes? Something doesn't compute here.
BTW Bob Cummings in the 1950s TV sitcom "Love that Bob" flew a twin Beach that was generally filled with beathing beauties.
One is the Cockpit Voice Recorder, one is the Digital Flight Data Recorder. They are required by law (& international agreement) on commercial aircraft, and are optional on military and governmental aircraft (although are now standard on US craft... )
Macedonian officials were describing the aging, twin-engined Beechcraft as a known danger and an accident waiting to happen.
An airplane can be safe for many decades if it's maintained right. This aircraft appears to be a King Air 200, tail codes Z3-BAB. "Z3" is the designator for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as the West calls Macedonia (so as not to p.o. the Greeks. You know you're in the Balkans when you can feel the love all around...). A King Air 200 is far from geriatric as planes go; it was first sold in 1973 and is still in production, with over 2,000 built. The serial number of this particular plane, BB-652, implies that it is the 652nd such machine, and looking at other King Air 200s online, it was probably built in late 1980 or early 1981.
Pictures, and more info about the King Air 200 than you probably care about here at airliners.net. The US Army operates hundreds of these planes and I wonder if the Macedonian machine was an ex-C-12. Or it might have been a former commuter plane. (Either would explain the presence of a CVR and DFDR).
The recorders have been taken to Paris, nearest place that has the equipment and specialists to read them. The investigators also have a tape of the crew's conversation with ATC. These, and examination of the wreckage, will tell us a lot.
The parties to the investigation will include Macedonians, experts from the European Community, and people from Beechcraft (USA) and Pratt and Whitney (Canada), as well as a few others. Even the US can't keep all the experts an accident investigation needs on staff, so it brings in outsiders.
We don't have enough information to speculate about the exact cause of the mishap, but when a plane crashes in mountains in conditions of limited visibility, pilots think about CFIT - controlled flight into terrain. That's what cause the American 767 to crash in Cali, Colombia, the Air New Zealand DC-10 on Mount Erebus in Antarctica, and Ron Brown's 737 in Yugoslavia (and yes, I have read the evidence on that... all of it. That crew. indeed their whole squadron and wing, is now used as a bad example in training).
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Incoming, 4 o'clock, 300 meters.
Or however that's done these days.
Bad weather, human error or technical failure may have caused the air crash that killed Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski, but foul play can be ruled out, officials said on Saturday.
"The possibility that the plane was shot down is absolutely excluded," Macedonian deputy public prosecutor Roksanda Krstevska told reporters in the southern Bosnian city of Mostar, 15 km (10 miles) from the site of Thursday's crash.
The accident was at first unofficially attributed to aircraft failure, but Macedonian officials later said there were signs other factors were involved.
Albanian, Slovenian and Serbia-Montenegro official flights to the regional investment conference Trajkovski was to attend were all canceled due to bad weather at the landing site. (so only this delegation were flying in?)
Krstevska said the control panel and electronics of the plane had not been damaged.
The Mostar control tower was manned at the time by military controllers of the NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR), according to Bosnian and Macedonian officials.
(Croatians tend to "commit suicide" via shotgun after they mistakenly guide planes into mountain sides ala Ron Brown's plane. Using SFOR keeps leaks all in the family?)
Paging Jimmy Carter! Another one of your bad policy decisions is coming back to haunt us.
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