Posted on 08/25/2004 1:14:33 PM PDT by Shortwave
Date: August 26 2004
The pilot of one of two Russian planes that crashed almost simultaneously had sent a hijack alert, raising fears of a terrorist attack.
All 89 people on board the two passenger planes died.
(Excerpt) Read more at smh.com.au ...
Doesn't explain what happened to the first plane, tho.
Considering that the flights took off about an hour apart, for two different destinations, I'm not sure how that could be.
Terrorism, Error May Explain Russian Plane Crashes
By Oleg Shchedrov
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Terrorism, human error or mechanical mishap could have caused one of Russia's worst air tragedies in which two planes crashed almost simultaneously and killed at least 89 people, officials said on Wednesday.
President Vladimir Putin, acting swiftly before Sunday's presidential poll in rebel Chechnya, ordered the tightening of security at all Moscow's airports and put the Interior Ministry in charge of screening procedures.
Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov told Putin he had no clear view of what happened to the planes, which took off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport late on Tuesday around an hour apart for two different destinations.
They crashed within four minutes of each other.
"We are examining a number of versions, among them a terrorist act, and human and technical factors," Ustinov told Putin during a meeting with the heads of the FSB security service and the Emergencies Ministry shown on television.
A Tu-134 flying to Volgograd went down near the town of Tula south of Moscow. Within minutes and 500 miles away, a Tu-154 bound for the Black Sea resort of Sochi crashed near the southern town of Rostov-on-Don.
The owner of the Tu-154, Sibir Airlines, said the pilots had triggered a hijack alert just before their plane crashed and the aircraft seemed to have exploded in mid-air. It was carrying 46 passengers and crew.
Volga-Aviaexpress, a small regional carrier which owned the Tu-134, said the crew did not report any problems on board before the plane crashed with 43 passengers and crew. The Emergencies Ministry later said 44 people were aboard.
Aided with cranes, investigators sieved through high grasses in almost identical countryside near the two sites. Huge slabs of twisted metal, seats and the odd piece of clothing were scattered over dozens of miles.
FSB IN CHARGE
Putin, who broke off his summer holiday in the Black Sea resort of Sochi to return to Moscow, had ordered the FSB to investigate the case, which it is normally only asked to do if terrorism is suspected. Continued ...
© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved. At the link there is a map and you can see how far apart these crashes were.
"That plane was mechanically doomed."
Could you elaborate?Thanks.
Not just the Russians. Worked for TW800 and AA587 ?
You meant Achmed's boxcutter, right?
I thought it was the spelled sound of clearing the throat...
I suspect terrorism too, but I can remember a few years ago when at least one US Air Force plane crashed everyday for several days straight.
Yes. Even ur own government couldn't come up with a believable 'it was an accident' report for 9-11.
" result of terrorism, or poor aircraft maintenance "
Maintanance is not even likely unless it is fuel related as they have said they suspected. Even then it would be highly unlikely given that they went down 3 minutes and several hundred miles apart.
I haven't heard that. So far, they have said that they have no evidence that it is terrorism, but they haven't ruled it out. That seems reasonable.
Occam's Razor. (For William of Ockham... there's another variant I cannnot recall at this time...)
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