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| Europe |
| Plane With Spanish Troops Crashes in Turkey |
| 2003-05-26 |
| A plane carrying up to fifty Spanish peacekeeping forces from Afghanistan to Madrid crashed early Monday in northwest Turkey, news reports said. The plane went down near the mountainous town of Macka, 30 miles south of the Black Sea port of Trabzon. One witness reported the wreckage of the plane was in flames and said he saw at least two charred bodies. The Ukrainian plane was flying from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, to Zaragoza, Spain, with a refueling stop in Trabzon. It carried 62 passengers — all Spanish peacekeeping forces — and 12 crew members. The plane apparently went down in its third attempt to land in thick fog at Trabzon. Officials said the pilot reported not being able to see the runway in the first two attempts, and the plane disappeared from radar screens at 4:45 a.m. Turkish military troops and ambulances rushed to the scene to rescue possible survivors, the Anatolia news agency said. Ouch. Condolences to all the families. And people, stop flying "Air Ukraine." |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #5 Picture this: It is 0445, the crew is tired, the runway is down to minimum conditions for the instrument approach, and you are approaching bingo fuel (minimum). Now you have to be at your best flying an approach that you may never have done. If you fly it and miss enough times, you will start believing that you see elements of the runway environment and will continue the approach to landing. A very dangerous thing to people in the air and people on the ground. Normal IFR (instrument flight rules) proceedure is to fly to the destination airport, shoot the approach(es) fly to the alternate airport and shoot the approach there. To stick around and fly multiple approach attempts is not justified unless there are improving ceiling and runway visibility conditions. You can never have too much fuel aboard unless you are on fire. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-05-26 14:05:19 |
| #4 Why do the Euros keep contracting their military airlift needs out to the Ukraine? Why don't they ever develop their own version of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet? Despite of all the talk, they are still treating power projection as a joke. Obviously, they don't feel that the lives of their troops are worth paying top dollar for reliable aircraft and pilots, either. |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2003-05-26 14:04:11 |
| #3 FYI there are FEW countries in the world that have sufficient Airlift capability for their Armies. The Former USSR had HUGE fleet of transport planes and many former countries contact these out for peacekeeping purposes. It also allows some UN members to 'pay' for there dues in the UN by providing Airlift for Peacekeepers. On a side note: When the French want to deploy troops to Africa last year, they had to ask the US for planes to accomplish this.! Also the PRC Rarely provides planes for transport because nations REFUSE to let the PRC fly them. (Poor safety record). |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2003-05-26 13:32:49 |
| #2 A better question is, Why on earth does Spain contract its military airlift capability to the Ukraine? They were part of the United Nations-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Yes, you can thank the nice people at the UN for this. When we people learn that the UN f****s-up everything they touch! |
| Posted by: Phil B 2003-05-26 11:53:05 |
| #1 I like the Ukkies and all, but Jesus, what the hell are they flying? Buses with wings? |
| Posted by: The Marmot 2003-05-26 01:03:36 |