Wednesday, August 25, 2004

A Ghost From Russian Aviation

This is the very jet (a Tupolev 134) that crashed south of Moscow yesterday.The photo was taken just a couple months ago. Here's a link to the photo info page on airliners.net. Fox News posted this AP photo of the registration numbers on one of the engines from the crashed Tupolev Tu-134. The plane is equivalant in size to a Boeing 717 or a Bombardier CRJ900 (Regional Jet), seating 70-90 people. Tupolev's are remarkable aircraft in that they mimick almost every major aircraft from the western world (intentionally or not). The other plane (Tu-154), the one that is "missing", looks almost identical to a 727.

It's a bone chilling thing to see a plane on both ends of the spectrum. It's like
seeing a ghost. I'm grateful to be removed from the horror of the situation. It's been a fascinating educational experience to research these planes. As I learn more about plane crashes and commercial airliners in genereal, I become less nervous about flying. As long as our TSA can keep thier heads above... well... flying will continue to be a fascinating experience.

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