As I have mentioned before in a previous
diary, my swing shift custodian, Vladimir, used to be an officer in the former Soviet Union armed forces. As I talked with him this afternoon about the
downed planes in Russia, I learned a bit more. Turns out that Vladimir was in the Air Force in the USSR....
My first thought was the possibility of Chechen involvement, so I asked Vladimir if he suspected Chechen terrorists in the downed jets; and he said nyet. Vladimir says that ever since the collapse of the former Soviet Union, what used to be a tightly controlled state-run airline system with Aeroflot has gone all to h*ll in the current for-profit airline system.
He also notes that, according to friends back in Russia, maintenance checks aren't happening the way they used to, rigorous testing of pilots isn't happening like it used to, etc. etc.
He says he'd suspect that something was wrong with the fuel. He said it might have something to do with ice crystals forming in the gas tank, which apparently can happen at high altitudes. Those crystals then get sucked into some sort of fuel intake, plugging it up and causing the engines to fail. Vladimir says that they used to test the fuel with some sort of chemical (my Russian isn't too great, but I think it involved potassium, magnesium, and oxygen, perhaps?) that would form crystals if there were water present in the fuel. He says they also used to add something that translates roughly as "liquid E" to the fuel if there were a chance of ice crystals forming at altitude.
Are there any pilots and/or airline mechanics out there? Does any of this make sense? The articles online make vague reference to "bad fuel," "equipment malfunction" and "human error" as possible contributing factors. Which of these, if any, would coincide with the circumstances here (planes taking off from same airport at about the same time, reaching similar altitudes at similar times)?