#Pakistan plane crash

[bisexualbaldingbulgarian]

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[usafphantom2]

The Story Of The Soviet Pilot Who Defected To Japan With A Secretive MiG-25 Foxbat

September 6, 2016 Military Aviation, Military History, Russia, Troubled Areas

Image credit: Alex Beltyukov

OTD in 1976, Viktor Belenko, “stole” a MiG-25 and landed in Japan.

The then Lieutenant Belenko was a pilot with the 513th Fighter Regiment, 11th Air Army, based in Chuguyevka, Primorsky Krai, in the east of the country. When he brought his MiG-25 “Foxbat” to Hakodate he gave the Western intelligence officers the opportunity to give a first close look at one of the most secretive airplanes of those years: a supersonic interceptor featuring a powerful radar, four air-to-air missiles and a top speed above Mach 3.

In order to assist the American experts in evaluating the aircraft, Belenko brought with him the pilot’s manual for the MiG-25 “Foxbat”, expecting to assist American pilots in evaluating and testing the aircraft. Even if the Japanese government didn’t originally give full access to the plane, the Americans were later invited to examine the aircraft extensively: the MiG was dismantled for such purpose and later returned to the Soviet Union.

In his “MiG pilot” book (1983) John Barron claims that Viktor Belenko’s defection was completely voluntary and was the result of Belenko’s distrust on communist regime.

The MiG was delivered to Japan without the missiles, which were to be introduced in the Belenko’s training later on. The mission was launched earlier than initially planned, because the KGB was about to stop Viktor Ivanovich Belenko from defection.

Although pilot defections during the Cold War were not a rarity, what made Belenko’s defection unique was the fact that the MiG-25 was largely unknown in the West. This is the main point to bear in mind when thinking about Belenko and, unfortunately, this fact is often forgotten.

The ideological background for the events which took place in 1976 is deeply rooted in the beginnings of the post-war period. As the Cold War was in progress there were many incidents and crises which closely led to a confrontation between the two superpowers. One of these events was Francis Gary Powers’s U-2 spy flight on of May 1, 1960.

Power’s U-2 took off from USAF Peshawar Air Base in Pakistan for a GRAND SLAM mission, to investigate the Soviet missile and plutonium production plants. Targets were Sverdlovsk, Plesetsk (ICBM sites) and Mayak – a plutonium plant.

The U-2 was a plane designed to fly well above the Soviet air defense Surface to Air Missile systems. Its operational ceiling was out of the range of the Soviet interceptors and missiles but Powers’ flight was expected, all of the units and surface-to-air defenses were put on alert. The MiG pilots were ordered to ram the aircraft if necessary. The U-2 was eventually shot down by an S-75 Dvina missile near Degtayrsk in the Ural region. Because of high g-force Powers had no chance of reaching the airplane’s self-destruction button and had to eject.

What is interesting is the fact that SAM crews did not know that the plane had already been shot down because the MiGs’ IFF transponders were not updated (May 1st is a national holiday), therefore several Soviet aircraft were also shot down by S-75 rockets.

The political consequences of the spy flight were severe.

Shortly after the incident the Americans created a cover up story for Powers’ failure. NASA had announced in a very specific press release that the pilot, having lost consciousness due to the problems with the oxygen equipment, had strayed into the Soviet territory with his autopilot engaged while carrying out a weather flight.

On May 7, Khrushchev announced that Powers had survived the crash and, nine days later, on May 16, 1960, during a Four Powers Paris Summit meeting with Harald MacMillan, Charles de Gaulle and Dwight Eisenhower he called the U-2 incident an act of a “deliberate aggression.”

Eisenhower refused to apologize for the incident, claiming that the U-2 flight was not of aggressive nature, having only a purpose of ensuring US safety. The meeting collapsed. At the time, Eisenhower was a proponent of so-called Open-Sky Policy, according to which both sides would allow for reciprocal reconnaissance flights over their territories. Khrushchev did not agree. Powers was sentenced to 7 years of hard labor in a Gulag, but he was exchanged for a Russian spy Rudolf Abel on the famous Glinecke Bridge in Potsdam, connecting West and East Germany.

Gary Powers incident sparked the development of the American Oxcart programme, with the goal to design the SR-71 spy plane, which in addition to flying high, also flew very fast, out of the range of the Soviet missiles’ operational envelope.

What is more, a D-21 drone reconnaissance system was developed, to be carried by SR-71 as a parasite. The drone would be dropped, fly over the Soviet Union, return over the Pacific and drop the reconnaissance materials on a parachute.

Both these designs led to the development of a Soviet countermeasure – the MiG-25, known in NATO code as the Foxbat.

MiG-25 take off

The main reason for the importance of Belenko‘s defection cannot be understood without going deeper in the aviation context of the event. The Cold War was the time when both sides used the nuclear armament as a psychological weapon. Therefore ways to deliver warheads were some of the priorities in the development in the field of military industry.

One of the ways to deliver warhead to its target was to use the strategic bomber. The bombers in the US – the B-52s – were subsonic, and could have been easily intercepted by the MiG-21, which was capable of reaching speeds of Mach number up to Mach 2 and altitudes of 60,000 feet.

Problems began to emerge when the B-58 Hustler was designed. This plane was capable of flying with the same level of performance as any MiG-21, which for the Soviet designers meant they had to look for a better countermeasure.

The Strategic Air Command of the United States Air Force at the time was into creating a nuclear-powered bomber of infinite range. The project had been dropped in 1964 when North American aviation announced that it could build a bomber capable of attaining speeds of Mach 3 throughout the entire length of its mission.

Secondly, after the failure of U-2 spy plane, launched the Oxcart program, which lead to the development of Mach 3 strategic reconnaissance aircraft, SR-71.

That put the Moscow designers on alert, and an assignment was given to the design bureaus of MiG (Mikoyan and Gurevich) and Sukhoi to develop a countermeasure.

The surface-to-air missiles were considered insufficient. The aim was to develop a single-seat interceptor capable of attaining extremely high speeds and altitudes.

New problems for the Soviet scientists emerged, such as thermodynamic heating, leading to immense development of the Moscow research institute, TsAGI – transliteration of the Russian abbreviation which stands for Центра́льный аэрогидродинами́ческий институ́т (ЦАГИ) – Central Aero-Hydrodynamic Institute. Mikhail Gurevich was the leader of the MiG-25 project.

According to Discovery Channel’s TV series Wings of the Red Star many Western experts argue that the Foxbat was inspired by the North American Aviation A-5 Vigilante. The design programme for MiG-25 was founded in 1958. The basic design of E-155 which later became MiG-25 was the work of Artion Mikoyan.

The E-155, the prototype of what was to become Foxbat was propelled by two large turbojet engines designed by Tumansky. The prototype itself was designed in the period of 1961-1962.

No aluminum, so popular in the West at the time, was used for construction. Steel and nickel alloys were used instead, with limited use of titanium on leading edges and places where heat loads were expected to be high.

The aircraft had to be light, to that extent that weight was traded for strength. The G-load it could withstand was only 5 g, two times less than other fighters which were designed to fight in close combat.

The maiden flight of E-155 was made by famous MiG test pilot, Alexander Fedotov on May 1, 1964.

The MiG-25’s mission as an interceptor required development of fire control system which would be able to work at the speeds the plane could reach.

The radar on the plane, RP-25 Smerch, designated in the NATO nomenclature as Foxfire, 1,100 pounds in weight, was the largest device of this type at the time. According to Barron, the radar was very powerful (600 kilowatts), as

“[Belenko] also dared not touch the radar switch because the impulses from the MiG-25 radar were so powerful, they could kill a rabbit at a thousand meters. Hence, it was a crime to activate the radar on the ground.”

Its purpose was to burn through any jamming systems known at the time and to provide a stable lock-on allowing the pilot to use the air-to-air missiles that Foxbat was carrying.

Also in May of 1964 the XB-70 aircraft was made a research airplane, and presented to the public in Palmdale, California, after being canceled three times (in 1959, 1960 and in 1961). At same time, the U-2 missions were still a danger, so as the SR-71, US Air Force ultimate Mach 3 spy plane. For these reasons the development of Foxbat was not canceled.

Mikoyan left his design bureau in March 1964 for health reasons. Never had he an opportunity to see the MiG-25 enter service dying in December from the heart attack.

In March 1965 the first public announcements of the plane’s performance were made, which was that it completed 150 kilometers closed circuit flight at the speed of 1,400 miles per hour.

The Foxbat made its first public appearance at the airshow organized in connection with the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution on Jul. 9, 1967 on the Domodedovo airfield. When three MiG-25s appeared in the sky the show announcer referred to them as “Interceptors capable of Mach 3”.

Both the Western experts and Russians were puzzled, as even in the Soviet Russia there was almost no information about the MiG-25 available to the public whatsoever, up until 1972.

Mig-25 side takeoff

Besides being an interceptor, the Mig-25 was also a high altitude reconnaissance aircraft. It was operated in the conditions of direct radio communication with the ground and was capable of taking photographs of whole United Kingdom within one flight.

The West had an opportunity to see what the aircraft was capable of in a proxy war between Israel and Egypt.

Four MiGs, referred to as X-500, were shipped to Egypt in fall 1971. The Egyptians were forbidden to come close to them, and even though the aircraft had Egyptian markings, they were flown by Soviet pilots and serviced by Soviet crews.

When one of the Israeli F-4 Phantom fighters tried to intercept the MiG reconnaissance aircraft at Mach 2,5, the MiG simply accelerated to Mach 3.2 and disappeared.

The MiG-25 engines were capable of producing 12,500 kG each. The design assumptions of the construction were not to create a good close combat fighter, but to propel it throughout the airspace as fast as possible.

In the late 1960s the USA developed the F-15 which was a fruit of the vague understanding of what MiG-25 was. That understanding was based on the speed and altitude records Foxbat had broken (see below).

The Western experts assumed that it was faster in straight line than expected. They also thought that it was made of lightweight, modern composite materials and that it was powered by modern turbofan engines. It was also believed to have a long-range and good close air combat capabilities.

As a result of that, American engineers designed the ultimate fighter jet, which was very complex, and due to that – quite costly. In the beginning of its existence it broke many of the climb records established earlier by hte Foxbat.

It was late 1972 when F-15 entered service, and it was long until 1976 for the MiG to remain a mystery.

On Sept. 6, 1976, when Viktor Belenko defected taking off from the Sokolovka airbase and landing in Japan, the Western perception of Foxbat changed.

It turned out that the airplane was heavier and simpler in construction than expected, hence it had shorter range. It was far from being a close combat jet with its rugged construction. It also had very poor low-speed capabilities.

As Peter Ustinov of the Wings of the Red Star TV series summarizes: “MiG-25 was indeed an extraordinary machine, but not the one the West had imagined.”

Nevertheless the simplicity of Foxbat could not stop it from breaking many world records, nor could the Americans at the time.

MiG-25 front left

The prototypes were made lighter and their purpose was to break several records. As it is stated in the classification of FAI (International Aeronautical Federation), Foxbat belonged to the category C1 (III) which specifies jet powered aircraft with unlimited take-off weight.

The records broken by Foxbat were of various nature.

They included: speed record on a 1,000 km circuit by chief MiG test pilot Alexander Fedotov: 2319,12 km/h on Mar. 16, 1965; the Foxbat broke several time-to-height records, for example climbing to 20,000 m in 2 minutes 49,8 seconds. The MiG-25 also set several absolute world records that still stand. Absolute world altitude records with 1,000 kg payload, and without payload: 35,230 m and 36,240 m respectively were also set.

Air-to-air_left_side_view_of_a_Soviet_MiG-25_Foxbat-E_aircraft

As already explained, the West had almost no knowledge of MiG-25 whatsoever until 1971, and very poor knowledge by September 1976 when Belenko defected.

It was a great surprise, and present for the Western experts when Belenko flew a brand new MiG-25 to a Japanese airfield.

At first the Soviet officers at Sokolovka airbase, where Belenko was stationed, thought that it was navigation systems problem that occurred and lead to the event. The defection, however, was preplanned and premeditated.

Several authors say that Belenko, had been an aviation enthusiast from his earliest childhood.

He received his flight training in order to become a flying instructor and devoted most of his time to learning and perfecting his flying craftsmanship.

He got a job as an instructor in Amarvir Pilot School, flying Sukhoi Su-15 planes, always being a top notch airman. It was in the beginning of the 1970s when he heard about a MiG-25 for the first time.

Almost immediately, wanting to learn about the new plane, he asked for transfer to flight training on Foxbat in 1972. The unit he applied to was Rostov, near Iran, but he was soon moved to the far east, to Sokolovka, the 530th Fighter Regiment.

The permission for transfer given by the commander being an exception in those times was justified with the Belenko’s great interest in the modern air technology. His records were flawless, so he was selected, and he was appointed a party secretary of the squadron.

Belenko’s training program progressed without any trouble. After the individual flights program ended the group flights began. The group flights started at the end of August and were to be conducted for one month.

On Sept. 6, 1976 Belenko walked his child to the kindergarten and went to the base to fly.

The weather conditions were good for flying – the cloudiness was of about 7/10 with the lower cloud surface at 1,500-2,000 meters and upper at 5,000 meters. Take-off was to take place at 12:50.

Soon after the take-off Belenko reported engine problems and separated from the group. He dropped to an altitude of 50 m above the sea, so no problems that usually occur in a low-level flight were present. He was flying low, so the radars could not track him. The direction the plane was going was eastward. Directly towards the Japanese archipelago.

Getting closer to the shore Belenko climbed to 6,700 m, waiting for the reaction of the Japanese air defense.

370 kilometers from the island he was finally spotted by the radars. The Japanese at Chitose airbase scrambled a pair F-4J fighters to intercept him. Knowing that he had been detected he descended again but he soon entered the clouds, experiencing difficulties in navigation.

At 13:52 he spotted an airfield and attempted a landing, but had to abort it and go around because of a Boeing 727 airliner taking off. According to his assessment, the airstrip was a bit shorter from what he had seen on military airfields. He made a long landing, overshooting the runway and rolling about 240 meters beyond the threshold.

After getting out of the cockpit he spotted the name of the airfield. Unfortunately it was not a military base, but civilian Hoktado strip. Nevertheless, Belenko was in Japan, which was his main objective. Just after getting out of the cockpit he made a warning shot and warned the Japanese not to come close to the plane because it was secured with explosives (at the time the Soviet Air Force used to secure the MiG-25 from getting into the Western hands by using explosives and self-destruction system).

He also asked the personnel to cover the aircraft in such a way that the Soviet markings were not visible. Then, he asked to be put in contact with the US Air Force representation. The airfield was closed down for five hours. Belenko asked for a political asylum.

The time between the afternoon of September 6th and 7th was very eventful.

The media showed a large interest in the incident and disseminated the news all across the Western world. Aeroflot sent a delegation, but they were not allowed to see nor to come close to the Foxbat.

Diplomacy was a major problem. In order to justify keeping the pilot and plane on the Japanese territory the authorities accused Belenko of illegal border trespassing.

The plane was moved to a hangar and afterwards was transported to military airbase in Hyakuri, located 80km north from Tokyo. On Sept. 19 a C-5 Galaxy cargo plane was brought from the US in order to transport the MiG-25; eleven experts from Wright-Patterson AFB were brought in order to examine the aircraft.

Also 64 Japanese experts took part in the examination. The aircraft was partially dismantled and transported in escort of F-4J and F-104J fighters.

The examination included infra-red photos of Foxbat with the engines working at full military power. It was essential for western air-to-air missiles designers to know the heat spectrum of the engines, so that they could develop missile guidance systems according to the characteristics of the Foxbat engines.

The diplomatic struggle went on. The official statement of the Japanese was that the plane would be returned to the Soviets but no sooner than Oct. 5, 1976. Due to the fact that samples of materials were taken from the wings the Foxbat could not go back by air.

It was dismantled again and sent back on a container ship in parts, in 13 containers. The Japanese secured the containers so that the Soviet personnel would not do the review of the plane in the daylight.

But the Russian methodology was unknown to the Japanese. The personnel had opened the containers with crowbars and it turned out that some equipment was still in the hands of the West. The Soviets asked the West to pay for the missing aircraft instrumentation and avionics. The Japanese in a reply asked the Russians to pay for transport and formalities.

Belenko’s family was detained and KGB started an investigation. A personal diary in which fuel calculations were carried out was found in Belenko’s flat.

It was also found out that the pilot was in Moscow a week prior to the deception.

All these factors suggested that the incident was a long preplanned operation of the American intelligence as Belenko could have met a US agent in Moscow.

What is more, the Soviet pilot very often used the confidential library of the airbase, more often than other pilots. It was supposed that he might have been taking photos of the MiG-25 manual.

After Belenko arrived he was isolated from the third parties.

He got a political asylum in the USA, where he started working in an aviation company. Afterwards, in many interviews, like in one for Full Context magazine, he said that the main reason behind the defection was to get away from the communism.

He received American citizenship and opened his own company. He got married to an American woman, with whom he had 3 children. According to Barron’s book his family life in USSR was going towards a bitter end – a divorce – so he fled to the US.

After publishing this article we received an email from one of our readers who provided some more behind the scenes details. Here’s what he’s written to us:

Actually, they did, and Russia was totally unaware of it. It was rolled into a hangar, dismantled, and flown to Area 51 by C-5A Galaxy, where it was totally examined, taken apart, reassembled, and flown by Victor Belenko against our first line fighters of the time. It was then disassembled, crated, loaded back onto the C-5, and flown back to Japan, where it was placed on the dock to await a Russian freighter’s pick-up.

We expected to find high tech alloys used for the wings, but the rust through the paint revealed they were steel. Where we expected high tech electronics, we found vacuum tube electronics.

You must remember that Russia builds for durability, and survival under war-time conditions. Just like their AK-47 Automatic rifle…bullet proof, easy to manufacture, and repair under war conditions. Which is easier to construct, and repair during wartime..high tech, or low-tech items? You’ll find the inside of Antanov’s giant aircraft made the same way, especially loading ramps, which are hollow, with an aluminum thin covering and internal ribs, with a reverse dimple texture. Hydraulics actually glass jars !!

Area 51 was the site of many Russian MiG tests, obtained from many different sources. we had a number of pilots versed in, and trained in MiG operations and evaluations.

Yes, Japan DID allow the removal, and testing, by us, of Belenko’s MiG 25..but it was highly secret.

About Jacek Siminski

Standing contributor for TheAviationist. Aviation photojournalist. Co-Founder of DefensePhoto.com. Expert in linguistics, Cold War discourse, Cold War history and policy and media communications.

@TheAviationist.co

[adventuressclubamericas]

Adventuresses We Love – Amy Johnson Adventuress Amy Johnson started taking flying lessons at the London Aeroplane Club in 1928. Typical chauvinistic attitudes of the day meant she had to spend twice as much time in training as her male colleagues, but she did finally earn her pilot’s license in 1929. Later that year, she became the first British woman to qualify as an aircraft ground engineer. She then set her eyes on another goal – Australia. On May 5, 1930, with only 75 hours flying time under her belt, Johnson took off from Croydon in her deHavilland Gipsy Moth she’d named Jason. The flight would not be an easy one. Along the way, she’d battle sandstorms, monsoons, and blistering heat. As she sheltered from a sandstorm, packs of wild dogs got a little too close for comfort. Low on fuel, she made an emergency landing on a military parade ground in Pakistan, scattering the soldiers assembled there in the process. Finally, on May 24, she landed in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia. For this feat, she was awarded the Harmon Trophy, and a CBE by King George V. This was the first of several long-distance record flights for Johnson. In 1932 she flew from London to Cape Town, South Africa, beating the previous record (set by her husband,) by 11 hours. During World War II Johnson flew for the Air Transport Auxiliary, ferrying aircraft around England. On January 5, 1941, Adventuress Amy Johnson disappeared when the plane she was ferrying crashed into the Thames estuary. She was 37 years old; her body was never recovered. Jason is on permanent display at the Science Museum of London. Photo of Jason courtesy of the Science Museum of London, shared under the creative commons license.

[argumate]

At 14:34, flight 8303 streaked over the threshold of runway 25L, still descending, with a projected touchdown point somewhere close to half way down the runway. Their airspeed was around 200 knots, at least 75 knots above the landing reference speed, and the gear was, needless to say, still not down. Even excluding this last point, of which he was unaware, it’s unclear why Captain Gul thought he could land from this position, but for whatever reason he tried.

In fact, Gul was so eager to land that he attempted to engage both thrust reversers while the airplane was still 7 feet above the ground. The A320, being a sane aircraft, did not allow him to do this;

incredible

[mariacallous]

Little did wannabe warlord and catering magnate Yevgeny Prigozhin realize his short-lived mutiny would result in his demise, leaving behind a legacy—and admirers—far beyond Russia’s borders, particularly in China, where Prigozhin has become a cult figure on closely monitored social media.

Prigozhin’s following among top military bloggers on Weibo, one of the largest social media platforms in China, mirrors that in Russia. From Moscow to Beijing, Prigozhin is seen as the embodiment of a more vigorous and genuine patriotism, a man who prioritized the motherland’s interests over his own life. He is celebrated as a man of the people, despite the wealth he generated from the Wagner Group’s operations.

His blunt criticism of Russia’s top military leaders bolstered his image as a truth-teller willing to risk his life. This resonated in China, where a purge of top military officials in the People’s Liberation Army is underway due to accusations of corruption and of betraying the ideals of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Amid rising tension between Beijing and Washington, many Chinese military bloggers suspect U.S. involvement in Prigozhin’s death, despite there being no evidence of this. A poll on Weibo, limited to 1,000 respondents, showed a majority asserting that the United States orchestrated Prigozhin’s plane crash to incite civil war in Russia. A smaller number of voters pointed the finger at Russian President Vladimir Putin, stating that allowing Prigozhin to walk away unpunished could set a dangerous precedent.

Affection for the Wagner Group is seen by the CCP as a double-edged sword in online Chinese debate. On the one hand, it illustrates the need for empowered Chinese private security companies that protect Chinese citizens and infrastructure abroad. On the other hand, it raises the specter of heavily armed security professionals pursuing a domestic political agenda.

China’s leading security pundits—academics, former military officials, and amateur bloggers—are enamored by the Wagner Group’s bravado and attitude of getting things done no matter what. They argue that the current Chinese approach to the protection of Chinese interests overseas is passive and advocate for more assertive, Wagner-style tactics. The setbacks in counterterrorism operations in Mozambique and the recent slaughter of Wagner operators by Malian Tuareg rebels have largely gone unnoticed. Some bloggers, with several million followers each, see Wagner as the model for Chinese private security companies protecting Belt and Road projects and infrastructure across the globe in high-risk areas.

From Asia to Africa, Chinese overseas workers are facing rising threats, with kidnappings and deaths becoming more frequent. In March 2023, nine Chinese nationals were killed when gunmen attacked a mine in the Central African Republic. Just a year later, in March 2024, five Chinese engineers were killed in a suicide bombing in Pakistan, and another such attack occurred this month, leading Beijing to call for more security. Moreover, Chinese security bloggers’ praise of Prigozhin and his mercenaries as liberators who were a more effective fighting force than the Russian military in Ukraine amounts to a veiled stab at top managers of China’s military-industrial complex, who were fired for accepting bribes and producing low-quality military equipment.

Therefore, it appears likely that China’s strict social media filtering allows such commentary intentionally, as it aligns with the government’s agenda. However, the boundaries of acceptable online discourse can shift suddenly, posing a risk for bloggers if Beijing’s stance on Wagner or the military changes abruptly.

Registered by Weibo with their government-issued IDs and legally responsible for the blogs, the pundits and analysts reflect one strand of government thinking. China’s Great Firewall keeps references to Wagner focused on Ukraine, but the group’s activities in Africa and the Middle East are also mentioned.

Online Chinese discussion frames Wagner’s African operations as support for decolonization and the countering of the West’s neocolonial approach and influence on the continent—basically copy-pasting Russian rhetoric. One commentator, blaming France for turmoil in Mali, took the West to task by asserting that Wagner combats “terrorism and separatism and embodies humanism.” Another microblogger suggested that China would be better off having a Blackwater equivalent rather than a Wagner Group one because “reputation is more important than anything else” and Chinese nationals would not be allowed to perpetrate the kinds of atrocities attributed to the Russian group.

From a Western perspective, this situation may seem perplexing because Blackwater, following the Nisour Square massacre in Iraq, had a notoriously terrible reputation. However, in China, Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, partnered with the state-owned financial giant CITIC to establish the security company Frontier Services Group in Hong Kong. As a result, the widespread global outrage and discussions surrounding Blackwater employees’ killing of Iraqi civilians never reached the broader Chinese public.

The online discussions highlight the fork in the road in which China has to determine the future trajectory of its private security companies. Influential military bloggers with millions of followers see Wagner as a model for the Chinese military and private security industry. They argue that Beijing must develop more assertive companies capable of protecting overseas Chinese nationals and investments. At the same time, there is concern that private security personnel could become an armed, uncontrollable force when they return from overseas service.

This dichotomy between ambition and fear is reflected in the portrayal of Prigozhin as a cult figure in online debates. A nuanced reading reveals Chinese netizens’ concerns about and interests in the Russia-Ukraine war, highlighting several peculiarities. Notably, Prigozhin is seen in China more as a successful CEO than as a wannabe warlord or military strategist, as is often the case elsewhere.

The Chinese public tends to prefer a businesslike approach to the militarization of security functions. In China, rising from humble beginnings to become a billionaire, despite the CCP’s call for moderation, is often viewed as a sign of tactical acumen and shrewdness. Unlike in Russia—where bloggers focus on debating Prigozhin’s military strategies—in China, Prigozhin’s business success remains a key attraction for his followers.

Supporters of the Wagner model still perpetuate the group’s aura of invincibility. One blogger recalled Wagner rescuing Chinese miners in the Central African Republic in July 2023 at the request of the Chinese Embassy. The group found the miners in a forest and “provided them with food, shelter, and security protection” before escorting them to the capital. Chinese public opinion largely matches the view that is prevalent in the swath of land stretching from the Central African Republic to Niger, inundated by Russian propaganda and disinformation that makes no mention of mass slaughters and gender-based violence, and perceives Wagner mercenaries as liberators rather than oppressors.

In life, Prigozhin served Putin by keeping the military’s top brass in check. In death, the Prigozhin myth in Russia is a useful catalyst that directs anger at the military instead of the president and inspires future Wagner recruits. In China, even among Wagner’s biggest boosters, Putin’s description of Prigozhin as a “talented person” who “made serious mistakes in life” remains a warning for Chinese private security entrepreneurs not to cross the party’s red line.

Years ago, a similar debate erupted on Weibo, calling for reforms in China’s private security sector, inspired by the rise of Blackwater. These reforms never took shape—and they are unlikely to materialize now as envisioned by Wagner fans. Even with Wagner’s perceived success, the CCP guards its monopoly on force tightly, with the Maoist principle that the party must control the gun still firmly in place.

The myth of Prigozhin, even within China’s strict narrative control, serves a dual purpose: It fuels ambitions for a stronger, tightly regulated Chinese private security sector while also acting as a cautionary tale about the dangers of contractors turning on their own leaders.

[unlikely-adversaries-bracket]

Hello Dear Friend.

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Mrs Marion Gasby. asikareginad@gmail.com

Please forgive me Mrs Marion Gasby I have not checked my tumblr asks for months and months I fear you may have passed on after all this time. I pray for your soul to peacefully depart this earth. I am very sorrowful that your remaining $3,000,000.00 ( Three Million dollars) was unable to be used charitably.

Perhaps if I had seen this in time I would have been able to make the proper arrangements. If only I had more information about your family and circumstances such as the name of your oil mogul politician plane crash husband I would be able to learn more about your family and track down those of them who had bought flashy cars and big houses in the city and force them to hand it over to the poor and needy around me, especially those that are in war zones.

Unfortunately you are likely passed on and I will no longer have this crucial lead, as even searching your own name Mrs Marion Gasby is giving no indication of your story, only resulting in numerous tumblr posts that you have sent asks to. Frankly this has left me disappointed as I thought you had chosen me particularly after visiting my country in 2019 and looking through my profile and keeping these matters confidential - which I have not beheld myself to as you clearly had not respected the confidentiality either judging by the amount of others who you had also reached out to.

GOD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS.

I am awaiting your reply if you are still alive.

I do not have an "e-mail address" nor have heard of such a thing so if you wish to reply please hesitate to message me. Thank you Mrs Marion Gasby

[beardedmrbean]

Today is Thursday, Oct. 31, the 305th day of 2024 with 61 to follow.

This is Halloween.

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.

On this date in history:

In 1517, Martin Luther began the Protestant Reformation by nailing a proclamation -- the 95 theses -- to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany.

In 1864, Nevada was admitted to the United States as the 36th state.

In 1931, with the Great Depression in full swing, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that 827 banks had failed during the previous two months.

In 1941, more than a month before the United States entered World War II, a German submarine torpedoed and sunk a U.S. destroyer, the USS Reuben James.

In 1941, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota -- consisting of the sculpted heads of U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt -- was completed.

In 1968, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson announced a halt to the bombing of North Vietnam.

In 1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated outside her home in a volley of gunfire by Sikh members of her own security force. Her son, Rajiv, succeeded her.

In 1985, salvage divers located the remains of the booty-laden pirate ship Whydah, which sank Feb. 17, 1717, off Cape Cod, Mass.

In 1993, actor River Phoenix died of a drug overdose outside of a West Hollywood, Calif., nightclub, The Viper Room. He starred in Stand By Me and My Own Private Idaho.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed the California Desert Protection Act, establishing Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks.

In 2004, Iranian lawmakers chanted, "Death to America!" after a unanimous vote to allow their government to resume uranium enrichment activities.

In 2008, U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus took over as head of the Central Command, in charge of military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Iran and other countries.

In 2010, Brazilians elected Dilma Rousseff as their first female president. The former energy minister and choice of outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defeated Jose Serra in a runoff with 56 percent of the vote. Rousseff won a second term Oct. 26, 2014.

In 2011, a U.N. report said the world's population had topped the 7 billion mark, doubling the total of 1968. The U.N. Population Fund predicted 8 billion people by 2025.

In 2014, SpaceShipTwo, Virgin Galactic's effort in spaceflight for tourists, crashed during a test flight in the Mojave Desert, killing one of the pilots and seriously injuring the other.

In 2015, Russian airliner Metrojet Flight 9268 crashed after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport in Egypt, killing all 224 on board. Investigators suspected a bomb on the plane caused the crash.

In 2017, a man drove a rented truck onto a bike path in New York City, killing eight people and injuring 11 others. The alleged attacker's trial on terror charges began in October 2022 after multiple delays.

In 2019, the Islamic State named Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi as its new leader after the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

A thought for the day: "Variety is the soul of pleasure." -- English writer Aphra Behn

[doctorshufflepuff]

My grandfather, my DadaJi, passed this Saturday, 10/5/2024. I'm at his home now, surrounded by extended family whose names I don't remember, waiting for the funeral to start.

My dad is hurting, bad. He's quiet, withdrawing, and trying to suppress how easily irritated he is. But he's fighting to make sure he's not dumping that on anyone he loves.

My DadiJi, my grandmother, is so so so skinny. She's going to go live with her brother, I think.

DadaJi was so kind. He loved me and my siblings and my cousins so much. He always made time for us, and the way he treated the woman who helped clean his house speaks to his character. Her name is Dora, and I asked how she was doing, and she got choked up. She loved him, she said.

He was an immigrant from India, born in a city that was India until it became Pakistan, and he walked and was carried across the new border as a child. He lost his twin siblings in the crossing.

He and my blood grandmother moved to the US when my dad was 5, escaping another war. When my dad was 20, his mom, my blood grandmother, died of cancer.

Later, about a decade ago, my uncle, my dad's younger brother, died in a plane crash.

Through it all, my grandfather was steady and calm and loving. He was a rock, always looking out for the people around him as long as I knew him.

He was in my life since I was little, and he was always a figure, an archetype in my life rather than a whole person? He was just my DadaJi. He saved up his whole life to put his kids and grandkids through college, and I spent my college years afraid of disappointing him. But when I failed out sophomore year, and had to take a year off, he just told me to recover and do my best. I went to live with him and my DadiJi that year, and he was delighted to have me around. We would go out for dinner and, when I got curious, he would tell me about Hinduism. I didn't retain it, but he made time for me and told me about this important part of his world. His world was religion and family, in the evening of his life.

We would play chess. I always lost really bad, but it was nice, anyway.

He worked for AT&T, I discovered, doing something programing-adjacent I think. I always knew him to be very tech-savvy as my grandfather, with an awesome computer he let me play games on as a kid when I visited.

I know he and Dad had some trouble when Dad was in college, something about disowning him if he didn't become a doctor, and that Dad didn't come home while his mother was dying. But they'd worked it out by the time I came along, and I only heard bits and pieces, not wanting to dig too deep into things that seemed painful.

'dadaji disowned dad, then went away and reevaluated,came back 8 weeks later and let it go. one of the traits I see in him and in dad is the one to reevaluate what work they need to do on themselves to keep the people in their lives who are important to them to their fullest capacity rather than just in name. one of the strongest things Ive seen him do again and again' - my sister, when I showed her this draft

I didn't visit as often as I could have, should have, while he was dying. I kept putting it off, not wanting to have to entertain the old people, not admitting to myself I didn't want to see them fading. I'm working on forgiving myself for that.

I asked my DadaJi for traditional masculine Indian clothes, after I came out as trans, but didn't phrase it right, and he gave me a western suit jacket. It's a little big, but I can alter it to fit.

DadaJi wasn't perfect. He tried to tell me why it doesn't make sense to be trans, and we had a long, civil, saddening conversation about it. That was the last real conversation I had with him - after that, we just did family zoom calls just making small talk.

He never used my pronouns, but he did switch to using my chosen name.

I love him so much.

I didn't expect the grief to hit me so strongly. I thought we weren't that close. But flying in for the funeral, I couldn't shake the thought that he would be there when I got to his house.

He had a small altar with pictures of...religious figures? Ancestors? I'm not sure. But the pictures were framed and then draped in flowers. I'm going to do the same for him, because it would make him feel loved.

We're on the way to the funeral today. It'll be an open casket, and he'll be cremated at the end. I'm pretty sure he believed in reincarnation. My wish for him in his next life is that he stays kind, loving, and loved.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.28 (after 1960)

1961 – Peter Benenson's article The Forgotten Prisoners is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International. 1964 – The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is founded, with Yasser Arafat elected as its first leader. 1968 – Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892 crashes near Nala Sopara in India, killing 30. 1974 – Northern Ireland's power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists. 1975 – Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States. 1977 – In Southgate, Kentucky, the Beverly Hills Supper Club is engulfed in fire, killing 165 people inside. 1979 – Konstantinos Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community. 1987 – An 18-year-old West German pilot, Mathias Rust, evades Soviet Union air defences and lands a private plane in Red Square in Moscow, Russia. 1991 – The capital city of Addis Ababa falls to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War. 1995 – The 7.0 Mw  Neftegorsk earthquake shakes the former Russian settlement of Neftegorsk with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Total damage was $64.1–300 million, with 1,989 deaths and 750 injured. The settlement was not rebuilt. 1996 – U.S. President Bill Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, Jim McDougal and Susan McDougal, and the Governor of Arkansas, Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud. 1998 – Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of nuclear tests by India with five of its own codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually. 1999 – In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece The Last Supper is put back on display. 2002 – The last steel girder is removed from the original World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially end with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York City. 2003 – Peter Hollingworth resigns as Governor-General of Australia following criticism of his handling of child sexual abuse allegations during his tenure as Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane. 2004 – The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, as prime minister of Iraq's interim government. 2008 – The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty. 2010 – In West Bengal, India, the Jnaneswari Express train derailment and subsequent collision kills 148 passengers. 2011 – Malta votes on the introduction of divorce; the proposal was approved by 53% of voters, resulting in a law allowing divorce under certain conditions being enacted later in the year. 2016 – Harambe, a gorilla, is shot to death after grabbing a three-year-old boy in his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, resulting in widespread criticism and sparking various internet memes. 2017 – Former Formula One driver Takuma Sato wins his first Indianapolis 500, the first Japanese and Asian driver to do so. Double world champion Fernando Alonso retires from an engine issue in his first entry of the event.

[minimooberry]

AGENT SETH A. DARLING A 27 anni, Seth Alessandro Darling è uno degli agenti più rispettati dell'AISE, addestrato a combattere le epidemie di rischio biologico e il terrorismo insieme alle armi biochimiche di guerra.

At 27 years old, Seth Alessandro Darling is one of the most respected agents in the AISE, trained in combating bio-hazard outbreaks and terrorism along with biochemical weapons of war.

FUN FACTS ABT MY BOY SETH BC I HAVENT FIGURED OUT HIS BACKSTORY YET 🙏🙏

same deal with leon - doesn't actually have a choice in becoming an agent (threatens to kill his family)

english speaking skills evaporate when hes out with american agents when he gets mad (gets even more mad if they thinks its funny but doesn't voice it)

his resting face is actually really kind but he just looks grumpy to look more intimidating

he was orphaned when he was 19 which is why he went to pakistan for his scholarship he just had to leave (they died in a plane crash - he has a pretty intense phobia n the plane ride to pakistan was literal hell)

bc he was orphaned, when vaani got pregnant he was super freaked and nervous about the possibility of having to bury more of his family or them having to see his dead body (another reason why he hates his job)

his hair constantly falls into his face during missions but he refuses to cut it bc vaani likes it long ("Just cut it, she's not gonna divorce you over it." "But she calls me handsome with it 😕")

keeps little candies in his pocket at all times out of habit because junes cravings have terrible timing so if hes on missions and encounters a little kid he'll give them a candy

is actually obsessed with his family but only ever talks about them at work if he has to bc hes afraid to get them involved (he refers to them as 'my girls' though)

munch 🙏🙏

[ptrcbtmn]

The Cuban Revolution broke out during Eisenhower's second term, resulting in the replacement of pro-U.S. military dictator Fulgencio Batista with Fidel Castro. In response to the revolution, the Eisenhower administration broke ties with Cuba and Eisenhower approved a CIA operation to carry out a campaign of terrorist attacks and sabotage, kill civilians, and cause economic damage. The CIA also trained and commanded pilots to bomb civilian airfields. The CIA began preparations for an invasion of Cuba by Cuban expatriates, ultimately resulting in the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion after Eisenhower left office.

Eisenhower did provide France with bombers and non-combat personnel. After a few months with no success by the French, he added other aircraft to drop napalm for clearing purposes.

.The Pact of Madrid, signed on September 23, 1953, by Francoist Spain and the United States, was a significant effort to break international isolation of Spain, together with the Concordat of 1953. This development came at a time when other victorious Allies and much of the rest of the world remained hostile[a] to a fascist regime sympathetic to the cause of the former Axis powers and established with Nazi assistance. This accord took the form of three separate executive agreements that pledged the United States to furnish economic and military aid to Spain.

On 1 May 1960, a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Defence Forces while conducting photographic aerial reconnaissance deep inside Soviet territory. Flown by American pilot Francis Gary Powers, the aircraft had taken off from Peshawar, Pakistan, and crashed near Sverdlovsk (present-day Yekaterinburg), after being hit by a surface-to-air missile. Powers parachuted to the ground and was captured.

Initially, American authorities acknowledged the incident as the loss of a civilian weather research aircraft operated by NASA, but were forced to admit the mission's true purpose a few days later after the Soviet government produced the captured pilot and parts of the U-2's surveillance equipment, including photographs of Soviet military bases.

The incident occurred during the tenures of American president Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, around two weeks before the scheduled opening of an east–west summit in Paris, France. Khrushchev and Eisenhower had met face-to-face at Camp David in Maryland in September 1959, and the seeming thaw in U.S.-Soviet relations had raised hopes globally for a peaceful resolution to the Cold War. The U-2 incident shattered the amiable "Spirit of Camp David" that had prevailed for eight months, prompting the cancellation of the summit in Paris and embarrassing the U.S. on the international stage. The Pakistani government issued a formal apology to the Soviet Union for its role in the mission.

Fuck off

1956 Republican Platform

[andronetalks]

Pakistan International Airlines' Paris Post Triggers Social Media Buzz: "Is That a Threat?"

NDTV Edited by: Nikhil PandeyOffbeatJan 10, 2025 19:17 pm IST For millions of people worldwide, there is nothing that sticks in their memories more than the day the planes crashed into the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001. Those four coordinated terrorist suicide attacks were carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001, and they are popularly known as 9/11. These images are…

[euginemicah]

The life and legacy of Jimmy Carter

The life and legacy of Jimmy Carter, as remembered by a friend. An update from South Korea on Sunday’s plane crash and a look at President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state, Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who is a well-known China critic. What changes might Donald Trump bring to America’s gun laws? Plus, women in Pakistan are gaining their freedom on two wheels. #life…

[swldx]

Voice of America 0415 29 Dec 2024

9775Khz 0359 29 DEC 2024 - VOICE OF AMERICA (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) in ENGLISH from MOPENG HILL. SINPO = 45233. English, "VoA One" music in progress until 0359z then silent for a minute, then @0400z VoA News Jingle plays and News read by Alexis Strope. § Russian President Vladimir Putin Saturday apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “tragic incident” following the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people. The Kremlin said in a statement that air defense systems were firing near Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, due to a Ukrainian drone strike as the plane attempted to land Wednesday. It stopped short of saying the plane was shot down by Russian air defenses. According to a Kremlin readout of the call, Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev “for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace.” § Israeli forces detained more than 240 Palestinians including dozens of medical staff and the director of a north Gaza hospital they raided on Friday, according to the Health Ministry in the enclave and Israel's military. The Health Ministry said it was concerned about the well-being of Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, as some staff freed by the Israeli military late on Friday said he was beaten up by soldiers. The Israeli military said the hospital was being used as a command center for Hamas military operations and those arrested were suspected militants. It said Abu Safiya was taken for questioning as he was suspected of being a Hamas operative. § Afghanistan's Taliban Defense Ministry said Saturday that its forces hit several points inside Pakistan in retaliation for deadly airstrikes last week. Pakistan last Tuesday launched an operation to destroy a training facility and kill insurgents in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province. The strikes killed dozens of people, mostly women and children. Comments from the Taliban Defense Ministry on Saturday, posted on social media platform X, said its forces targeted Pakistani points that “served as centers and hideouts for malicious elements and their supporters who organized and coordinated attacks in Afghanistan.” § President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday sided with key supporter and billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk in a public dispute over the use of the H-1B visa, saying he fully backs the program for foreign tech workers opposed by some of his supporters. Trump's remarks followed a series of social media posts from Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who vowed late Friday to "go to war" to defend the visa program for foreign tech workers. Trump, who moved to limit the visas' use during his first presidency, told The New York Post on Saturday he was likewise in favor of the visa program. § Syria's embassy in Lebanon suspended consular services Saturday, a day after two relatives of deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad were arrested at the Beirut airport with allegedly forged passports. Also on Saturday, Lebanese authorities handed over dozens of Syrians — including former officers in the Syrian army under Assad — to the new Syrian authorities after they were caught illegally entering Lebanon, a war monitor and Lebanese officials said. The embassy announced on its Facebook page that consular work was suspended "until further notice" at the order of the Syrian foreign ministry. The announcement did not give a reason for the suspension. @0405z "International Edition" begins (I was expecting "VoA One" music again since it's the weekend, but no!). 100' (30m) of Kev-Flex wire feeding "Magic Wand" antenna hanging in backyard tree w/MFJ-1020C active antenna (used as a preamplifier/preselector), JRC NRD-535D. 100kW, beamAz 350°, bearing 84°. Received at Plymouth, MN, United States, 14087KM from transmitter at Mopeng Hill. Local time: 2159.

[head-post]

At least 18 people died when Nepali plane crashed on take-off in Kathmandu

A small plane with 19 people on board crashed on take-off from Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, according to The Independent.

The plane was heading to Pokhara, Nepal’s second-largest city and a major tourist gateway for trekking and adventure sports. According to local media, the plane crashed around 11 a.m. local time on Wednesday.

An official spokesperson reported that 18 bodies were recovered from the crash site and the pilot sustained head injuries and was taken to hospital.

Premnath Thakur, spokesperson for Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport, said crew members were among the 19 people on board the aircraft. Local media also reported that a 9N-AME (CRJ 200) aircraft was carrying only technical staff of the airline and there were no passengers on board, quoting Gyanendra Bhul, information officer at Tribhuvan International Airport.

Eyewitnesses reported that during take-off the aircraft suddenly flipped over and its wing tip hit the ground, causing a fire. The aircraft then crashed into a gorge on the east side of the runway. The aircraft was reportedly taken to Pokhara for maintenance.

On January 15 last year, 72 people were killed when a twin-engine ATR 72-500 aircraft of Yeti Airlines crashed into a gorge while approaching Pokhara International Airport in the Himalayan foothills. The crash site was about 1.6 km from the runway, at an altitude of about 820 metres.

It was the deadliest plane crash in Nepal since 1992, when a Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A300 crashed into a hillside on the approach to Kathmandu, killing all 167 people on board.

Read more HERE

[akhabarfactory]

A plane crashes at Kathmandu Airport, causing tragedy

A plane catches fire at Tribhuvan International Airport after takeoff.Statements from Officials and EyewitnessesTribhuvan International Airport's ChallengesNepal's Difficult History of Air SafetyThe Historical Background of Nepal's Air DisastersAn investigation is ongoing.In summaryLatests Posts

A plane catches fire at Tribhuvan International Airport after takeoff.

At Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport, a disastrous plane crash claimed the lives of eighteen people. When tragedy struck, the aircraft, a Saurya Airlines CRJ200, was attempting to take off for Pokhara. The aircraft went off the runway, crashed into an embankment, and caught fire few minutes after takeoff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EoZSYdnn2U&pp=ygUTbmVwYWwgcGxhbmUgY3Jhc2hlcw Immediate Aftermath and Response Firefighters and the Nepali army were among the rescue teams that were on the area quickly. 18 out of the 19 people on board were officially declared deceased despite their best efforts. The pilot, the only survivor, was flown to a local hospital to receive medical attention. Both technical professionals and crew members were among the dead.

Statements from Officials and Eyewitnesses

Witnesses saw the aircraft attempt to climb but then deviate off the runway. Videos taken on the spot depict a large fire near the airport, accompanied by dense clouds of smoke. An official from Tribhuvan International Airport verified the order of events and said the plane caught fire because it didn't lift off correctly.

Tribhuvan International Airport's Challenges

The topography of Tribhuvan International Airport is notoriously difficult. Situated atop a plateau and surrounded by steep gorges and valleys, this airport is regarded as one of the riskiest in the world. The high level of risk associated with aircraft operations in Nepal is partly attributed to this geographical complexity.

Nepal's Difficult History of Air Safety

The aviation industry in Nepal has a track record of inadequate safety. There are a lot of accidents in this profession because of poor maintenance and training. This latest catastrophe raises the terrifying total of aviation mishaps in the nation.

The Historical Background of Nepal's Air Disasters

There have been other tragic aviation disasters in Nepal's past that bear similarities to this one. All 72 people, including five Indians, perished in the Pokhara crash of a Yeti Airlines aircraft in 2023. This tragedy was the deadliest to occur in Nepal since 167 people died in a Pakistan International Airlines plane crash near Kathmandu in 1992.

An investigation is ongoing.

It is still unclear what specifically caused the fire to spread throughout the Saurya Airlines aircraft. To ascertain the circumstances surrounding this unfortunate event, authorities are doing a comprehensive investigation. As the investigation proceeds, the aviation community and the victims' families are still waiting for answers.

In summary

The Tribhuvan International Airport jet tragedy highlights the critical need for strengthened safety protocols and stringent training in Nepal's aviation sector. In order to ensure safer skies for everybody, it is imperative that the structural problems that lead to these tragedies are addressed as the inquiry progresses. Read the full article