PLANE CRASH
IN THE WEST SIBERIAN
OIL PATCH
April 2, 2012
BORIS YELTSIN IN TYUMEN'
The Severe Inspector General
August 1991
Today a passenger plane carrying forty-three souls crashed not long after take-off from the city of Tyumen' in Western Siberia, center of Russian oil and gas production. Thirty-one were killed as the plane (an ATR-72, French-Italian, not Russian or Soviet) burst into flames and broke up.
Speculation seems to have begun more or less immediately about the cause of the crash: Was it improper de-icing? "Technical malfunction"? Fingers were pointed at "Russia's poor safety record." (More details here.)
Amidst concerns for the survivors, and for Russian aviation, I could not help flashing back to the start of my plane ride out to the area to accompany Boris Yeltsin on an inspection trip, back in August 1991 (see photograph above, and here and here and here):
Finally I was on the plane, and settling in, when I was startled by a strange movement by the emergency exit across from me. Something black, and furry, was shadowing the small airplane window. A German shepherd was keeping tabs on the takeoff! "Only able-bodied passengers who are willing to take responsibility for occupying the seat next to the emergency exit may sit there" flashed through my mind. But this was Aeroflot, the Soviet airline. The dog licked the door handle; fondled it with his teeth. I wondered, not really idly, how much force it would take to open the door. A human hand reached out to coax the dog's teeth away from the handle. We were off for Tyumen', Russia's premier oil and gas region.
-- from "RUSSIA REDUX," Chapter Five ("On the Road Again on the Eve of the Coup: Tyumen' and Oil and Gas)
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