Siberia Airlines Flight 1812
Encyclopedia
Siberia Airlines
Flight 1812 crashed over the Black Sea
on 4 October 2001, en route from Tel Aviv
, Israel
to Novosibirsk
, Russia. The plane, a Soviet-made Tupolev Tu-154
, carried an estimated 66 passengers and 12 crew members. No one on board survived. The crash site is some 190 km west-southwest of the Black Sea resort of Sochi
and 140 km north of the Turkish
coastal town of Fatsa
and 350 km east-southeast of Feodosiya, Ukraine
.
suddenly lost contact with the airliner. Soon, the pilot
of an Armenia
n plane crossing the sea nearby reported seeing the Russian plane explode before it crashed into the sea about 1:45 PM Moscow time (9:45 AM GMT).
, the crash was initially thought to be an act of terrorism
. Nicholas Esterhazy, in an editorial in the Johns Hopkins
Newsletter, speculated that, while Israeli
and Russian intelligence immediately suspected a terrorist attack, US intelligence
reported that the crash was due to an errant S-200 (also known in the West as an SA-5 Gammon) surface to air missile fired as part of a Ukrainian Air Defense Forces exercise staged off Cape Onuk (or Chuluk) in Crimea. Esterhazy considered this hypothesis unlikely due to the missile's range and safety-features. He noted that the missile, with a range of 240 km (149.1 mi) could not have struck the plane which was more than 320 km away from the missile launch site.
Russian officials initially dismissed the American claim as "unworthy of attention," and Russian President Vladimir Putin
told the press the next day that "the weapons used in those exercises had such characteristics that make it impossible for them to reach the air corridor through which the plane was moving." Ukrainian military officials initially denied that their missile had brought down the plane; they reported that the S-200 had been launched seawards and had successfully self-destructed. Indeed, Defense Ministry spokesman Konstantin Khivrenko noted that "neither the direction nor the range (of the missiles) correspond to the practical or theoretical point at which the plane exploded."
officials discovered that the wreckage bore damage similar to that caused by the distinctive spherical shrapnel produced by the S-200. The timing of both the launch and the crash were also reported to match.
Nonetheless, the Ukrainian military at first insisted that the launch was completed according to the exercise plan, supported by video shot from the command post. However, the government of Ukraine officially recognized its military's fault in the accident later and started negotiating compensation payments for victims' relatives.
On 20 November 2003, the compensation agreement
was signed between the governments of Ukraine
and Israel
. It was later ratified by the relatives of the victims who agreed to the conditions. In addition to compensation issues, the agreement has stated that "Ukraine is not legally responsible for the accident that occurred to the plane and free of any obligations regarding it". Commenting on the agreement, Gen. Oleksandr Kuz'muk, the ex-Minister of Defense sacked after the accident, told media that "the payments were a humane action, not the admittance of guilt".
Some Russian relatives of the crash victims refused to accept the compensation conditions offered by Ukraine. They brought a civil suit against the Ukrainian
government to Pechers'ky local court
in Kiev
. During the court hearings, the government representatives stated that the airplane "could not be brought down by a Ukrainian missile" according to the radar
data. They also questioned the conclusions of the Russian-conducted investigation, calling them "mathematically modeled
, but not proven by evidence
". They argued that the Soviet-made Identification friend or foe
system of the missile in question would have prevented it from striking the Soviet-made airliner. The lawyer representing the plaintiff
s argued in media that the fault of the Ukrainian government was effectively proven by the fact that it negotiated the compensations for Israeli relatives of the victims.
On 21 June 2004, the spokesperson of Ukraine's General Prosecution Office stated that none of the 11 forensic examinations carried out so far have proven the fact of hitting the Tupolev-154 by a Ukrainian missile
so the criminal investigation continued.
S7 Airlines
OJSC Siberia Airlines , operating as S7 Airlines, is an airline headquartered in Ob, Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia, with offices in Moscow. S7 Airlines has been Russia's fastest-growing airline and recently passed Aeroflot as Russia's largest domestic airline.S7 has operated scheduled passenger...
Flight 1812 crashed over the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
on 4 October 2001, en route from Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
to Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia, with a population of 1,473,737 . It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District...
, Russia. The plane, a Soviet-made Tupolev Tu-154
Tupolev Tu-154
The Tupolev Tu-154 is a three-engine medium-range narrow-body airliner designed in the mid 1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. As the mainstay 'workhorse' of Soviet and Russian airlines for several decades, it serviced over a sixth of the world's landmass and carried half of all passengers flown...
, carried an estimated 66 passengers and 12 crew members. No one on board survived. The crash site is some 190 km west-southwest of the Black Sea resort of Sochi
Sochi
Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...
and 140 km north of the Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
coastal town of Fatsa
Fatsa
Fatsa is a town and a large district of Ordu Province in the central Black Sea region of Turkey.-Etymology:The name Fatsa derives from Fanizan daughter of King Pharnaces II of Pontus and has since mutated through Fanise, Phadsane, Pytane, Facha and today's Fatsa. In the Ottoman Empire records the...
and 350 km east-southeast of Feodosiya, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
.
Initial information
The Russian ground control center in SochiSochi
Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...
suddenly lost contact with the airliner. Soon, the pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
of an Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
n plane crossing the sea nearby reported seeing the Russian plane explode before it crashed into the sea about 1:45 PM Moscow time (9:45 AM GMT).
Initial reaction
Occurring less than a month after the September 11, 2001 attacksSeptember 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
, the crash was initially thought to be an act of terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
. Nicholas Esterhazy, in an editorial in the Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins was a wealthy American entrepreneur, philanthropist and abolitionist of 19th-century Baltimore, Maryland, now most noted for his philanthropic creation of the institutions that bear his name, namely the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and the Johns Hopkins University and its associated...
Newsletter, speculated that, while Israeli
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
and Russian intelligence immediately suspected a terrorist attack, US intelligence
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
reported that the crash was due to an errant S-200 (also known in the West as an SA-5 Gammon) surface to air missile fired as part of a Ukrainian Air Defense Forces exercise staged off Cape Onuk (or Chuluk) in Crimea. Esterhazy considered this hypothesis unlikely due to the missile's range and safety-features. He noted that the missile, with a range of 240 km (149.1 mi) could not have struck the plane which was more than 320 km away from the missile launch site.
Russian officials initially dismissed the American claim as "unworthy of attention," and Russian President Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
told the press the next day that "the weapons used in those exercises had such characteristics that make it impossible for them to reach the air corridor through which the plane was moving." Ukrainian military officials initially denied that their missile had brought down the plane; they reported that the S-200 had been launched seawards and had successfully self-destructed. Indeed, Defense Ministry spokesman Konstantin Khivrenko noted that "neither the direction nor the range (of the missiles) correspond to the practical or theoretical point at which the plane exploded."
Subsequent investigation
The following investigation conducted by Russian air safetyAir safety
Air safety is a term encompassing the theory, investigation and categorization of flight failures, and the prevention of such failures through regulation, education and training. It can also be applied in the context of campaigns that inform the public as to the safety of air travel.-United...
officials discovered that the wreckage bore damage similar to that caused by the distinctive spherical shrapnel produced by the S-200. The timing of both the launch and the crash were also reported to match.
Nonetheless, the Ukrainian military at first insisted that the launch was completed according to the exercise plan, supported by video shot from the command post. However, the government of Ukraine officially recognized its military's fault in the accident later and started negotiating compensation payments for victims' relatives.
On 20 November 2003, the compensation agreement
Contract
A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...
was signed between the governments of Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. It was later ratified by the relatives of the victims who agreed to the conditions. In addition to compensation issues, the agreement has stated that "Ukraine is not legally responsible for the accident that occurred to the plane and free of any obligations regarding it". Commenting on the agreement, Gen. Oleksandr Kuz'muk, the ex-Minister of Defense sacked after the accident, told media that "the payments were a humane action, not the admittance of guilt".
Some Russian relatives of the crash victims refused to accept the compensation conditions offered by Ukraine. They brought a civil suit against the Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
government to Pechers'ky local court
Court
A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
. During the court hearings, the government representatives stated that the airplane "could not be brought down by a Ukrainian missile" according to the radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
data. They also questioned the conclusions of the Russian-conducted investigation, calling them "mathematically modeled
Mathematical model
A mathematical model is a description of a system using mathematical concepts and language. The process of developing a mathematical model is termed mathematical modeling. Mathematical models are used not only in the natural sciences and engineering disciplines A mathematical model is a...
, but not proven by evidence
Evidence
Evidence in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either presumed to be true, or were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion's truth...
". They argued that the Soviet-made Identification friend or foe
Identification friend or foe
In telecommunications, identification, friend or foe is an identification system designed for command and control. It is a system that enables military and national interrogation systems to identify aircraft, vehicles, or forces as friendly and to determine their bearing and range from the...
system of the missile in question would have prevented it from striking the Soviet-made airliner. The lawyer representing the plaintiff
Plaintiff
A plaintiff , also known as a claimant or complainant, is the term used in some jurisdictions for the party who initiates a lawsuit before a court...
s argued in media that the fault of the Ukrainian government was effectively proven by the fact that it negotiated the compensations for Israeli relatives of the victims.
On 21 June 2004, the spokesperson of Ukraine's General Prosecution Office stated that none of the 11 forensic examinations carried out so far have proven the fact of hitting the Tupolev-154 by a Ukrainian missile
Missile
Though a missile may be any thrown or launched object, it colloquially almost always refers to a self-propelled guided weapon system.-Etymology:The word missile comes from the Latin verb mittere, meaning "to send"...
so the criminal investigation continued.
External links
Investigation. Interstate Aviation Committee.- Canadian TV reporting on the unscheduled stopover at Burgas, Bulgaria.
See also
- Ukrainian Air ForceUkrainian Air ForceThe Ukrainian Air Force is a part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Ukrainian Air Force Command and headquarters are located in the city of Vinnytsia....
- Sknyliv airshow disaster