No Injuries In Possible Runway Incursion Accident

A Kyrgyz jet collided with a USAF KC-135 tanker at Manas airport near Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan Tuesday. Authorities reported no injuries, but the tanker caught fire.

"This is a presidential plane, which is also used for regular flights," Minister Nurlan Sulaimanov said. "That's the only Tu-154 our [national] airline operates."

Details are sketchy at this point, but the Associated Press reports the Kyrgyz President's Tu-154 passenger jet (diagram above), with 52 passengers aboard, was taking off when its wing clipped the tanker's wing. The KC-135 had just landed.

The collision took about 8 feet off the Tu-154's wing. Thankfully... and incredibly... that left enough for the jet to get safely airborne. The Tupolev's crew made a safe return to the airport and evacuated the passengers.

The collision caused a fire aboard the stricken tanker, destroying an engine and part of the wing... and forcing its crew of three to egress.

It isn't known yet how the two aircraft got so close to each other, but an investigation is under way. Alexander Asteonov, head of the Kyrgyz government's civil aviation department, told Ria Novosti this was the third incident involving the American military since the airbase opened at Manas in 2001 to aid the US-led anti-terrorism campaign in Afghanistan.

"There were two other such incidents, last year and this year, with vehicles from the American airbase causing damage to [our civil] aircraft," he said. In both cases, the Kyrgyz side sued for damages.

Asteonov scoffed at the suggestion of failed coordination between Kyrgyz and US controllers, saying Kyrgyz controllers speak English and manage all flight operations. He did, however, mention that Kyrgyz air traffic control equipment is obsolete and in desperate need of upgrade -- an oft repeated statement since Kyrgyzstan invited the US to conduct operations there.

So far, Asteonov said, that request has fallen on deaf ears.

FMI: www.airport.kg/eng/index.html