Some more details of the Pulkovo Airlines Tu-154 that went down in Ukraine on August 22. The plane had the registration number RA-85185 and was carrying 160 passengers and 10 crew. No survivors. A video found on the internet purports to be footage of the actual crash, but I’m yet to get verification of this.
Aviation safety database entry for Flight 612.
Photos of Pulkovo RA-85185.
Rough location of crash in Google Earth.
A Pulkovo Airlines plane flying from Anapa to St. Petersburg has crashed in Ukraine while carrying 171 people. Flight 612 was one of 19 Tu-154Ms flown by Pulkovo. Currently 30 bodies have been recovered.
Pulkovo website [Currently under heavy load]
Russian News agency report
Photos of TU-154s flown by Pulkovo.
Airdisaster.com forum thread.
Airliners.net forum thread.
Here is the resume of the man accused of killing JonBenet Ramsey in 1996, posted to a site for teachers looking for work. It’s as recent as 2005, and carries a photo.
Update: The resume has now been taken down, but google cache still has it. Thanks to RisingSunOfNihon for pointing this out.
Further September 11 recordings have been released by the New York Fire Department. Flash player is required for the audio.
The New York Times has a worthwhile page visualizing the data from the first 30 days of the Israeli/Lebanese conflict.
Just a quick note to point out Tropical Storm Wukong. At this stage it’s not expected to do much except bring heavy rain to South Korea and some parts of Japan, and is not currently predicted to develop into a typhoon.
The Bank of England has released a list of names of those accused of plotting to bomb planes flying out of the UK, with instructions to freeze their accounts. Details follow.
Source:BoE
1. ALI, Abdula, Ahmed
DOB: 10/10/1980
Address: Walthamstow, London, United Kingdom
2. ALI, Cossor
DOB: 04/12/1982
Address: London, United Kingdom, E17
3. ALI, Shazad, Khuram
DOB: 11/06/1979
Address: High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
4. HUSSAIN, Nabeel
DOB: 10/03/1984
Address: London, United Kingdom, E4
5. HUSSAIN, Tanvir
DOB: 21/02/1981
Address: Leyton, London, United Kingdom, E10
6. HUSSAIN, Umair
DOB: 09/10/1981
Address: London, United Kingdom, E14
7. ISLAM, Umar
DOB: 23/04/1978
Address: High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
8. KAYANI, Waseem
DOB: 28/04/1977
Address: High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
9. KHAN, Assan, Abdullah
DOB: 24/10/1984
Address: London, United Kingdom, E17
10. KHAN, Waheed, Arafat
DOB: 18/05/1981
Address: London, United Kingdom, E17
11. KHATIB, Osman, Adam
DOB: 07/12/1986
Address: London, United Kingdom, E17
4
12. PATEL, Abdul, Muneem
DOB: 17/04/1989
Address: London, United Kingdom, E5
13. RAUF, Tayib
DOB: 26/04/1984
Address: Birmingham, United Kingdom
14. SADDIQUE, Muhammed, Usman
DOB: 23/04/1982
Address: Walthamstow, London, United Kingdom, E17
15. SARWAR, Assad
DOB: 24/05/1980
Address: High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
16. SAVANT, Ibrahim
DOB: 19/12/1980
Address: London, United Kingdom, E17
17. TARIQ, Amin, Asmin
DOB: 07/06/1983
Address: Walthamstow, London, United Kingdom, E17
18. UDDIN, Shamin, Mohammed
DOB: 22/11/1970
Address: Stoke Newington, London, United Kingdom
19. ZAMAN, Waheed
DOB: 27/05/1984
Address: London, United Kingdom, E17
If you’ve seen any kind of news over the last 12 hours, you will be well aware that British security forces have uncovered a terrorist plot to bomb flights from the UK to the US by way of bombs in hand luggage.
As usual when terrorism is raised, Al Qaeda is generally the first name mentioned in the news, but this is probably more credible than usual owing to the coordinated nature and size of the potential attack, traits that are often seen in their attacks.
The interesting details coming out are that the group intended to bring on liquid explosives disguised as beverages, and to assemble a bomb mid-flight possibly with electronic components from everyday items. There are many liquid explosives that could be used, but Nitroglycerin would certainly be a candidate, being easy enough to make (on the downside it is notorious for it’s volatility). Another explosive speculated about in this Independent article is Methyl Nitrate, offering the benefit of not requiring a detonator but can be set off by mixing with another (unnamed) chemical. Yet another candidate is an explosive named Astrolite, a powerful binary liquid explosive.
We’ll have to wait and see what else comes out from this once the immediate chaos dissipates.
Typhoon Saomai has reached Category 5, making it a Super Typhoon (with winds greater than 250km/h). The predictions over the last few days have been pretty accurate, with it tracking South of Okinawa, with the system currently North of Taipei tracking West into China.
Tropical Storm Bopha (10W) is heading for Taiwan, but is not currently forecast to strengthen into a typhoon. Bopha should pass over the island within 24 hours.
Typhoon Saomai (08W) is a little more worrying. It is currently a Category 2 system, and will probably hit Cat 3 before passing over land. The current forecast is for it to pass between Okinawa an Taipei, but obviously it only takes a small course variation for one of these cities to be hit square before passing onto mainland China.
