"James M. Knox" wrote in message
2...
"C J Campbell" wrote in
:

AP is saying two Russian jets crashed less than six minutes apart. Both
airplanes departed Moscow. One crashed 120 miles south of Moscow and the
other is presumed crashed 600 miles south of Moscow.

Fuel problem???

What fuel problem would cause a jet to go down *right now*? Airliners glide
decently and a crew with even a little training would get off a mayday call
and try and work the situation in the time it would take a flamed-out
airliner to go down. A back of the envelope figure is that an airliner
probably has a sink rate of 2500 fpm or less in glider mode... Remember the
Gimli Glider? It glided for 10-15 minutes before landing, and a Soviet
airliner probably wouldn't do much worse...

KB