Tu-160 just crashed near Saratov

The Tu-160 is perfectly capable of taking off with one engine, it has
much more excess thrust than the B-1. In fact, there's a true story of a
U.S. official (can't remember who, but some big-whig) coming to watch a
Tu-160 take off (shortly after Iron Curtain fell). The crew couldn't start
one of their engines, so they just took off without it on and still gave an
impressive performance. So it must have been something more than just a
simple engine failure (e.g., control failure, catastrophic engine failure,
etc.).

Tony

"Thomas Schoene" wrote in message
ink.net...
"Christians for Cheeseburgers." wrote in
message . net
"Michael Petukhov" wrote in message
m...
A Russian Tupolev-160 strategic bomber crashed in the Saratov Region
on Thursday, the press service of the Russian Air Force has
reported. "The fate of the four crewmembers is unknown. A search
and rescue operation is underway at the scene. Information about
casualties and damage at the crash site needs to be clarified," an
Air Force
spokesman said.

The aircarft was conducting a test flight after one of its engines
was replaced. According to preliminary reports it was carrying no
weapons.

The Tu-160 bomber (Blackjack, according to NATO classifications) is
capable of carrying nuclear bombs and missiles. Its maximum flight
weight amounts to 275 tons. //Interfax

foor polites died. they reported fire in the replaced engine.

Michael

In the US we ground test engines after they are replaced. We find
it's much easier to shut down than from 30,000 feet.

A remarkably tasteless comment.

And that assumes the crash was even related to the engine change. No
guarantee that it was. And even if it was, there's no reason to believe
that they didn't ground test it first. Even in the US, we'd do a
maintenance check flight after major maintenance. Ground test first, but
flying the plane will find things that no ground test ever will.

--�
Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail
"If brave men and women never died, there would be nothing
special about bravery." -- Andy Rooney (attributed)