Back in August, 1995, Russian IL-76TD RA-76842 plane was captured by the militants from Taliban movement. Along with the plane an aircrew was also captured (8 people.) And today the story is going to go about this plane.
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IL-76 was owned by a private airlines from Kazan called Aerostan. The plane was subleased out by the Afghan government and was shipping ammunition supplies en-route Tirana-Sharjah-Kabul.
The cargo was conforming with all norms of ICAO and was permitted for shipping. It was not their first flight to Kabul; special radio waves didn’t air any prohibitions or limitations for the flight. Everything was going alright.
But over Afghanistan territory, while the plane was 8,000 meters high, it was captured by MIG-21 fighter jet which was owned by Taliban movement. A short time after the plane was forced to land at the airport of Kandahar city.
Taliban blamed Russia and the air crew altogether in interference with introafghanistan issues and placed the air crew under the increased security until everything will be settled down and all their requirements would be fulfilled.
Vain attempts of Russia, UN, OIC and US to set the crew free lead nowhere.
Every way, either pressure or reasoning one, was depleted. The hard option was almost impossible back then; it will inevitably lead to heavy casualties and death of the whole crew. Even ransom way was put forward. Some backstairs negotiations were conducted with the Taliban authorities. But because of nobody-knows-which matters the mutual agreement unfortunately wasn’t reached.
No sooner than a year passed, 378 days if to be exact, before Russian pilots managed to make an outraging runaway; they played upon a silly blunt of security who allowed them to start repairing the plane.
They were acting as sharp and consistently as ever: engineers were shutting the loading ramp, a pilot was starting engines and a radio operator was checking radio lines. Behavior or the air crew didn’t attract a bit of security’s attention. Maybe just the loading ramp made them somewhat uneasy.
Slowly but firmly they were heading their way to a take-off which was too short. It’s not a fast thing to speed up a huge aircraft with some militants chasing you on a military car. But another capturing didn’t work this time and the plane got off from the last meter of the runway.
In the meantime, the leading pilot tries to fly towards the border with Iran. Thanks God that all then-needed permissions for it were already granted.
While trying to reach the Iran border the plane was flying to the uttermost low altitude (50-100 meters) and being at a radiosilence mode. MIG-21 might have probably been looking for them, though not in Iran but in Russia.
When at the territory of Iran, the plane gained a normal height and in an hour landed at the Sharjah airport (UAE.)
Story and photos via russos
Great!!!
Great!!!
last!!!!
Luv the guy holding the unshielded work light next to the fuselage http://media.englishrussia.com/plane_capturing_1/24.jpg, bust it on the hull and the whole ship is electrified as well as frying the avionics.
kandahar is where taliban forced them to land the plane
“kandahar is where taliban forced them to land the plane”
Which is what the author said
5nd!
Glad to hear they are safe.
I remember reading about that in the newspapers. Thought that their getaway was really cool.
And Russians issued the movie about the Kandagar situation – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1272018/
“Let’s just check out the engines at high speed…OK…go for it”…”hahahaha see ya later”…..lol
Great!!!
Sounds like in the James Bond movie.
Thanks for sharing,
Soendoro Soetanto
I guess the talibans were already getting really tired of them. I think once they saw them flying away, they thought “Good Riddance”…lol
great job,
Interesting story and good pictures, thanks. But dude, your English writing is a torture to read. You need to work on that.
I’ll be happy to spend some time rewriting this in correct English. It’s a great story that deserves good rendition – I didn’t know about it until I stumbled upon this page.
Better English version exists in Wikipedia, by the way:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aerostan_incident
If you are the author of the story or the operator of this web site, please contact me by e-mail.
With all the unemployed native speakers of English you couldn’t have fixed this sad torture of the language? Very unfortunate.
go work on your English you prick!….
MIG-21 fighter jet which was owned by Taliban movement??? Since when do the Taliban own fighter jets?
They had several of them.
That was some of the worst most confused english I have ever read. so, the plane was captured then they tried to fix it and then they escaped? Oh.
Enjoyed the story and pictures. Although your English was a bit garbled, thanks for making the effort-I wouldn’t have understood any of it in Russian, and neither would most of those complaining about the translation. I understand the IL76 is roughly equivalent to the C141, and both are very capable, and tough, cargo jets. The crew were ingenious in their escape, and deserved a movie being made about it. Many people don’t realize the Taliban appropriated tanks and planes they captured, and had people capable of operating them, in some cases the original crews, who just switched sides. If a MIG had caught the IL76 at low altitude, it would have been all over. Good stuff.
lol, first picture gave me the urge to kick a Star Wars Marathon!
looks like the pod racer engines in first movie 
Good night
The Letter I’ll Never Send I wish I could say How much I care for you But I don’t know how So here’s what I’ll do I’ll write you a letter Saying what I’ve been through Day after day Always thinking of you I don’t see you much But when I do it makes me cry So I’ll write to you Without a lie I’ll say that I love you The first line that I write So you instantly know At your first sght I’ll say that I dream I’ll say that I fly And without you I’d probably die I’ll say that I smile As I write you the note I’ll say that I wished I could wear your big coat I’ll say that whenever I close my eyes I see you face It never dies I’ll say that you’re perfect In every possible way That I wish I could hold you Every single day I’ll say that I wish You were here with me But it’s crazy beacuse I know you can’t be Do you think about me Or did you forget The things we had done And the goals we had set But after I read My note once again I realize I’d never send it It’s a waist of my pen You’d see it, and read it Then throw it away You don’t care anymore To yourself you would say I stare at my paper With a sad pout The shred it to peices And throw it out
yup, they maneged to runnaway. Like in some action movie.
can anyone tell what …. or whose aircraft appears in the backgrounds of some of these pictures , In one picture you only see the top of the tail , In another you see the side of the fuselage (?) … and some corp colors ???