Airplane Accidents Turkey

Turkish Prime Minister Turgut Ozal escaped injury when his small jet made an emergency landing at Istanbul airport. The prime minister's Gulfstream III executive jet skidded down the airport tarmac for several hundred yards after it crash-landed with its landing gear retracted shortly after takeoff, eyewitnesses said. Airport firemen dragged Ozal and other passengers out of the 19-seat plane through the cockpit window as the jet filled with smoke. Ozal was taken from the scene in a fire engine.

A Turkish F-16 warplane crashed into the Aegean Sea after Greek fighters scrambled to drive it off as an intruder, a Greek air force spokesman said in Athens. No shots were fired. In Ankara, Turkey played down the incident and said the pilot was on a training flight in international airspace when his plane crashed due to a technical error. The pilot, who ejected before the crash, was picked up by the Greek coast guard after about 30 minutes in the water, the Greek spokesman said.

A Turkish Airlines jet crashed Thursday as the pilot tried to land in a snowstorm despite repeated warnings from the control tower to turn back. Fifty-four people were killed. Most of the 76 passengers were military personnel flying from Ankara to the remote city of Van, about 50 miles west of Iran in the southeast, where the army is fighting Kurdish rebels. The Boeing 737 crashed two miles from the airport as it made its third attempt to land.

A Turkish Airlines jet crashed Thursday as the pilot tried to land in a snowstorm despite repeated warnings from the control tower to turn back. Fifty-four people were killed. Most of the 76 passengers were military personnel flying from Ankara to the remote city of Van, about 50 miles west of Iran in the southeast, where the army is fighting Kurdish rebels. The Boeing 737 crashed two miles from the airport as it made its third attempt to land.

A general who led last year's campaign against separatist Kurds died Wednesday when his military plane went down in flames on the outskirts of Ankara. Interior Minister Ismet Sezgin told Parliament that the plane's twin engines failed. There was no immediate evidence of sabotage. Gen. Esref Bitlis, the commander of gendarme forces, was en route to Diyarbakir, the main city in the Kurdish-dominated southeast. Four other soldiers on the plane were killed.

A Turkish F-16 warplane crashed into the Aegean Sea after Greek fighters scrambled to drive it off as an intruder, a Greek air force spokesman said in Athens. No shots were fired. In Ankara, Turkey played down the incident and said the pilot was on a training flight in international airspace when his plane crashed due to a technical error. The pilot, who ejected before the crash, was picked up by the Greek coast guard after about 30 minutes in the water, the Greek spokesman said.

Two Syrian MIG-21 jets intruded 12 miles into Turkish airspace and shot down a plane conducting a land survey, killing all five people on board, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. Two fliers, a surveyor, a photographer and an official aboard the twin-propeller plane were killed, a spokesman said. In Damascus, Syria ordered an inquiry into the incident and offered condolences to the Turkish government.

A general who led last year's campaign against separatist Kurds died Wednesday when his military plane went down in flames on the outskirts of Ankara. Interior Minister Ismet Sezgin told Parliament that the plane's twin engines failed. There was no immediate evidence of sabotage. Gen. Esref Bitlis, the commander of gendarme forces, was en route to Diyarbakir, the main city in the Kurdish-dominated southeast. Four other soldiers on the plane were killed.

Two Syrian MIG-21 jets intruded 12 miles into Turkish airspace and shot down a plane conducting a land survey, killing all five people on board, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. Two fliers, a surveyor, a photographer and an official aboard the twin-propeller plane were killed, a spokesman said. In Damascus, Syria ordered an inquiry into the incident and offered condolences to the Turkish government.

Turkish Prime Minister Turgut Ozal escaped injury when his small jet made an emergency landing at Istanbul airport. The prime minister's Gulfstream III executive jet skidded down the airport tarmac for several hundred yards after it crash-landed with its landing gear retracted shortly after takeoff, eyewitnesses said. Airport firemen dragged Ozal and other passengers out of the 19-seat plane through the cockpit window as the jet filled with smoke. Ozal was taken from the scene in a fire engine.