all when we travel, of whatever kind, yearn go home, that is fixed for all, come home safe and sound, as it should be.
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But what about when that return was spoiled, how do you explain to the families of those travelers never see them again, how it is approached?.
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This was what happened to a group of American soldiers returning home after being on duty overseas, did not return home alive, they did so in coffins, is the tragedy of the flight charter 1285 of Arrow Air.
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Before getting down to see who these passengers, it was the 101st Airborne Division Army United States, had been deployed to reinforce the peace mission in the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt with belonging to a multinational force and international observers, the area bordering Israel and has always been a source of conflict between Egyptians and Israelis.
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This group of the 101st Division had spent six months in service and it was time that they were relieved by a new group of soldiers, so to that effect had been asked to rent a passenger plane to pick up those military and take them home.
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. The airline was chosen
Canadian Arrow Air, the device to operate was the legendary McDonnell Douglas DC-8 series and enrollment 63PF N950JW flight was, would undertake the charter flight 1285 that would originate at the international airport of Cairo, in the town of that name in Egypt, would have two scales, the first was at the international airport of Cologne-Bonn Cologne, Germany, the second was at Gander Airport in Gander Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada., and its final destination would be the Fort Campbell military base on the border between the states of Tennessee and Kentucky in the United States. That is the base of the 101st Airborne Division, and as they have a logo of an eagle they had become known as the Screaming Eagles .
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coming home was the December 11, 1985, at night, climb the 248 soldiers would be accompanied by five attendants and facing the endowment would be normal pilot, first officer and flight engineer, and here is to make a precision not have the names of the pilots who made the journey from Egypt to Germany, it would only make that short trip.
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The device takes off from Cairo at 20:35 GMT (Greenwich time) of December 11, arrives at the airport in Cologne at 01:21 on the 12th, there was low the first flight crew and up the second one take them home, these men were Captain John Griffin, the first officer was John Robert Connelly and flight engineer was Mike Fowler.
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This new crew carried out the revision of the DC-8 while the scale to make sure everything is in order, made this at 02:50 GMT departing from Cologne to cross the Atlantic and come to Newfoundland, was the When landing in Gander, arriving there at 09:04 am GMT.
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Everyone should get off the unit because it will be refueled, then this all back on board and prepare for the final leg of journey home course at the base of Fort Campbell has arranged for soldiers are greeted by their families who are waiting anxiously.
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It has everything for the device is ready for takeoff, the
10:15 GMT as the unit off, everything is in order, but then something started to go wrong. .
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According to witnesses the accident, the unit began to make a scheduled rotation, worse for some reason he was not reaching higher altitudes, then, incredibly began to fall, as fell in the aviation environment is known as stall , is losing speed lift in the air currents in the wings, the unit went straight into the lake near Gander Airport, where it crashed into a building that was unoccupied and burst into flames.
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Emergency services rushed to the scene of the crash, but there was little they could do, the 256 people had vanished at a stroke, now had to give the sad news to the unsuspecting family who were waiting at Fort Campbell, in fact this happens, is called the U.S. military base and suddenly those passengers who expected saw senior officers came and went with the face of circumstances, the final meets all these families and the news drop suddenly.
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And as the pain took possession of all those people in Canada a group of experts led by the Canadian Aviation Safety Board (CASB or Security Bureau Aviation Canada) initiated the research, questions to all who had something to do on the flight failed, collected evidence at the scene of the crash, it was assumed that all such materials should lead to a unanimous answer, but it was not so.
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The final verdict was confusing, the majority of Canadian experts gave their version of the device fell due to ice on the wings, according to these experts had been found with evidence that the device does not receive any treatment for removing ice and Newfoundland at that time of year was really ice cream, also referred to one of the engines did not have enough power, but more damaging was that the researchers claim that the crew was unaware that the device did not have enough speed off, in other words the majority verdict was that there were two reasons to watch: ice on the wings and the error pilots.
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Four members of the team of Canadian experts were dissatisfied with this, and gave another version that is somewhat darker, said the cause of the crash of Arrow Air unit was a fire on board but could not specify what the Sometimes what we do mention is that this fire, if any, damaged aircraft systems preventing a good start and therefore a move emergency back by the pilots would not succeed.
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And the controversy began, the Canadian team of researchers had cracked, there were two versions of the tragedy, and suddenly the other side of the world comes a declaration of responsibility, the call was Islamic Jihad movement was part Hezbollah, now was the 1285 flight was the subject of a terrorist attack.
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According to the proclamation of the terrorist group had attacked the group of American soldiers to show that, at the time they want, anywhere they could attack U.S. targets, but soon the governments of the United States and Canada rejected such awards, but not explained well to well the reasons for the denial.
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Over the years filtered out some evidence that yes indeed there was a fire on board, several military bodies were autopsied and found traces of soot, but for some reason those results in his time but never saw the light several years later.
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Whatever the credibility of the CASB as a group of air accident investigations in Canada was badly damaged after this investigation, in fact this meant a before and after, the CASB disappears to give way to the current Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB or Bureau of Transportation Safety).
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fatal plane crash victims arrived at Fort Campbell, there were in the case of military deaths ceremonies according to his inauguration (above), currently exists on the site of the fall, Lake Gander in Canada a monument called Silent Witness (Silent Witness) representing a soldier who has returned home and is greeted by his children (right) at Fort Campbell are also memorials to commemorate those men who died back home, we must mention that by the number of victims this accident is so far the worst that has happened in Canada.
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But several relatives of the victims there is no consolation, they have left the impression that hid most of what the investigation revealed, do not stop to wonder how being so close to home that people died, and perhaps never will know, not in this life.
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Sources:
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--- Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia English version.
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Aviation Safety Network.
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CBC News.
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Pictures:
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McDonnell Douglas DC-8-63PF Arrow Air N950JW registration damaged, taken from www.airliners.net
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--- Gander, military tribute to the victims in Fort Campbell, Gander monument, taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia English version.
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