Civilian Aviation Directorate’s warning on the plausibility of speculation about reasons for the crash before conclusion of analysis on black boxes falls on deaf ears. Turkish media immediately finds several situations like ‘underground gases’ or ‘pilots in hurry.’ Some even argue that a nuclear conspiracy is involved

ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

The tragic plane crash in the southwestern city of Isparta Friday highlighted a recurrent pattern in the Turkish media, namely its ability to bring into being a body of experts on virtually everything within a matter of hours.

Notwithstanding the Civilian Aviation Directorate (SHGM) General Director Ali Arıduru’s warning on the speculative character of all scenarios about reasons for the crash before a thorough analysis of �black boxes,� newspapers managed to put forward definite explanations, with solid evidence gathered from Internet forums, conspiracy theories and colorful diagrams that use arrows and flash icons to enlighten the clueless reader on the mystery surrounding the plane’s fall.

We know for sure for example, that the �pilots were tired,� after reading the daily Vatan yesterday. �The plane came from Pristine to fly to Istanbul, then to Ankara, back to Istanbul, next to Ä°zmir and Istanbul once again. They were near the end of their working hours. The crew was tired since the flight to Isparta took off at 12:50 a.m. We can assume that their attention was distracted,� wrote the daily. The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), recovered on the day of the crash is still being examined, but this does not deter anyone from reading the pilots’ minds.

Consequently, pilots decided to take a shortcut and arrive 10 or 15 minutes early according to Vatan and some other dailies as well, which based their version of the crash on Internet forums where �aviation experts� debated the issue. When the plane altered its course, the pilots, despite their experience, flying to Isparta for the first time, hit �Türbe Hill� (1,851 meters). Türbe Hill is not on the official flight track, a point made by Isparta Governor Åžemsettin Uzun, who said the plane crashed in an area where it was not supposed to be flying. The Flight Data Recorder (FDR) too is under scrutiny, but thanks to diagrams we do not need it at all, since they show the plane’s flight course to us. By looking at the colorful diagram, we clearly see that the plane did not fly over Lake Burdur next to the airport as it was supposed to, but tried to fly over the hills, only to hit its tail and crash.

Plethora of reasons

Yet the day before, the same daily wrote that the pilots might have confused the �lake over which they were flying with the sky,� due to vertigo that caused them to confuse water and sky. It also claimed that �had there been a radar, there would be no accident,� quoting a retired pilot, Necmi Ekinci. More �probable� reasons rain over the reader on the same page, from absence of radar, depletion of fuel, subterranean gases, glitter on the lake, failure of Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System or cell phones.

Another claim came from daily Milliyet yesterday that concluded that the airplane would not be able to divert its route if Isparta Süleyman Demirel airport had an Instrument Landing System (ILS). But Isparta and 10 other airports in Turkey are not suitable geographically for establishing the system. It quotes a high-ranking official from the SHGM who said feasibility of installing ILS was important when building airports.

Nuclear conspiracy

But the ultimate cause came from Serdar Turgut, columnist in daily AkÅŸam, who on Sunday wrote, �because of the fact that no conditions of an accident were present, it was weird for that accident to happen.� Among the 57 victims of the accident, there were six nuclear physicists, including Engin Arık, a prominent female nuclear physicist, professors from BoÄŸaziçi University and others from DoÄŸuÅŸ Universtiy. She and the others were headed to Isparta for a workshop on �Turkish Accelerator Center Technical Design and Test Laboratory Construction Project.� This immediately sparked conspiracy theories on alien powers wanting to curb Turkey’s great leap to achieve nuclear technology. Turgut wrote that technology used in the Sept. 11 attacks was used again, to control the plane by remote and crash it into the mountains. He is even certain of the content of the CVR. �Those who wait for the analysis of the VCR are wasting their time. They will not hear anything more than �we lost control’ from the pilots,� he said.

Daily Hürriyet did not miss the opportunity and decorated its coverage of the victims’ funerals with the title �there is some truth to conspiracy theories.� The rector of DoÄŸuÅŸ University, Professor Mithat Ãœnsal recalled the suicide of three engineers of ASELSAN, Turkey’s main defense industry company, and drew a parallel between the two events. �They too were engineers that worked on important projects. The six scientists we lost were also on a project that is very important for Turkey. Even if just a little bit, there is a possibility of conspiracy. But we will learn the truth after the investigation,� he said.

Experts from Boeing and Pratt and Whitney, manufacturers of the plane and its motors respectively, inspected the crash site Sunday, and took some parts of the plane for further examination.