Jet Crashes in Zvartnots, All Survived

Not the kind of news you expect to see on a day as innocent as Valentine's Day.

A plane carrying 21 people has crashed on takeoff from Armenia's capital, but there were no deaths reported...

The plane, a Canadair CRJ-100, was heading for Minsk, Belarus, when it flipped over on the runway at Zvartnots Airport and burst into flames...

What a miracle that no one was injured, but it seems suspicious that they have not yet identified the airline to which the plane belonged. Armavia was at the tip of my tongue, to be honest.

Update: Thanks to reader AB, it seems that the airline was Belavia, the national airline of Belarus. It is also revealed that the airplane's wing clipped the runway on takeoff, causing it to crash. On board were 4 citizens of Belarus, 1 of Russia, 1 of Ukraine, 5 of Georgia, and the rest of Armenia.

Source: AP

Video: Armenian Mig 29 Airplanes

Here's a neat little video that documents the Mig 29 airplanes in Russia's 102nd airbase. Not only are they considered by many to be among the best ever, but these airplanes help to safeguard Armenia day in and day out!

Oh yeah, it's in Russian - but you don't have to hear the guy to enjoy the video!

Turkey Signs $1.78 Billion Deal With United States

$1.78 billion is nearly one third of Armenia's 2006 GDP. Three guesses as to what is being bought. Got it? No?

NATO member Turkey signed a $1.78 billion deal on May 11 to buy 30 F-16 fighter jets from U.S.-based Lockheed Martin Corp as part of an ambitious program to modernize its armed forces. Under the agreement, the aircraft will be produced, assembled, tested and delivered by Turkish aerospace firm Tusas in Ankara...

In its biggest ever procurement project, Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding in January to buy 100 F-35 joint strike fighters worth nearly $10.7 billion from 2014 under a program led by Lockheed Martin.

Turkey is obviously on a buying spree. Even though the planes will be assembled in Turkey, the United States will benefit handsomely from this deal. Once more, the military gap between Turkey and Armenia widens.

This is one of the reasons that the United States has not officially recognized the Armenian Genocide. If you were on the supplying end of billions of dollars worth of defense equipment and a friend of an important NATO country in a strategic location, would you do anything to jeapordize that relationship? Forget morality, this is business and politics.

Source: DefenseNews

Armenian Airlines Pilots Unpaid, Sue

Armenian Airlines declared bankruptcy on April 15, 2003, but it seems its pilots have still not been paid.

Employees of Armenian Airlines are going to stage a demonstration at the government building to demand their salaries, which they have not received. The total sum makes up 187 million Armenian Drams [about $510,000].

A committee has been set up to conduct the sale of the property of the liquidated Armenian Airlines. The committee member receive more than 1.5 million Armenian Drams in salary. As of December 1, the committee had 170 million Armenian Drams and $111 thousand at their disposal but no payment has been made except for value added tax.

The committee says it waits for the Law on Bankruptcy to be amended, which will give benefits to the pilots. By the time the law is adopted, very little money will be left to be paid for salaries.

Did I mention that the airline was government-owned? This isn't bureaucratic incompetence: it is theft.

Source: Panorama