A government commission in Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday blamed the crew of a U.S. tanker plane for a September collision with a passenger jet that caused a fire but no injuries at the nation's airport, AP reported. The commission head, Alik Askarov, said the incident in which a Kyrgyz Airlines Tu-154 grazed a U.S. KC-135 military tanker plane took place because the U.S. crew broke taxiing rules. Askarov said the U.S. aircraft failed to free the runway within a required period of time after landing and did not inform Kyrgyz flight controllers about its moves. «The KC-135 stopped and did not move for 109 seconds ... Thus, the American plane became an obstacle for the Tu-154 that was taking off,» Askarov said. The United States has a military base at the Manas airport outside the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, which focuses on support and refueling for U.S. troops and planes in nearby Afghanistan. Base spokeswoman Maya Melnikovskaya said Wednesday that the U.S. military had not yet finished its investigation of the accident. The Tu-154 was heading down the runway to take off for a commercial flight when it hit the tanker. Damage to the wing forced the plane to make an emergency landing shortly after the collision. A fire destroyed one of the U.S. plane's engines, and part of the left wing.
