Flight 1303, a Tu-134 operated by Volga-Avia-Express airline, arrived at Moscow at 9:20 p.m. from the southern city of Volgograd, known as Stalingrad during World War II, then loaded new passengers and took off again at 10:32 p.m., according to Russian news reports.
It disappeared at 10:56 p.m. with 34 passengers and eight crew members aboard. Authorities found wreckage from the plane in Tula.
Flight 1047, a Tu-154 operated by Sibir airline, left Moscow at 10:35 p.m. heading for Sochi, then vanished from Russian radar at 10:59 p.m., according to news reports.
If these planes took off minutes apart and crashed minutes apart, how come they were hundreds of miles apart?
Look at the maps of the two regions:
Rescue squads reached the scene of one crash in the Tula region south of Moscow early Wednesday morning and hours later found a fire that may be from wreckage of the second plane north of Rostov-on-Don.
Tula and Rostov-on-Don are no where near each other. It is just not possible for the planes to leave that closely together and the differing distance covered be so great.
Either they left nearly together, and the crashes are close, or they didn't leave together, and the crashes are further apart.