Turkish rebels called the reason that did not shoot down the plane Erdogan.

From unofficial sources it became known that two military fighter pilots Turkish Air Force, who are opponents of the current regime Tayyip Erdogan, were forced to stop the persecution of the presidential plane due to insufficient amount of fuel. In fact, the presidential aircraft missiles could be fired, however, for the pilots were immediately sent to the fighters, but for combat, the fuel would not be enough.

Experts suggest that if the pilots still fired missiles on a plane Erdogan, the coup would have been successful, however, the rebels still considered their lives more powerful argument.