Doubtful. The Caspian Sea is a pretty unmistakeable landmark, even from high altitude, which the pilots would have seen. I think it was more likely that that h

Doubtful. The Caspian Sea is a pretty unmistakeable landmark, even from high altitude, which the pilots would have seen. I think it was more likely that that happened to be the direction the plane was pointing when it got hit by the missile and lost control surfaces, so that is where the pilots went.