Dispatchers warned the crew of the crashed AZAL plane about the "Carpet" plan in Grozny

News

Dispatchers warned the crew of the crashed AZAL plane about the "Carpet" plan in Grozny

On February 4, 2025, the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan published a preliminary report on the investigation into the crash of the Embraer 190 aircraft of Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), which occurred on December 25, 2024, near Aktau Airport. The 53-page document contains preliminary results of the investigation and transcripts of the crew's conversations with air traffic controllers.

According to the report, the crew reported the first impact and the activation of the autopilot disconnection alarm. A second impact was recorded 25 seconds later. The pilots reported a strong impact and an explosion near the rear seats. After that, the plane began to chaotically change its flight path, and sharp changes in altitude were observed.

Initial inspection of the wreckage revealed multiple through and non-through damages of various shapes and sizes in the tail section of the fuselage, vertical stabilizer, as well as on the left engine and wing. In some places, the damages had a regular rectangular shape. The commission assumed that these damages could have been caused by external objects penetrating the aircraft structure, which led to the loss of hydraulic fluid and pressure, as well as damage to the electrical wiring of the stabilizer control.

The transcript of the conversations with the dispatchers indicates that before the crash the crew was warned about the introduction of the "Carpet" plan at the Grozny airport. The pilots reported a collision with birds and requested information about the weather conditions in Makhachkala and Rostov, after which they decided to head to Aktau.

There were 62 passengers and 5 crew members on board. According to the Kazakh Ministry of Emergency Situations, 29 people survived, including 9 Russian citizens. In total, there were 16 Russians, 37 Azerbaijanis, 6 Kazakhstanis and 3 Kyrgyz citizens on board.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev expressed condolences to the families of the victims and ordered a thorough investigation into the causes of the crash. AZAL announced the suspension of flights on the Baku-Grozny route until all the circumstances of the incident are clarified.

The preliminary report is informational in nature and its data may be clarified and supplemented as further examinations and studies are conducted. The commission recommended conducting an assessment of the risks of flying to regions where GPS signal losses are recorded, as well as conducting additional studies to determine the nature and origin of the damage detected.

.
upstairs