“Domodedovo. Good afternoon. Dial up the flight level,” says the dispatcher on the first recording. At the end of the negotiations, the captain of the liner receives the latest data and says goodbye. “I’m reaching flight level 130 134 0. Goodbye!” says the pilot. These were his last words, writes Dni.ru.
Subsequently, dispatchers contact the crew of flight 703 and receive no response.
“Saratov-703, Moscow is calling you and calling you,” said one of the airport employees.
The moment of the plane crash was also caught on surveillance cameras.
Let us remind you that the passenger plane An-148 of Saratov Airlines, flying from Moscow to Orsk on February 11, disappeared from radar screens immediately after takeoff from Domodedovo Airport. According to preliminary data, it took off at 14:24 Moscow time (07:24 New York time), and fell off the radar two minutes later.
Who was on the tragic flight?
More than 60 passengers were residents of the Orenburg region, four crew members were residents of the Saratov region. The technicians who inspected the crashed Saratov Airlines An-148 plane were on board at the time of the disaster, the Saratov Transport Prosecutor's Office told RIA Novosti. Three children were among the dead. The eldest, according to preliminary data, was 17 years old, the second - 13, the youngest - 5, said a representative of the government of the Orenburg region.
The last words of the crew became known. They do not reveal the whole story of what happened, but they allow us to draw some conclusions.
Today the editors of the Vesti program have received information that forces us to return to the recent Boeing crash in Rostov-on-Don. This is a transcript of the last words of the plane's crew, a minute before impact with the ground. The document is not official, from sources in the investigation commission, where the information from the voice recorder was transferred to paper. Without claiming the truth - this will only be in the conclusions of the investigation - we will now try to simulate the situation that developed on board before the disaster.
So, FlyDubai's Boeing-737-800 was unable to land in Rostov in difficult weather conditions and the aircraft commander, 37-year-old Aristos Socrates, decides to go around. At this time, the autopilot operates. Time 1 hour 40 minutes 00 seconds GMT.
“We’re gaining 50,” this means going to a level of 1500 meters. The Boeing rises at an angle of 15 degrees, a completely normal mode. In these frames we see the plane going up, beyond the surveillance camera's view. The climb continues automatically for 40 seconds. Having not reached the flight level, the commander turns off the autopilot. The reason is not yet clear. Perhaps the plane fell into - in pilots' slang - atmospheric scissors; it could have been shaken violently. But it is from this second, after the autopilot is turned off, that the Boeing dives down. And here are the words from the transcript, translated by us into Russian for clarity, which sound in the cockpit: “Don’t worry, pull!” Time 1 hour 40 minutes and 40 seconds GMT.
That is, the pilots could not do anything with the plane, which rushed its nose towards the ground. The experts' version is as follows. Having turned off the automation, the pilot tried to put the Boeing into level flight, but it was at that moment that the stabilizer switched into dive mode; it is located at the keel. In this mode, the elevator no longer has any effectiveness, the plane practically does not respond to the control wheel, and the pilots clearly did not understand that the stabilizer was to blame for the sharp dive.
Why the stabilizer went into peak mode is a question. It is operated by a button that pilots call a “stick”. That is, during turbulence, the commander, switching to manual mode, could accidentally catch this joystick, and did not notice, since he had previously complained of chronic fatigue. Otherwise, this is some kind of unprecedented automation surprise.
For the last six seconds, an inhuman scream has been heard in the cockpit, according to our source. We didn't reproduce it. The plane accelerates into the ground at 1 hour 41 minutes and 00 seconds GMT. All 62 people died. Let us repeat once again that official conclusions about the causes of the disaster can only be drawn based on the results of the investigation.
Plane debris is removed from the Black Sea using a crane
An initial analysis of data from the flight recorder of the Tu-154, which crashed over the Black Sea, allows us to narrow the list of probable causes of the crash, the Russian Ministry of Defense reports.
“The Central Research Institute of the Air Force continues to decipher the magnetic media of the Tu-154 flight recorder delivered from Sochi. An initial analysis of data from the flight recorder allows us to narrow the list of probable causes of the plane crash. The final conclusions about the causes of the plane crash will be made by the state commission after studying all possible factors,” the statement says.
Earlier on Tuesday, December 27, during a search and rescue operation, one of the “black boxes” of the crashed airliner was found and delivered to Moscow; the search for the other two recorders continues. A total of 20 pieces of aircraft were discovered during the day, including the landing gear, parts of two engines and a wing.
Earlier, the head of the government commission to investigate the emergency, Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov, said that the terrorist attack was not the main version of the plane crash. The Russian FSB noted the day before that four main versions were being considered: foreign objects entering the engine, poor-quality fuel, piloting error and technical malfunction of the aircraft.
The crash of the Tu-154 plane, as reported, occurred on December 25 early in the morning shortly after takeoff from Adler airport. There were 92 people on board who were flying to wish Happy New Year to the Russian Aerospace Forces air group at the Khmeimim airbase in Syria.
After rescuers managed to recover the voice flight recorder from the crashed Tu-154 of the Ministry of Defense from the bottom of the Black Sea, experts were able to decipher the recording stored on it. The film recording the crew's negotiations and conversations inside the cabin was not damaged.
The conversation is interrupted by one of the pilots exclaiming: “Flaps, bitch!” And then there is a cry: “Commander, we are falling!” the source said.
Life published a transcript of an audio recording from one of the flight recorders, which recorded events in the cockpit. Judging by the transcript, the emergency situation came as a surprise to the crew members: in the first seconds, both pilots were confused, but quickly pulled themselves together and tried to save the plane until the last seconds.
Explanation:
- ...Speed 300... (Inaudible.)
- (Inaudible.)
I took the racks, commander.
- (Inaudible.)
Wow, oh my!
(A sharp signal sounds.)
Flaps, bitch, what the fuck!
Altimeter!
We... (Inaudible.)
(A signal sounds about a dangerous approach to the ground.)
- (Inaudible.)
Commander, we are falling!
When deciphering the black boxes, experts heard a characteristic signal from the system, which accompanies exceeding the angle of attack. This system automatically reacts to the critical angle of attack,” the source explained.
The expert explained that it is still premature to draw final conclusions about the causes of the disaster based only on snatches of phrases from the crew members.
This may be a subjective view on the part of the crew, which, however, is confirmed by the recorded sound of an automatic voice alarm, notifying the crew that the angle of attack has been exceeded,” says the expert.
In his opinion, the crew had some problems with the takeoff and landing mechanization during the climb. Flaps control the aircraft's vertical movement at low speeds. When extended, they increase the lift of the wing. Flap position is important both during takeoff and landing. It is impossible to say yet what exactly the problems were with the Tu-154. Perhaps it was a mistake by the pilots when controlling the mechanization, or maybe it was unsynchronized cleaning of the mechanization.
Now we need to understand this,” says a source in the commission investigating the crash of the Ministry of Defense airliner. - The second recorder, a parametric one, has not yet been delivered to the Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense, and it is not yet known when decoding will begin.
As the vice-president of the Federation of Aviation Enthusiasts, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR Viktor Zabolotsky, explained, if the plane has problems with the flaps, it may become uncontrollable.
It turns out that one wing has a large lift force, and the second one has a small one, naturally, the plane will turn over,” he noted. - If the flaps are not retracted or retracted unevenly, then very powerful heeling moments arise and it is very difficult to control the aircraft.
Test pilot Hero of Russia Magomed Tolboev also believes that problems with flaps cannot just happen.
This is an aviation equipment failure. Failure to retract the flap or retract only one side leads to the destruction of the aircraft's half-wing. From the side from which they were fired, the plane stalls and loses speed,” Tolboev explained. - All this happens very quickly, and many pilots simply do not know what to do in such a situation. This applies not only to military pilots, but also to civilians.
According to Tolboev, when deciphering the black boxes, specialists heard a characteristic signal from the system, which accompanies exceeding the angle of attack. This system reacts automatically. Tolboev says that the activation of this sensor is a serious signal for the crew commander.
It is triggered when there is a loss of speed or when the wing is at full load and the plane cannot lift any more, the expert explained.
A source in the Ministry of Defense says that the transcript of the voice recorder confirms the preliminary conclusions of engineers of the Scientific Research Center for the Operation and Repair of Aircraft Equipment (SRC ERAT) of the Ministry of Defense about the causes of the disaster.
The crash occurred when the pilots were removing the mechanical equipment, and the plane was flying at a high pitch angle. As a result, he fell off the echelon during a maneuver to the right, says the interlocutor.
One of the pilots of the Federal Air Transport Agency confirms the version of military aviation engineers.
The reason for the fall of the Tu-154 at this time point in the flight can only be a desynchronization of the flap retraction, the aviator said.
According to him, in the second minute of flight, the flaps are removed - the parts of the wing that control turns. At this stage, the automation may fail, then one of the flaps will remain raised.
This disrupts the aerodynamics so that the plane begins to twist towards the wing with the flap not retracted. It was possible to stop this situation if there was a headroom, but at the time of the tragedy the Tu-154 pilots did not yet have it, the pilot said.
Aviation expert Sergei Krutousov believes that it is necessary to wait for a complete decoding of both the voice and parametric recorder of the Tu-154, which records the operation of the aircraft’s components and assemblies.
Sergei Krutousov did not rule out the notorious human factor: when climbing, the pilots were unable to calculate the correct pitch angle.
When piloting while climbing in the control mode, the main difficulty lies in maintaining speed, which is stability when piloting and holding the aircraft in pitch at a climb speed of 500–550 km per hour, says expert Sergei Krutousov.
According to him, with a large positive pitch angle, when the airliner’s nose is raised, it could reach critical levels, lose lift and fall off the flight level.
An expert from the Federal Air Transport Agency says that a preliminary study of the voice recorder recording gives priority to versions of a technical malfunction of the airliner and pilot error. However, other versions are being developed. For example, foreign objects (for example, birds) entering the engine, low-quality fuel, resulting in loss of power and engine failure.
GVSU investigators who are investigating the disaster are also inclined to believe in the technical factor.
It is likely that the cause of the Tu-154 crash during climb could have been a failure of the aircraft's hydraulic system, which led to the complete loss of the crew's ability to control the aircraft. The cause of the failure of the aircraft’s hydraulic system could have been a short circuit in one of the aircraft’s engines, a source in the GVSU said.
Experts will be able to confirm or refute this version in the near future.
By December 28, rescuers had already discovered the tail section of the Tu-154 with engines, as well as flight recorders and 14 bodies of the dead.
The An-148 of Saratov Airlines, which suffered a plane crash in which 65 passengers and 6 crew members died, should not have taken off. The owners of the company and the pilots themselves knew about this. The investigation will investigate why the airline workers neglected the safety of customers. The editors of 78.ru obtained a decrypted recording of a conversation between pilots who were trying to avoid a plane crash.
It turned out that the airliner was in poor condition, so it was impossible to fly on it.
The operator JSC Saratov Airlines is not capable of safely performing commercial air transportation in accordance with the requirements of federal aviation regulations and the conditions specified in operational certifications, according to the conclusion of the Rosaviation commission, which carried out an unscheduled inspection of the carrier back in July last year (the document is available in at the disposal of the editors).
78.ru
It turned out that out of 82 airline employees, including pilots and captains, 22 were not allowed to approach the aircraft because their licenses were expired. Eight pilot-in-commands have not renewed their licenses since 2014. Experts have deciphered the last words of the pilots who were flying the plane at the time of the tragedy.
KVS: Up! Wow.
VP: Now, now.
KVS: And you look...
VP: Actually, some kind of bullshit!
KVS: No, well, as I understand it, you wanted this (doesn’t say anything). And you, on the contrary, go down.
VP: Okay, okay, then you’ll talk. I mean everything else. So, we control everything!
KVS: Everything, everything is fine.
VP: That's it, the speed has returned to normal.
However, the speed did not return to normal. The autoinformer repeatedly signaled that it was necessary to compare speeds.
VP: Op-op-op... 390!
PIC: Where down?! Where are you going down? Why down?! Where?!
CAR INFORMER: Compare speed, compare speed.
VP: Yes, because ***, 200 speed, ** is good.
PIC: Height! Height! Height!
KVS: Up!
ALARM: Terrain ahead! Pull up! Terrain ahead!
PIC: That's it, p...
We previously reported that the flight recorders had to be restored over several days due to severe damage to the black box. Before departure from Domodedovo, the pilots read the checklist, including the equipment. In this case, the total pressure receivers (TPRs) that read the speed were not turned on, although they were recorded in the map. After takeoff, the pilots noticed critically low speed readings. They began to argue and try to solve this problem by increasing the speed and tilting the plane.
According to the transcripts, the pilots did not understand the reason for the distorted speed readings, and therefore were unable to cope with the critical situation. Seconds before impact, the pilots screamed.
: a Saratov Airlines passenger plane heading to Orsk crashed just a few minutes after takeoff from Domodedovo. The plane crash killed 65 passengers and 6 crew members.
The An-148 aircraft crashed due to the total pressure receivers (PPD) not being turned on. The heating system was turned off, so the pilots' indicators reflected incorrect airspeed data, which led to the disaster.
The pilots forgot to turn on the full pressure receivers. According to the decoding of the data from the parametric recorder, before this flight they turned on the PPD, but on the flight to Orsk they did not. When they had the first glitch at an altitude of a thousand meters, they became worried and realized that their speed readings had become desynchronized. We climbed another 2 thousand meters on autopilot. The board lit up: “Check your speed,” Honored Pilot of Russia Yuri Sytnikov explained to Moskovsky Komsomolets.
The publications appeared on the website of the TV channel “78” and in the telegram channel Mash, while RBC claims that the Federal Air Transport Agency and the International Aviation Committee confirmed the authenticity of the data
At the crash site of the An-148 plane in the Moscow region. Photo: Natalya Dmitrak/TASS
Updated at 16:10
A transcript of the conversation between the pilots of the An-148 that crashed in the Moscow region has been made public. The negotiations were published on the website of the 78 TV channel, as well as on the Mash telegram channel.
Back in February, media reported that the pilots were arguing angrily among themselves before hitting the ground. Decoding the voice recorder data confirms this. In a conversation with RBC, sources in the Federal Air Transport Agency and the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) said that this is an authentic text.
Here is a fragment of a conversation between the aircraft commander (PIC) and the co-pilot (VP):
KVS: Up! Here.
VP: Now, now.
KVS: And you down..
VP: Actually, some kind of bullshit!
KVS: No, well, as I understand it, you wanted it... And you, on the contrary, are down.
VP: Then we’ll talk. So, we control everything!
KVS: Everything, everything is fine.
VP: That's it, the speed has returned to normal.
VP: Oop-op-op! 390!
PIC: Where down?! Where are you going down? Why down?! Where?!
ALARM: Compare speed, compare speed.
VP: Yes, because *** is good, 200 speed, ***!
PIC: Height! Height! Height!
KVS: Up!
ALARM: Terrain ahead! Pull up! Terrain ahead!
PIC: That's it, ***.
What can be understood from this transcript? Yuri Sytnik, a member of the Presidential Commission on the Development of General Aviation, Honored Pilot of Russia, former flight director of Vnukovo Airlines, comments:
Yuri Sytnik Member of the Presidential Commission on the Development of General Aviation, Honored Pilot of Russia, former flight director of Vnukovo Airlines“From this recording it is clear: the co-pilot was the dominant pilot. His name is Sergey Gambaryan. He is quite an old man, he has 812 hours of flight time on this type [of the vessel]. Why did this happen? Because the commander had just been introduced, he spent the first month flying as the commander of the ship. He has only 58 hours of solo flight time. It's clear what it is. A young commander, who does not yet have experience piloting an aircraft from the left seat and has little commanding skills, is assigned a co-pilot who has very good command of the aircraft and can be a leader in the crew, in order to help him adapt to his new position. There is such an unspoken rule, it also existed in the Soviet Union and in many other companies in the world: an experienced co-pilot is assigned to a young commander. But here I cannot say that he was experienced. Based on the actions that they did in the cockpit, I can say that there was confusion, they lost the spatial position of the aircraft, they did not control it using electrical instruments. The fact that they had no piloting experience is evidenced by the fact that they just took off and retracted the landing gear, the flaps were not yet fully retracted, but they already turned on the autopilot and continued to further control the aircraft up to an altitude of 2000 [meters] on the autopilot. Then, when the alarm started [requiring] to check the speed reading, they realized that there was a discrepancy between the left and right backup devices in speed, and they turned off the autopilot. This was the right action. But they were unable to keep the plane in level flight or with a slight climb. There wasn’t enough experience, that’s why the tragedy happened.”
As TV channel “78” notes, in July last year the commission of the Federal Air Transport Agency conducted an unscheduled inspection of Saratov Airlines. As a result, the department came to the following conclusion: the operator is not capable of safely performing commercial air transportation.
Thus, according to these data, 22 employees, including pilots, aircraft commanders and flight engineers, had expired flight certificates. Other violations were also discovered: in particular, a pilot’s shift cannot last more than 12 hours, but for airline employees they reached 22 hours.
However, Saratov Airlines has already denied information about the allegedly expired certificates of the flight crew. The company also reported that they do not yet have an official transcript of the conversations in the An-148 cockpit.
There are indeed questions about the actions of the crew members of the crashed airliner. Former aircraft commander and flight safety specialist Alexander Romanov comments:
Alexander Romanovformer pilot-in-command, flight safety specialist“I cannot now judge the condition of the crew in which they were. It will be necessary to figure out whether they had a good rest and what condition they are in. The tension must be very serious. If they were tired, then in this case they could have missed very important information. According to the information that I heard, they actually fell out of counter-control, that is, they could not control everything as a whole. All the instruments - they saw some kind of speed, and they paid attention to it so dominantly, but in fact it was necessary to consider all this as it should be, because these procedures are memorized by pilots - for gaining [altitude], movement. In this case, it will be possible to determine with great certainty what is happening to the aircraft. If they were just trying to descend mindlessly, then that's probably what I'm talking about. People did not understand what was happening and were simply trying to carry out some chaotic actions. That is, there was no analysis using other devices. I don’t want to draw conclusions, especially to stigmatize those who have already passed away, but the thought is this: there was unprofessionalism, lack of preparation, and people simply could not perform basic cadet procedures, as I call them.”
An An-148 of Saratov Airlines, flying from Moscow to Orsk, crashed in the Moscow region in February. The plane crash killed 71 people: 65 passengers and six crew members.
