The conversation between pilots of the Boeing-737 that crashed at Kazan airport and air traffic controllers did not indicate any emergency, Russia’s Investigation Committee has said in its probe into the crash, which claimed 50 lives.
“The pilot’s last word was a go-around, which he said after
ground control ordered him to gain altitude of 500 meters,”
Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said of the
Nov. 17 crash, in which all 44 passengers and six crewmembers
died. He added that the pilots’ conversation with air traffic
controllers was “normal” until the crew reported that they
were on the wrong approach for the runway.
Investigators are continuing their examination of the tapes from
surveillance cameras and recordings of the crew's communications
with the control tower.
On Wednesday, crash investigators found a recording of cockpit
conversations from the plane and sent it to Moscow for analysis.
The voice recording was missing when its container was found Nov.
18, the day after the crash.
On Tuesday, investigators retrieved data from one of the plane’s
the flight recorders, or black boxes.
Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee concluded that the crew
lost speed in a steep climb, then overcompensated and sent the
plane into a near-vertical dive.
Both of the plane’s pilots put the engines on maximum power,
raising its nose up at a sharp angle. This led to a quick loss of
speed, and the plane stalled.
In 45 seconds, the plane rose to a height of 700 meters, and then
plummeted to the ground at a speed of more than 450 kilometers an
hour. The nosedive came just 20 seconds or so after pilots
reported that they were attempting a go-around.
Investigators believe these final maneuvers were carried out
manually by the pilots, as one of the plane’s two autopilots was
switched off.
Records showed that the aircraft’s engines and other systems were
working fine until the moment the plane hit the ground, the
Aviation Committee said, drawing the conclusion that the pilots’
maneuvers, not the engines, were likely at fault.
Among the victims on the Tatarstan Airlines Boeing-737 were Irek
Minnikhanov, son of Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, and
the head of the regional branch of the Federal Security Service.
A British woman, 53-year-old Donna Bull, a teacher in Cambridge,
was also among the dead.
MPs in Russia’s State Duma have submitted a bill calling for a
ban on the use of civilian aircraft older than 20 years for the
transportation of passengers, cargo or mail delivery, or other
aviation services.