Airbus A321- the plane that was flying from Egypt (Sharm el-Sheikh) to Russia (St. Petersburg) crashed 23 minutes after takeoff. This happened October 31, 2015. There were 224 people. Everyone died. The reason why the airliner crashed, barely having time to take off, remained unclear for a long time. The black box of the plane that crashed in Egypt helped determine the cause. Chapter Russian aviation said that the investigation into the incident would take several months.
Media attention to this investigation continued throughout the entire investigation. It was assumed that basic information about the cause of the disaster could be obtained after deciphering the black boxes. Flight recorders are present on airplanes so that, in the event of a disaster, the recorded data can be used to determine why the plane crashed. These devices have a cylindrical, streamlined shape. This shape increases the likelihood that the recorder will remain intact in a collision with the ground.
Flight recorders are specially painted bright colors to make them easy to find among the wreckage of the airliner. After the A321 crash black boxes have been found. However, they did not allow us to get a complete picture of what happened.
Wreckage Airbus aircraft A321 that crashed during a flight from Egypt to Russia
It became known that the recording of all operating modes of the airliner by the recorder stopped immediately after the tail section was torn off. Before this, all the recorder systems were working properly. According to experts, this happened most likely due to depressurization of the cabin. In the tail section, the cables that connected the recorder to the information sensors were torn.
The data from the voice recorder has already been deciphered. If you want to listen to the recording of the black box of the plane that crashed in Egypt, you can do so after reading. In the recording, the pilot talks about the “churning” that the plane is prone to due to thunderstorms. But it is impossible to draw conclusions about the specific cause of the fall based on this recording. Specialists were busy laying out the components of the aircraft's structure. The investigation was carried out by 5 working groups, each of which had its own responsibilities. In particular, one of the groups had to answer questions regarding the level of training and experience of pilots. Another group was responsible for searching for explosive devices that might have been on board.
According to the International Aviation Committee, one of the flight recorders was severely damaged due to the fall. Experts carried out work to prepare the device for copying information recorded on it. At the same time, the specialists from MAK and BEA France who performed this work took all necessary precautions so as not to damage the device further and not to lose the recorded data.
Engine explosion
As a result of decoding, it was possible to establish that the cause of the fall was probably an explosion in one engine. The airliner fell rapidly. And this is a characteristic sign that the cause of the fall was a powerful explosion, after which all the engines failed. Thus, it was established that the fire of the fuselage (a certain part of it) and the destruction of the airliner occurred while it was in the air.
Shot from the crash site
Investigators from Egypt reported that the flight recorders did not record any emergency signals from the crew. Experts concluded that, judging by the decrypted recording, the airliner was flying normally 4 minutes before the crash. The crew negotiated with the dispatcher, and at that time there was nothing to indicate that there were any problems with the plane. Thus, an emergency situation arose unexpectedly for the crew - the explosion happened suddenly.
The theory that the crash was caused by a fire extinguisher explosion has been refuted. In such a situation, the fuselage structure would definitely have withstood such an explosion, and the flight would have been able to continue.
Almost all the commissions agreed on the version of an engine explosion. There may be several reasons for this. Depressurization occurred as a result of an explosion, which was the cause of destruction. The explosion could have happened for several reasons. There is a possibility that this happened due to a spark entering the fuel tank.
Based on the black box data, we can conclude that the crash occurred over a long period of time (several minutes). The plane was flying at an altitude of approximately 9000 m, but at some point began to fall rapidly. He dropped sharply by 1000 m, remained at this height for several seconds, after which he continued to fall. Moreover, at this time there was no longer any contact with the crew.
According to the results of the examination, the passengers who were flying on this airliner died in different time. The first to die were the people who were sitting in the back of the cabin in the last rows. Passengers who occupied seats in the front rows died later. In addition, various injuries were found on the passengers, which confirms the fact of the explosion.
This airliner belonged to the Kogalymavia company. Deputy General Director of this company A. Averyanov said that the plane received serious structural damage before the fall. Because of them, the flight could not continue. In the current catastrophic situation, the crew could not continue to control the airliner due to loss of performance. This is confirmed by the absence of at least one attempt to contact the dispatcher and report an emergency.
Terrorist attack as one of the versions
Presumably, one of the causes of the disaster was a terrorist attack. According to one version, the plane began a sharp descent as a result of the explosion of a device that was located on board at the rear of the plane. The explosion was initiated remotely. The bomb was probably planted in the small luggage compartment. Usually, crew suitcases, baby strollers, as well as various souvenirs brought by tourists from Egypt are placed in this place. Maybe, explosive device was established during the break between cleaning the aircraft cabin and checking the cabin by the crew. On suspicion of organizing or involvement in a terrorist attack 17 people were detained. Two employees of the airport from which the flight took place are wanted because they left the baggage scanner unattended for a while.
Air traffic between Russia and Egypt has since been prohibited. The President issued a corresponding decree. The ban will last until Egypt's airports are brought into full compliance with safety requirements. Immediately after the disaster, more than 80,000 people, Russian citizens who were on vacation in this country at that time, were urgently taken out of Egypt.
The black box of the plane that crashed in Egypt did not allow investigators to accurately determine the cause of the disaster. Part of the reason for this was severe damage to the flight recorders. It was possible to establish the cause (explosion) only thanks to a large-scale investigation that lasted many months. At this stage, due to the incident, flights to Egypt have not been resumed.
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During the investigation into the causes of plane crashes, they hope to decipher the black box recordings to understand what happened. And, I must say, it is not pleasant to hear the voices of those who in most cases know that they will die in a moment.
First crash: An-148 of Saratov Airlines, February 11, 2018
The plane crashed in the Ramensky district of the Moscow region. Of the 71 people on board, none survived. The cause was an error by the co-pilot and icing of the speed sensors. Below you can find a text transcript of the conversation between the pilots, where the PIC is the aircraft commander, and the VP is the co-pilot.
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, ***.
Other transcripts are provided in audio format.
Second crash: Flydubai Boeing, March 19, 2016
The plane attempted to reland after a missed approach and went into a tailspin. During the disaster, 62 people died (7 crew members and 55 passengers). The reason for the vessel's rapid descent was the simultaneous pushback of the steering wheel and the deflection of the stabilizer into a dive.
Crash three: Falcon 50, October 20, 2014
During the takeoff run, the plane collided with an airfield snowplow, broke up and caught fire. Four French citizens on board, including the manager of the major oil and gas company Total, Christophe de Margerie, were killed. The plane crash occurred after a number of violations.
Fourth crash: Yak-42D, September 7, 2011
During the takeoff run along the runway at Yaroslavl Tunoshna Airport in normal weather conditions, the plane rolled off the runway. It took off from the ground 400 meters beyond the end of the runway. From that moment on, it gained a height of 5-6 meters, collided with a radio beacon, crashed into the ground and exploded. The Lokomotiv hockey club was on board at that time. 44 people died in the plane crash. The reason was said to be when one of the pilots pressed the brake pedal while the airliner was taking off.
Fifth crash: Boeing 737-505, September 14, 2008
The airliner was flying on the Moscow-Perm route. At the final point, he was already landing, but did not reach Bolshoye Savino airport 11 kilometers. The plane crashed to the ground and was completely destroyed, leaving no survivors of the 88 people on board. Experts named the reason as the shortcomings of the entire crew training system for flights, as well as the lack of interaction within the crew.
Sixth crash: Tu-154M, August 22, 2006
The airliner crashed on approach to Irkutsk, where it was supposed to make an intermediate landing during the flight Ekaterinburg-Vladivostok. During the turn and landing approach, the plane turned 180 degrees and began to fall. The cause of the accident was that the crew did not maintain the established altitude of 850 meters during landing. The co-pilot tried to correct the error by pulling the steering wheel towards himself. The plane completely lost control and crashed, killing 144 people.
Decoding the parametric recorder of the Airbus A321 of the Kogalymavia company, which crashed on the Sinai Peninsula, did not help to establish the cause of the largest air disaster in the history of Russia in terms of the number of victims.
Data from the flight recorder showed that during the flight, which lasted about 20 minutes, all aircraft systems operated normally. According to the publication, the registration of operating modes of all systems of the airliner stopped at lightning speed after the tail section in which the recorder was located was torn off from the airbus.
The emergency situation on board developed so quickly that the crew of the plane, apparently, did not even have time to assess it and take any action. The publication's sources suggest that the recordings of the voice recorder, which was also severely damaged, may also be useless.
Experts believe that this could have happened due to the explosive depressurization of the cabin, as a result of which the tail section, in which the emergency parametric recorder was located, was separated from the fuselage of the aircraft.
The publication reports that before the crash, the crew did not report an emergency on board, since no problems were identified during the short flight. But in order to report an emergency, pilots did not necessarily have to make radio contact with the ground. It was enough to simply press a certain combination of buttons, which would automatically transmit distress signals.
Data from decoding the black boxes of the A321 aircraft continues to arrive.
Black boxes did not help establish the cause of the accident - Rosaviatsia
The head of the Federal Air Transport Agency, Alexander Neradko, announced the completion of the decoding of the A321 parametric recorder on November 5 and immediately added that the investigation into the plane crash would take several months.
The recording of the operating modes of all aircraft systems by the recorder stopped instantly after the tail section in which the device was located was torn off. Before this, according to the recorder, all A321 systems worked properly.
Experts believe that this could have happened due to explosive depressurization of the cabin. When the tail section was separated, all the cables connecting the black box with the information sensors were broken.
It will take more time to decipher the voice recorder due to damage to the casing. At the same time, specialists will begin laying out structural elements of the aircraft, which will help determine the cause and sequence of destruction of the aircraft. In parallel, five working groups will be created, each of them will deal with a separate area of investigation - from the quality of pilot training to the search for explosives on the bodies of passengers.
The head of the Federal Air Transport Agency especially emphasized that now the commission does not have any one priority version.
One of the black boxes is seriously damaged - MAC
The International Aviation Committee (IAC) reports serious damage to one of the flight recorders of the A321 airliner that crashed in Egypt.
“The on-board voice recorder (CVR) received serious mechanical damage and currently in Egypt, with the participation of experts from the IAC and BEA of France, preparatory work is being carried out to copy the recorded information in compliance with all possible precautions,” the IAC said in a statement on November 5.
An engine explosion caused the crash of a Russian airliner in Egypt
Investigation team established in Egypt to investigate the cause of the crash Russian plane A321, decrypted black box data.
Sources in the investigation team report that the cause of the plane's crash was an explosion in one of the engines.
The flight recorder showed that the plane fell rapidly and this, according to the investigation, indicates that there was a powerful explosion, all engines failed at the same time, and the fire of part of the fuselage and the destruction of the aircraft occurred while still in the air.
At the same time, a special technical laboratory will have to establish what triggered this explosion.
In order to find out, experts will also continue to study the crash site, the bodies of the victims and the wreckage of the aircraft.
Egyptian investigators also noted that the flight recorders did not record any emergency signals from the crew to dispatchers.
Flight recorders recorded an "uncharacteristic sound" as the A321 disappeared from radar
New data from the transcripts of the “black boxes” from the crashed Airbus A321 aircraft have become known.
As it turned out, before the plane disappeared from radar, “sounds uncharacteristic of a normal flight” were heard on the recording.
According to the source, “by the time the airliner disappears from the radar screens, the recording is preceded by sounds uncharacteristic of a normal flight.”
Based on the recording of the conversation between the pilots and dispatchers, it can be concluded that “four minutes before the plane disappeared from the radar, the situation remained normal.”
“From the recording of the flight crew’s conversations with the dispatchers, it follows that the situation on board 4 minutes before the plane disappeared from the radar remained normal, the crew conducted normal negotiations with the dispatchers, nothing indicated any problems on board, and the crew did not report them either,” said agency interlocutor.
The agency's interlocutor also confirmed that the crew did not send a distress signal.
“Judging by the recording, the emergency situation on board occurred suddenly and came as a surprise to the flight crew,” he noted.
The agency's source ruled out a spontaneous explosion of a fire extinguisher or gas cylinder as a possible cause of the plane's destruction in the air.
According to him, the power structure of the fuselage was supposed to withstand such emergency situations.
Deciphering the “black boxes” will take from one to four weeks.
It will take one to four weeks to prepare a report on the crash of the Russian airliner in the Sinai - the time will depend on the condition of the A321 black boxes, said Egyptian government spokesman Hussam al-Kawish.
“Deciphering the data from black boxes depends on the technical condition in which they were discovered,” he said on the local CBC television channel, RIA Novosti reports.
"Minister civil aviation assured that the black boxes were found in good condition, so the report should be prepared in a short period of one to four weeks,” al-Qawish added.
One of the black boxes contains information about the state of the airliner’s systems, the other contains recordings of pilots’ conversations and what is happening in the aircraft cabin, he explained.
Al-Kawish also said that the commission to investigate the causes of the crash of the Russian airliner will include specialists from Egypt, Russia, France, Germany and Ireland, as well as a representative of the Kogalymavia company that operated the plane.
On Monday, November 2, it was reported that the A321 aircraft was not exposed to external influences, the pilot did not report any problems to dispatchers on the eve of the disappearance of the A321 airliner from radar, and the aircraft did not give SOS signals before hitting the ground.
Let us remind you. Earlier, at a press conference in Moscow, the management of Kogalymavia stated that the only explicable reason for the plane crash in the air could be an external impact on the aircraft.
“There is no failure that could cause the aircraft to break up in mid-air. In this case, the plane was destroyed when it hit the ground. The A320 is a very reliable aircraft, the automation will not allow it to reach large overloads even if the pilot makes a gross mistake,” said Kogalymavia Deputy General Director for Flight Operations, Alexander Smirnov.
However, the decryption data from the “black boxes” refute his words. Thus, the guilt of Kogalymavia and the subsequent prosecution of the airline’s management is becoming more and more real.
Let us note that Andrey Averyanov, Deputy General Director of Kogalymavia Airlines for technical and production issues, stated that the A321 crew completely lost control of the aircraft.
“During the transition to the crash, the A321 aircraft most likely received significant structural damage, which did not allow it to continue the flight. And, apparently, due to this, at the same moment when the catastrophic situation began to develop, the crew completely lost their ability to work, this is what can explain the fact that there was not a single attempt to get in touch and report an emergency on board,” Averyanov said at a press conference in Moscow.
But, in fact, these words are not news in the light of the information known to everyone about the circumstances of the accident. The main question is different: what caused the aircraft to go out of control of the crew? The answer to this question should be given by decoding the flight recorders.
A photo of the flight recorders (the same “black boxes”) of the A321 airliner that crashed in Egypt has been published. The photo shows that one of the recorders is slightly damaged, but the other is in very good condition.
The head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Vladimir Puchkov, confirmed that the “black boxes” were preserved in good condition.
Before that, he, together with the head of the Federal Air Transport Agency, Alexander Neradko, examined the recorders of the plane that crashed in Egypt. Puchkov also met with the Egyptian Minister of Transport.
“During the meeting, issues of organizing joint work at the second stage of the search operation were discussed. In particular, a transport corridor was organized from the emergency zone where the disaster occurred to Cairo airport for the delivery of personal belongings of the victims,” Interfax quotes the Russian minister.
