An error of pilots, dispatchers, or technicians, aircraft malfunction, and adverse weather conditions. These are theories of the catastrophe at Sheremetyevo, which the investigation is now considering. As a result of the fire and hard touchdown on the flight Moscow-Murmansk, 41 people were killed. Forensic experts have just completed work at the airport and now, together with the specialists from the IAC, will start deciphering the data of the so-called "black boxes". The heads of the Investigative Committee, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Transport reported the first results of their work to Vladimir Putin. Earlier, the president offered condolences to the relatives of the victims and gave the instruction to conduct a thorough investigation.
Dmitry Petrov has the details of the first conclusions of the investigation.
The government commission has been working all day long today at the Airport Management Center, where all of the operational information goes to and there's a view of the airfield. Here, we can see that the airplane that crashed is still on the runway. And only in the evening, after the airliner was examined by experts from the Interstate Aviation Committee, was it decided to remove the wreckage. With the help of a large crane, they carefully lifted the nose part of the aircraft. Then, they removed smaller fragments just as carefully.
The head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, came personally to inspect the emergency scene. He held a meeting with the investigation team, which collected material evidence. They also took samples of fuel, flight recorders, audio recordings of talks with the dispatch service.
Svetlana Petrenko, Spokeswoman for the Investigative Committee: "The investigation is considering various theories about the incident. Among them are insufficient training of pilots, dispatchers, and persons who conducted technical inspection of the aircraft, aircraft malfunction, adverse weather conditions".
The crew tried to save the plane. Although during the last 20 minutes of the flight, they piloted it with great difficulty. The flight Moscow-Murmansk 1492 departed from Sheremetyevo according to schedule, at 6:02 p.m. Its course was 247 degrees — to the southwest. It ascended, makes the first turn to the right. At this moment, at 6:07 p.m., something happened onboard, but the plane continued to ascend. Three minutes later, the crew still reported to the ground about technical problems. The commander sent a PAN-PAN signal and asked for permission to land.
"Pan Pan, AFL 1492, communication failure, we are in direct low, request to return to Sheremetyevo".
In the language of international radio communication, this means an emergency situation in which the aircraft and its passengers are subject to a specific threat, but immediate assistance isn't required. That's very important to note. After a communication failure, the crew switched to the alternate frequency of 121.5 — an international channel for transmitting distress signals. What happened next was captured by several cameras in detail.
After 28 minutes in the air, the airliner returned to the airport and entered the runway. Touchdown, everything seems to be regular. But then the plane suddenly lifts its nose and lifts off again. It then abruptly turned its nose down and dived into the runway so fast that the main landing gear legs broke down immediately and the wing tanks were punctured. A fire started.
Andrey Litvinov, class-1 pilot: "It porpoised, as we say. It jumped and caught on fire. On this video, one can see well that the plane caught on fire not in the air".
Viktor Zabolotsky, Merited Test Pilot of the USSR: "The speed was high, and the landing was on three points, let's say so, which further led to auto-oscillations, which is called a "progressive porpoise" in aviation. And the plane detached three times, of course, and each time it detached from the runway, it gained some height and lost speed at once. And the last touchdown was hard. Imagine that it's like dropping a plane from the third floor, let's say so".
Most likely, it all started after lightning hit the plane while it was taking off. There are stories of the pilot on social media.
Denis Evdokimov, pilot in command of SS-100: "There was a radio communication failure. We managed to restore it through the emergency frequency on the second radio station. It was briefly intermittent, that is, after turning on the transmitter itself, we could say a few words and then we lost connection. And we had to turn it on again. Because of the lightning, there was radio communication failure and the transition of the aircraft to direct control mode wasn't via computer, as is usually the case, but directly via emergency control mode".
The landing speed, according to some sources, was too high — about 170 mph, while the recommended speed is 150 mph. And this turned out to be critical.
Vladimir Evmenkov, passenger of the flight Moscow-Murmansk: "We touched the ground and jumped. When we jumped, there were screams, people started worrying. At that moment I looked out the window and saw that the engine was burning".
But the decision to return to the departure airport was the only correct one, experts say. It was impossible to continue the flight on a faulty plane.
Vladimir Popov, merited military pilot of the USSR: "The crew acted correctly. The initial decision was to return when this incident happened on board and they still didn't know what the emergency situation was and how it'd develop. They made a competent and the only correct decision to return to the departure airport and make that touchdown".
The broken landing gear legs, of course, shortened the braking path. But by the moment it stopped, the airliner was already engulfed in flames. Nevertheless, even in such a situation, the crew acted as quickly as possible. 20 seconds after it stopped, the evacuation of the first passengers began. First, the right front rescue ramp was opened. A few seconds later, the left one was opened. Flight attendants opened them.
"It was dark, and it was the highest temperature. They got people out of there and helped them descend".
At the same moment, their colleague, Maxim Moiseev, tried to start evacuation through the rear exits. But everything was already in flames there. Maxim and passengers were killed.
And the pilots, most likely, were blocked. And they got outside — it can be seen on the video — from the cockpit. The co-pilot descended to the ground on some kind of cable and immediately joined the evacuation of the passengers on the emergency ramp. He took them on the ground.
Why did the fire engines arrive only after the plane was engulfed with flames? Why were they not standing by? This is because the crew didn't request them. This decision is to be made by the pilot in command. If he had sent a mayday signal, a distress signal, the rescue services would have waited for the plane in full readiness, right on the runway. But even despite that, the first rescuers arrived a minute after the alarm.
Yevgeny Dietrich, Minister of Transport: "At 6:30 p.m., the aircraft landed. At 6.31 p.m., the code red was announced. A minute later, the first fire engine was next to the aircraft".
Another four minutes later, seven fire engines were extinguishing the fire.
Experts and investigative organs will assess the crew's actions.
This video also raises questions. Here are a few people leaving the plane with bags and suitcases. It's clear that they spent time on getting those loads from the baggage racks instead of clearing the aisle, as the instruction requires.
By this minute, it's known that the wreckage of the aircraft was taken to the hangar. The IAC experts will work with them.
Dmitry Petrov, Maxim Shchepilov, Alexander Antonov, Tatiana Stepovaya, and Anastasia Serova for Vesti.
