A preliminary report on the Dec. 25 crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane in Kazakhstan contains details that could be consistent with widespread assertions that the aircraft was damaged by ground fire during an earlier attempt to land as planned in Russia. But the report, released on Tuesday by Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Transport, leaves many questions unanswered about the crash that killed 38 out of the 67 people on board the plane and sharpened tensions between Azerbaijan and Russia.
Image: Department for Investigation of Accidents and Incidents in Transport preliminary report
An investigation is ongoing and a final report will be prepared on the disaster just outside the Kazakh city of Aktau, meaning that more information could emerge on Russia’s alleged culpability in the case. While the preliminary report helps to fill out a picture of the chaos and confusion that unfolded on the Embraer 190 plane on the Baku-Grozny route, it is unlikely to satisfy Azerbaijan, which accused Russia of a coverup and demanded accountability.
The report on the politically sensitive case says its purpose is to focus on aviation safety and not to establish anyone’s guilt. Assigning blame could come in criminal cases that were opened by Azerbaijani and Kazakh prosecutors, though holding those responsible to account, especially if they are in Russia, will be a challenge.
Image: Department for Investigation of Accidents and Incidents in Transport preliminary report
The report says parts of the plane were hit by objects from outside the plane and photos show portions of the fuselage riddled with holes, but the analysis doesn’t confirm that they were the result of missile shrapnel as some security and aviation analysts have said.
“The initial inspection of the surviving fragments revealed numerous through and non-through damages of various sizes and shapes in the tail section of the fuselage, vertical stabilizer and stabilizer, elevator and rudder. Similar damages were found on the left engine and left wing of the aircraft, as well as on the units and components of the aircraft. In some places, the damages have a regular rectangular shape,” the report said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, in a phone conversation. However, the Russian leader did not acknowledge that the aircraft had been accidentally hit by Russian fire before diverting to Aktau. Russia has said the area was under attack by Ukrainian drones at the time. Kazakhstan has led the investigation, which includes representatives from Azerbaijan, Russia and Brazil. The Canada-based International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency that oversees aviation safety, is also involved.
The preliminary report provides a picture of the flight and subsequent crash that is consistent with past accounts of survivors and other sources of information, though it also offers gripping detail from the data and cockpit voice recorders that were recovered and analyzed in Brazil, where the plane model is made.
At one point, the sound of a boom is recorded.
Citing the voice recorder, the report says that “the captain contacts the cabin crew via the intercom to clarify the situation: “Hello, what happened?” The flight attendant reported: “Two seats exploded, I… um, I can’t go over because the passengers are standing up, I’m reseating them.”
The transcript of the cockpit voice recorder describes an increasingly desperate situation as the crew stops receiving satellite signals – Azerbaijan has claimed that the aircraft’s communication systems were jammed from the ground – and struggles to control the plane after what appear to be two explosions. The hydraulic systems fail and then oxygen runs low in the passenger cabin. Some passengers lose consciousness. The pilots are unsure of the cause of the crisis, initially saying there had been a bird strike and then an oxygen canister explosion.
“Mayday, mayday, mayday!” the pilots broadcast to Aktau air traffic controllers as the Azerbaijan Airlines plane approaches the city. They tell the controllers they have lost control of many instruments, are operating the craft with thrust levers, and request an emergency landing.
Image: Department for Investigation of Accidents and Incidents in Transport preliminary report
Pilots can control engine power by using the thrust levers in the cockpit. But if they are only using thrust levers to control the aircraft, that could indicate catastrophic failure of other key instruments that control the plane’s altitude and speed.
The tower offers “vectoring assistance for the approach” – a way of guiding the plane with directions – and the aircraft says, “please provide vectoring.”
As the airline careens toward a flat area, short of the airport runway, an automated alarm blares: “TERRAIN, TERRAIN, PULL UP.”
Image: Ministry for Emergency Situations of Kazakhstan
Then, impact. Part of the plane bursts into flames. Kazakh emergency responders rush to the debris-strewn scene. The two pilots and a flight attendant were among the dead.
