Airbus a321 crash. Airbus A321 crash: possible causes of the disaster. Decryption of "black boxes"

MOSCOW, 31 October. /TASS-DOSIER/. On October 31, 2015, an Airbus A321 passenger plane of the Russian airline Kogalymavia (Metrojet brand, Metrojet), which was flying on the route Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt) - St. Petersburg, disappeared from radar 23 minutes after takeoff.

Since the start of operation of the Airbus A320 with aircraft of this type (including modifications of the A319 and A321), there have been 13 accidents (excluding the incident on October 31, 2015), which led to the death of 1,101 people on board.

On June 26, 1988, an Air France Airbus A320-111 (registration number F-GFKC) crashed while on a demonstration flight over Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg Airport (France). Due to altimeter malfunctions and pilot error, while flying at low altitude, the car hit the tops of trees and fell into the forest. Three of the 136 passengers on board were killed.

On February 14, 1990, an Airbus A320-231 of Indian Airlines (registration number VT-EPN), flying 605 from Bombay (now Mumbai), crashed while landing at Bangalore Airport (India). The pilots did not notice that the plane was descending too fast until the landing gear hit the concrete fence of a golf club near the airport. The plane crashed near the runway. 92 people out of 146 on board were killed.

On January 20, 1992, an Airbus A320-111 passenger liner (registration number F-GGED) of the French airline Air Inter, on its flight 148 on the route Lyon - Strasbourg, crashed into Mount Saint-Odile 19.5 km from Strasbourg Airport. 87 of the 96 people on board were killed. According to the results of the investigation, it turned out that the disaster occurred due to a number of factors, including the complexity of the onboard control system and adverse weather conditions.

On September 14, 1993, at the Warsaw Okęcie International Airport (now named after Frederic Chopin), a passenger plane A320-211 (registration number D-AIPN) of the German airline Lufthansa, flying 2904 from Frankfurt am Main, skidded off the runway . In conditions of strong wind and rain, the crew of the liner landed the car just 770 m from the end of the runway, the aircraft did not have time to slow down, crashed into fences and caught fire. One passenger and the captain-mentor died, the other 68 people on board were injured.

On March 22, 1998, a Philippine Air Lines Airbus A320-214 (registration number RP-C3222) on domestic flight 137 from Manila to Bacolod failed to perform its normal braking during landing. The reason was the error of the pilot, who turned off the reverse of one of the engines. The plane went off the runway and crashed into wooden houses outside the airport. None of the 130 people on board the plane died, but three people on the ground were killed.

On August 23, 2000, a passenger plane A320-212 (registration number A40-EK) of the Bahraini airline Gulf Air, operating flight 072 from Cairo to Manama (Bahrain), crashed into the waters of the Persian Gulf near Bahrain International Airport on about. Muharraq. The accident occurred during a go-around after an unsuccessful approach to landing caused by pilot error. All passengers and crew members were killed - 143 people.

On May 3, 2006, an Airbus A320-211 passenger airliner (registration number EK-32009) of the Armenian company Armavia ("Armavia") crashed. The plane was making flight 967 from Yerevan to Sochi. When landing at the destination airport in difficult weather conditions, the crew received a go-around command. Performing a turn, the crew turned off the autopilot, after which the aircraft went into climb mode, lost speed and fell into the Black Sea. All 113 people on board were killed.

On July 17, 2007, an Airbus A320-233 (registration number PR-MBK) of the Brazilian airline TAM Airlines crashed while landing at Sao Paulo Airport on domestic flight 3054 from Porto Alegre. After landing, the plane was unable to slow down on the slippery runway, flew out of it, crashed into a hangar with aviation fuel and burned out. All 187 people on board and 12 others on the ground were killed. The cause of the disaster was that the thrust of one of the engines turned out to be in takeoff mode during landing. The commission could not establish whether this was a pilot error or a technical malfunction.

On May 30, 2008, an Airbus A320-233 passenger aircraft (registration number EI-TAF) of the Salvadoran company TACA International Airlines, flying flight 390 from San Salvador to Tegucigalpa (Honduras), while landing at the destination airport, skidded off the runway onto the city street and received significant damage. Three people on board and two in the vehicle on the ground were killed. Among the dead on the plane was Nicaraguan economist Harry Brautigam, president of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE), who died of a heart attack.

On November 27, 2008, an Airbus A320-232 (registration number D-AXLA) of XL Airways Germany, performing technical flight number 888T near the French airport of Perpignan-Rivalte, crashed into the sea near the village of Canet-en-Roussillon. All seven people on board were killed. An investigation revealed that the crash was due to water ingress into the AoA sensors during maintenance. The failure of the sensors led to the loss of control over the aircraft by the crew.

On July 28, 2010, an Airbus Airbus A321-231 (registration number AP-BJB) operated by Pakistani Airblue Airlines, operating domestic flight 202 on the Karachi-Islamabad route, crashed in northern Islamabad in heavy fog and monsoon rain. All 152 people on board were killed. The cause of the crash was weather conditions and uncoordinated actions of the crew.

December 28, 2014 On December 28, 2014, Indonesian AirAsia's Airbus A320-216 (registration PK-AXC) flight QZ8501 from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore, disappeared from radar while over the Java Sea in the area between the islands Kalimantan (Borneo) and Belitung (Indonesia). There were 155 passengers and seven crew members on board. On January 3, 2015, during a search operation, the wreckage of the liner was found on the seabed; from January to March, 106 bodies of the dead were found in the crash zone.

On March 24, 2015, an Airbus A320-211 passenger aircraft (registration number D-AIPX) of the Germanwings airline, operating a scheduled flight 4U 9525 / GWI18G on the route Barcelona (Spain) - Düsseldorf (Germany), crashed into a mountain slope and completely collapsed in the Alps Upper Provence (France). There were 144 passengers and 6 crew members on board, all of whom died. The crash was the result of the deliberate actions of the co-pilot of the liner, Andreas Lubitz (Andreas Lubitz).

Exactly one year ago, on October 31, 2015, there was the most massive air crash in Russia in terms of the number of victims. Then, in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, the aircraft A321 of the Russian airline Kogalymavia. There were 217 passengers on board, including 24 children, and seven crew members. They all died. The Russian authorities recognized the incident as a terrorist attack, but the international investigation has not yet been completed.

On October 31, the A321 aircraft of the Russian airline Kogalymavia was operating a charter flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. The liner took off at 5:50 am and after 23 minutes disappeared from the radar. On the same day, Egyptian government search teams found the wreckage of a wrecked aircraft near the city of Nekhel in the north of the Sinai Peninsula. All 224 people on board were killed, including 219 Russians, four citizens of Ukraine and one native of Belarus.

Causes of the A321 crash

The international investigation, led by the Egyptian aviation authorities, has not yet been completed. It is attended by representatives of Russia, France, Germany, Ireland and the United States.

Shortly after the crash, the Western media began to report that a terrorist attack could have occurred on board the A321, citing their sources in the special services and officials. From these publications it followed that the authorities of the United States and Great Britain considered the version of the terrorist attack the most probable. However, Moscow publicly distanced itself from her for a long time, calling the version of the terrorist attack premature and urging them to wait for the official results of the investigation. And only on November 6, it was decided to suspend air traffic with Egypt until the causes of the A321 crash were clarified and the Russians who were there were evacuated.

Officially, the terrorist act of the FSB took place over Sinai only two and a half weeks after the disaster, on November 17th. According to the agency, an improvised explosive device went off in flight. Vladimir Putin at a meeting of the Security Council to find the organizers of the crash "anywhere on the planet" and destroy them.

However, the Egyptian authorities, even after these statements, continued to insist that a technical malfunction was the most likely cause of the disaster. And only in February 2016, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi admitted that a terrorist attack had occurred on board the A321.

In September, the Kommersant newspaper, citing sources, reported that an international technical commission had established the exact location of the explosion on the plane. According to the publication, experts determined that the terrorists mined the oversized luggage compartment in the tail section of the aircraft, hiding an explosive device between baby carriages and wicker furniture carried by tourists.

Russia and the CIA believe that the explosion on board was organized by Wilayat Sinai (until 2014 - Ansar Beit al-Maqdis), a cell of the terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS) banned in Russia. The group claimed responsibility for the downing of the A321: On November 18, 2015, the Islamic State propaganda magazine Dabiq published a photo of an improvised explosive device made from a can of Schweppes soda. As stated in the article, it was this device that was powered on board the A321. In August 2016, the Egyptian military about the assassination of the leader of Wilayat Sinai, Abu Duaa al-Ansari, who is suspected of organizing a terrorist attack.

Scandalous case

Relatives of those killed in the disaster have repeatedly complained about the progress of the investigation and the process of paying compensation. In December, lawyer Igor Trunov, on behalf of 35 relatives, filed a complaint with the Basmanny Court against the inaction of the head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin. According to the lawyer, it was expressed in the fact that the UK ignored two appeals from relatives. In one of them, they asked to be informed of the number of the criminal case, to recognize them as victims and to acquaint them with the materials of the investigation. Another complaint concerned Ingosstrakh. The appeal alleged that the company fraudulently obtains statements from the relatives of the victims that limit their right to apply to the courts in order to obtain compensation. Ingosstrakh itself categorically denied these accusations. And the lawsuit against Bastrykin was rejected.

Effects

After the crash of the Kogalymavia plane, Russia suspended flights with Egypt, and tour operators were banned from working in this direction. All year they waited for the resumption of communication with the country, which for many years was one of the main resort destinations for Russians. According to the latest data, this can happen no earlier than December-January.

To resume flights, the Egyptian side must fulfill a number of airport security requirements (a complete list has not been officially published). During the year, Russia repeatedly sent its specialists to Egypt for checks at the airports of Cairo, Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada, but every time there were violations. According to the sources of the Al-Watan newspaper quoted by TASS, "a number of Russian structures refuse to discuss the issue of resuming air traffic with Egypt until the results of the official investigation appear."

With the closure of air traffic, Egypt suffered significant losses. From the collapse of tourism - one of the key industries for the country (more than 11% of GDP until November 2015) - the budget of Egypt, according to Reuters, lost more than three billion dollars.

The crash of the Russian Airbus and the subsequent cessation of flights to the Arab Republic led to problems for Kogalymavia itself and its associated tour operator Brisco, which was the customer of flight 9268. Since the spring of 2015, the case of declaring the carrier bankrupt has been dragging on, the next meeting will be held on November 10. In March, the Federal Air Transport Agency limited the operator's certificate to Kogalymavia and deprived it of permits for 13 international destinations.

The tour operator Brisco, the organizer of the flight, suspended work on August 2 until it pays off debts to customers and agencies. As reported on the Brisco website, after the closure of flights to Egypt and Turkey, the company suffered "colossal financial and economic losses."

Why did the Kogalymavia (Metrojet) flight 7K 9268 Airbus A321-231 r/n EI-ETJ s/n 663 crash? So far, no one knows the answer, and the results of the investigation may appear only in a few months.

Googled for over an hour. I downloaded all the available photos of this particular aircraft from Jetphotos.net. Also found in other sources photos before the crash.

My attention was drawn to a slight blackening on the conical part of the tail. These two photos seem to have been taken on the last day or a few days before the disaster (from another site):

Close-up blackening:

Then I looked at all the photos of this aircraft in reverse order to 2012. There is no blackening in the photo from September 2, 2015:

Scrolled in reverse order. Everything is clean. True, there are few photographs. Only September and August 2015. Then it was repainted. The photo from September 26, 2014 has a different coloring and everything is clean.

Everything is clean in this color. Only 8 photos. There is only a slight darkening. I scrolled down to the previous coloring page, the last photo from October 6, 2013, and immediately the black conical part of the fuselage caught my eye:

Close-up:

Photo dated September 14, 2013:

Close-up:

More or less clean fuselage only on the very first photo from May 31, 2012:

Then on all the pictures up to October 6, 2013 everything is getting darker and darker. And then repaint.

Now about the nature of the scatter of debris. I don't follow the news much. But I saw these photos on social networks:

Separately rolled conical part with blackening on top:

The rear of the aircraft with a broken vertical stabilizer, without the conical part:

It became interesting whether there are blackening on other similar "Airbuses". Googled, looked at photos - other airlines have all white and clean planes in the tail section, including other similar planes from Kogalymavia.

In addition, it was this aircraft that landed on the fifth point in 2001, slightly hitting its tail during landing. Then he was still owned by another airline. The plane was repaired after the accident. But there could be negative consequences...

I began to look for descriptions of the design of aircraft. This conical end houses the auxiliary power unit (APU), or in English Auxiliary power unit (APU). It is necessary to start the main engines and to provide energy in parking lots. Nozzle at the end of the cone. Those. there is electricity and fuel.

It is a small gas turbine engine powered by an electric or hydraulic accumulator. Generates the alternating current needed to start large engines (fuel pumps, spark for fuel), pressurizes the hydraulic system, ensures the operation of the pneumatic system. Pneumatic spin-up of the turbine is required to start the main engines.

Not used during flight. But in case of failure of one of the engines, it can be used to additionally provide energy to various aircraft systems.

This is what the Boeing 737 APU looks like:

From the following videos it can be seen that the conical part with the APU, the tail, and separately the crash site of the main part of the aircraft, with the imprint of the wings, are scattered separately.

Video from the height of the crash site of the aircraft "Kogalymavia" 7K9268 Airbus A321, Sinai, Egypt 10/31/2015

Airbus A321 crash site shown from the air

Scheme of a similar aircraft A320-200:

Most likely, for some reason, the conical part was first torn off, then the horizontal stabilizer. Elevators are located on the horizontal stabilizer. Perhaps that is why the plane began to decline sharply, and then again try to gain altitude.

Photos with a dropped tail show holes in the horizontal stabilizer attachment points. There was an explosive depressurization of the cabin, the previously deformed tail was torn off. The plane instantly became uncontrollable. All electrical was cut off. I already saw something similar in one of the episodes "A Second Before the Disaster". This can also explain that communication with the aircraft was cut off suddenly.

Also in the photos with the dropped tail, there is no rudder on the vertical stabilizer.

Overheating of the aircraft body in this place could lead to the separation of the conical part from the APU. And blackening is only a consequence of overheating. In addition, the plane was constantly repainted.

P.S. APU photos on A321:

Failed APU start on A321:

A320 aircraft APU doors operation

P.P.S. There are also interesting search results for "black soot on apu".

On October 31, 2015, a Russian Airbus A321 of Kogalymavia (Metrojet) operating flight 9268 from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.

There were 224 people on board the aircraft, including 217 passengers (58 men, 134 women and 25 children - of which 212 people are citizens of the Russian Federation, four people are citizens of Ukraine, one citizen of Belarus) and seven crew members.

The plane flew mostly residents of St. Petersburg. Residents of neighboring regions also returned to Russia - the Leningrad Region, Novgorod, Pskov, Karelia, several people from other subjects of the Federation. All on board were killed. The disaster was the largest in the history of Russian and Soviet aviation.

The Airbus-A321 aircraft of the Kogalymavia airline (Metrojet), in which the Brisco tour operator, flew from Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt) to St. Petersburg on October 31 at 06.51 Moscow time and disappeared from the radar screens after 23 minutes. According to the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority, the liner followed at an altitude of 9.4 kilometers, then dropped sharply by 1.5 kilometers, after which it disappeared from radar.

The fate of the aircraft was not reported long enough. The liner disappeared from radar screens in the Cyprus region, so for half an hour they could not determine the exact location of a possible crash.

Egyptian military aviation was there to search for the Russian aircraft. Israel Defense Forces services of Egypt, sending its reconnaissance aircraft to participate in the search operation.

The wreckage of A321 was found in the center of the Sinai Peninsula in the mountains between the areas of El-Kantala and El-Laksim near the city of Al-Hasna. To identify the aircraft, Egyptian emergency services were sent to the place of detection, where a large-scale search and rescue operation was carried out.

In agreement with Cairo, a grouping of forces and means of the Russian Unified State System for the Prevention and Elimination of Emergency Situations (RSChS) in the amount of more than one thousand people and 250 units of equipment was involved in the elimination of the consequences of the crash of the liner, of which more than 660 people and 100 units were from the Russian Emergencies Ministry technicians, as well as psychologists EMERCOM of Russia.

Search operations were organized on the spot using unmanned aerial vehicles and space monitoring data, more than 40 square kilometers of the territory were examined.

On the day of the crash, two A321 airborne emergency recorders were also found in Cairo - speech and parametric.

In connection with the crash of a Russian plane in Egypt, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared mourning in the country on November 1, 2015. The authorities of St. Petersburg until November 3, and the Leningrad region - until November 4.

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation on the fact of the crash of a Russian aircraft in Egypt was first under the article "Violation of the rules of flights and preparation for them", then another one under the article "Performance of work or provision of services that do not meet safety requirements." Later they were in the same production.

On behalf of the President, the Russian government in connection with the disaster, headed by the Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov. The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) was under the leadership of the executive director of the committee, Viktor Sorochenko.

Cairo immediately after the disaster, all interested countries about the opportunity to participate in the investigation of the tragedy. A special one was created, it included specialists from five countries: Russia, Egypt, France (the state of the aircraft developer), Germany (the state of the liner manufacturer) and Ireland (the state of registration). Ayman al-Muqaddam was appointed head of the commission to investigate the disaster.

November 1, 2015 Egyptian Attorney General Nabil Ahmed Sadeq in an investigation into the causes of the crash with a Russian plane in the Sinai Peninsula. According to the Russian Ambassador to Cairo, Sergei Kirpichenko, Russia and Egypt have, according to which Russian specialists have access to almost everywhere they want to go as part of the investigation of the A321 crash.

A group of investigators and forensic experts from the central office of the Investigative Committee of Russia, in agreement with the competent authorities and together with representatives of the Republic of Egypt, in accordance with the norms of national and international law, participated in the inspection of the crash site in Egypt.

The head of the FSB of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bortnikov, during a meeting in the Kremlin on the results of the investigation into the causes of the crash of the Russian plane, said that as a result of the study of personal belongings, luggage and parts of the plane that crashed in Egypt, traces of a foreign-made explosive were found. It happened like a terrorist attack.

In turn, the Egyptian authorities. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri said that this criminal case considers the attack as one of the versions.

In March 2016, the International Commission to Investigate the Crash of the Russian Aircraft A321 announced that it was from the Russian Investigative Committee and handed it over to the Egyptian Prosecutor General's Office to complete legal procedures. The commission itself, despite the transfer of the case to the investigating authorities of the state security of the country, will continue the technical examination of the wreckage of the liner.

In mid-April, Egypt's Attorney General Nabil Sadeq reported on the crash of a Russian plane to the country's Supreme State Security Prosecutor's Office. The decision of the head of the supervisory agency, noted in the text of the statement, was made on the basis of data from the report of the Investigative Committee of Russia, "which indicates the suspicion of a criminal trace."

In June, CIA Director John Brennan, speaking in the US Senate, said that American intelligence about the involvement in the explosion on the Russian passenger plane A321 of the Egyptian group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, who swore allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist movement banned in many countries, (ISIS), and on August 4, the Egyptian Ministry of Defense announced the liquidation of the leader of this terrorist group.

On August 28, the commission for the investigation of the crash began "laying out" fragments of the aircraft structure in an aviation hangar in the city of Cairo, where they were delivered from the crash site. after its completion, the point was determined from which the destruction of the hull of the liner began.

According to media reports, when analyzing the calculations of the assembled fragments of the A321 in the hangar of the Cairo airport, experts that the terrorists placed an explosive device in the tail of the vessel, the explosion caused the separation of the tail section and an uncontrolled dive. According to them, Russia has almost completed a report on the causes of the disaster, unequivocally pointing to a terrorist trail: a powerful explosive device with a clockwork was used, which provoked a strong blast wave and fire.

Investigation into the crash of the Russian A321 over the Sinai Peninsula. On October 24, it became known that a commission of inquiry formed by the Egyptian Attorney General's Office sent twelve of the wreckage of the liner to an alloy science laboratory for a detailed study.

After the disaster, flights to Egypt from the Russian Federation and the tourist flow were. Russia announced the need to ensure security at Egyptian airports in order to resume air traffic between the countries. Flights to this country have also been suspended by a number of European airlines. The Egyptian authorities are making great efforts to improve security measures in resort areas and airports, wanting to restore the flow of tourists. In the months that have passed since the tragedy, many foreign expert delegations have visited Cairo, Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh with the security inspection of Egyptian airports.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Until now, the picture of the crash looked too contradictory, which gave rise to a lot of rumors and unconfirmed versions that instantly spread in the media. Officially, at the moment, only the fact that the plane began to fall apart in the air has been confirmed. This was announced by the head of the Federal Air Transport Agency Alexander Neradko. According to him, the wreckage of the aircraft scattered within a radius of 20 km.

All other data about the catastrophe that appeared earlier are now almost completely refuted. The statistics of such refutations of MK was presented by specialists of the International Consultative and Analytical Agency Flight Safety:

The information that the crew reported a problem on board, that they requested a landing in Cairo or at another nearby airfield, was refuted by the Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation, who on the evening of November 1 said that the Russian crew did not give distress signals and did not get in touch.

The information that the plane crashed, and two of its large parts - the fuselage and tail - are on the ground, was refuted by the video.

The information that the tail section was burned is also refuted by photographs and video.

The information that rescuers hear the groans of passengers inside the crashed plane is refuted by the appearance of the wreckage - no one can survive with such destruction.

In the meantime, Sergey Melnichenko, director general of the International Advisory and Analytical Agency Flight Safety, told MK that Egypt has published information that contains a proposal to airlines not to use the airspace over North Sinai until the circumstances of the incident are clarified. So the wave of messages from carriers about the suspension of flights in this area is no longer their own initiative, announced earlier, allegedly in order to reassure passengers.

According to Melnichenko, satellite photographs that have become available on the Internet, showing areas of debris fall, indicate that the dispersion of parts of the aircraft over an area of several kilometers really gives reason to believe that the disintegration of the A321 began in the air. It is possible that the front part of the aircraft, where the transponder and its antenna are located, flew a slightly greater distance than the first parts of the structure that separated from the aircraft - they were found along the route closer than the point where the mark from the transponder disappeared.

“The fact that the front of the aircraft lies in an inverted position,” says Sergey Melnichenko, “is explained by the laws of aerodynamics and the design of the aircraft. While the wings provide lift, the stabilizer located on the tail is responsible for the longitudinal stability of the aircraft. If we assume that the tail part for some reason separated in the air, then the nose of the aircraft will immediately go down, and the part remaining behind the wings up. So it remains to establish the cause of the separation of the tail section, and the main and concomitant causes of the accident will become clear. Hopefully, they will actually be found."

In this regard, the main hopes of all experts to establish the true causes of the disaster are now connected with the decoding of the "black boxes". However, specialists from the Flight Safety Agency believe that “it is possible that the data obtained after decoding the recorders will not be enough to fully restore the picture of what happened. Recall how many hopes were associated with the decoding of the "black boxes" of the downed Malaysian Boeing, but it only confirmed that the plane fell as a result of external influences.