Report indicates the Boeing-737 with Registration#VQ-BBN that had its first fight on June 18, 1990 was in perfect technical condition and had a full checking in 2012. However, Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee, that is doing the investigation of this crash on the direction of President Putin, says that apparently the plane lost much of its speed, stalled in the air and did a nosedive, as seen on video footage taken by security cameras on the ground.
The Boeing-737 flight number 363 of Tatarstan Airlines that crashed at Kazan Airport in Russia lost its speed before taking a second circle before landing, resulting in nosedive crash, claims a preliminary report released by the Civil Aviation authorities of Russia, reports Oleksandra Senyshyn for Dispatch News desk (DND).
It has been estimated that after reducing speed to 230 kilometers an hour, the crew began transiting the plane into a dive “which led to the termination of the climb, the start of landing, and the growth of the indicated speed,” the committee said.
“The Boeing 737 that crashed in Kazan, killing all 50 onboard, went into a nosedive after losing speed at low altitude,” Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee said, citing preliminary data from one of the plane’s parametric flight recorders discovered at the crash site.
According to investigators, the plane crashed at a speed of more than 450 kilometers an hour, about 20 seconds after pilots reported going on the second circle, known by the technical abbreviation TOGA (Take Off/Go Around).
“While landing, the crew failed to follow the standard set. Considering the status as not landing, the crew began to drift to the second circle in the mode of Toga (Take Off/Go Around),” the Interstate Aviation Committee said in a statement.
Authorities of Kazan airport that had seen crash were of the view that “not everything went smoothly” for the pilot. There were technical difficulties minutes before the crash, just before the second landing attempt, they claim.
Authorities maintained that findings/results are preliminary and would not comment on the nature of the problems. The probe is complicated by the absence of the recording capsule from the voice flight recorder, which apparently was destroyed when the powerful impact and explosion damaged the device. There is hope that the tape may be found among the fragments of the aircraft scattered across the airfield, rather than being obliterated.
Meanwhile the head of the airline admitted that the pilot may have lacked experience. When asked whether that captain had previously performed a go-around maneuver, Aksan Giniyatullin, head of Tatarstan airlines, replied “No, I believe not.”
The Tatarstan Airlines Boeing 737 crashed Sunday evening as it was trying to land in Kazan, the capital of Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan, after a 500-mile flight from Moscow. There were 44 passengers and 6 crew members on board.
Among the victims were Irek Minnikhanov, son of Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov. It was a domestic flight, and the Boeing 737 flew from Moskva-Domodedovo Airport at 1820 local time while its Destination airport was Kazan Airport, Russia. This accident is being considered as the 3rd worst accident of a Boeing 737 among 7 total accidents.
