Azerbaijan's Digital Development and Transport Ministry Comments on Crashed Embraer 190 Investigation

The Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan has issued a statement, reports Orda.kz, citing 1news.az.

The crashed Embraer 190 belonged to Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL).

The Ministry confirmed the following:

• The aircraft, operating regular flight J2-8243 from Baku to Grozny, was in fully airworthy condition from the start of the flight
• Both engines were operating without technical issues until the incident
• While in Russian Federation airspace, including over Grozny airport, the aircraft lost GPS signals
• Due to poor weather over Grozny, the aircraft could not make a second landing approach, after which the captain decided to return to Baku
• After this decision was made over Grozny, the CVR recorded two external sounds with a 24-second interval
• Four seconds after the first external sound, the third hydraulic system failed, after six seconds - the first hydraulic system failed, and after 21 seconds - the second hydraulic system failed
• Numerous blind and through damages were found in the fuselage
• The vast majority of damage in the rear fuselage is located on the vertical and horizontal stabilizers, as well as the left wing and left engine
• The fuselage damage was caused by external objects
• The report contains no information about any facts indicating a bird strike
• Foreign objects not belonging to the aircraft were extracted
• Their photographs have been presented to the public
• Additional examinations will be conducted to determine their origin precisely
• At 05:13:32, the central control systems failed; at 05:21:42, the interaction controller reported to Grozny about the "Carpet (Kavyor)" operation
• The report contains no information about an oxygen tank explosion

Original Author: Raushan Korzhumbekova