On February 11, 2018, at 14:27 Moscow time, the whole of Russia was struck by misfortune - the AN 148 plane, flying from Moscow to the city of Orsk, crashed. The reasons for the crash of the AN 148 plane, based on the latest news, are not exactly known, but experts around the world are working to find out what happened.
Chronology
The tragic event developed as follows.
The plane was supposed to take off at 14:20, but only 21 minutes later it took off from Domodedovo airport. The weather at the airport that day was bad for the flight - heavy sticky snow, the temperature Celsius was -5 degrees. After 7 minutes of flight, AN 148 disappeared from radar. Some time before the connection disappeared, the plane descended 1000 meters, and the last speed mark was 615 km per hour. None of the crew made contact.
A search and rescue team immediately set out to search. The wreckage of AN 148 was located 1 kilometer west of the Stepanovsky village of the Ramensky district, in the Moscow region. The wreckage of the liner was found over an area of thirty hectares. None of those on the plane survived.
The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation immediately opened a criminal case under Article 263 of the Criminal Code, which deals with violation of safety rules and operation of air transport, which resulted in the death of more than two or three people. The Interstate Aviation Committee also began its investigation.
Notification of the disaster was sent to Ukraine, since it was this country that developed this airliner, and also developed and produced engines for it. Ukraine immediately appoints authorized representatives, as well as experts and criminologists, because they will also participate in the investigation and offer their own versions of the disaster.
Versions of the AN 148 plane crash
Many, not only relatives of the victims, want to know about the reasons for the crash of the AN 148 plane. The first assumption was a collision with a Russian Post helicopter. This version was explained by the presence of letters at the crash site. However, this version was not even taken seriously at the Russian Post, because at that time none of the aircraft didn’t fly out, but they don’t have helicopters. Some residents, confused in their testimony, said they allegedly saw an aircraft that crashed not far from their village. However, none of the eyewitnesses could name reliable reasons for the crash.
Some said that the commander of AN 148, Valery Gubanov, contacted the dispatchers about the malfunction of the aircraft and asked for permission to make an emergency landing. This was soon refuted - there was no such appeal in the dispatchers’ records.
Residents immediately felt strong tremors resulting from the crash, as well as a loud explosion. The plane crashed into a corn field, three hundred meters from private houses under construction. Local residents immediately went to the scene of the disaster; it was they who noticed the letters lying on the crash site, which they perceived as a collision with a Russian Post helicopter. However, it was soon established that these were only advertising leaflets and booklets issued to passengers.
There is a version of a terrorist act, but it is not particularly considered, since not even the slightest sign of any explosive was found on the wreckage of AN 148.
The main reasons for the crash of the AN 148 plane were put forward by the Interstate Aviation Committee:
- bad weather;
- poor aircraft control;
- technical malfunction.
Experts found that at the time of the crash, the plane was intact, there was no fire, and the explosion occurred only during the collision of AN 148 with the ground. The plane dived down and fell to the ground almost vertically. This has been officially confirmed. There is also a version, not yet verified by experts, that the airliner’s engines were in working order before the collision with the ground. The plane crash itself was recorded by a camera installed on a private house.
On February 12, voice and parametric recorders were found. They were in a slightly broken state, but the information contained in them was preserved. Some time later, the Interstate Aviation Committee completed work on deciphering the “black boxes” and put forward preliminary reasons for the crash of AN 148.
The real cause of the crash
MAK decrypted the parametric recorder. The reason for the crash of the An 148 plane is now clear - the pilots made a gross error in control, and the reason for this was the unreliability of the aircraft's speed data on the instruments.
Most likely, the full pressure receiver failed due to its icing, which caused the discrepancy in speed indicators. What caused the icing of the receiver?
Full pressure receivers can operate in warm conditions; heating is specially turned on for this purpose. During the flight, for unknown reasons, the heating was turned off.
The voice recorder, according to Kommersant magazine, confirmed the decrypted data from the parametric black box. The pilots of the airliner noticed discrepancies in the data on the speed of AN 148. Knowing that this could cause the plane to crash, they began to solve this problem, but it was difficult to do, so the pilots began to swear. Having recorded a low speed on the sensors, the plane's controllers headed down, but soon they lost control and, almost at a right angle, crashed to the ground.
The RNS publishing house reports that the AN 148 has not been tested against icing. However, there are also doubts about this version. Thus, Andrei Litvinov, a pilot with extensive experience, assures that when icing occurs, the airliner rolls on the wing and cannot take off, which cannot be said about the AN 148 aircraft, which immediately gained altitude. Many blamed the human factor for the disaster - the pilots, having discovered a discrepancy in the indicators, made a number of gross mistakes that led to the crash and death of 65 passengers and 6 workers. Immediately, proposals were made to improve the qualifications of pilots.
However, these are not the only measures that Russian aviation companies took after the disaster.
Reaction to a plane crash
Saratov Airlines, which produced this airliner, presented documents confirming the full serviceability of the AN 148. But nevertheless, the managers made a decision - they removed all AN 148 models from their flights until the investigation of the crash was completed. On February 16, an extraordinary check of the suitability of AN 148 aircraft was carried out. After its positive results were recorded, Saratov Airlines resumed production of the aircraft.
Russian aviation has also taken various measures to ensure safety when using aircraft. For example, simulation flights will be carried out on the AN 148 simulator when unexpected situations arise. Only after these training flights will a full recommendation be given about the aircraft itself and about the operation of alarms in danger conditions in the AN 148 cockpit itself.
It is expected that thanks to this the reasons for the crash of the AN 148 aircraft will become clearer and the number of crashes will significantly decrease.
Search and rescue operations are still ongoing. Emergency Situations Ministry workers found more than 1,600 fragments of the remains of the bodies of the victims at the disaster site, and they are being identified. According to rescuers, complete identification will be possible in a few months. The Emergency Situations Ministry teams were not immediately able to locate the remains of the victims who were severely injured as a result of the large explosion.
In the Moscow and Orenburg regions, February 11 was unanimously recognized as a day of mourning for those killed.
The President of Russia, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, heads of Russian regions, as well as a large staff of high-ranking officials, the Chief Secretary of the Council of Europe, the President of the United States and many other politicians expressed their sincere condolences to the relatives of the victims.
The families of passengers flying on this flight will be provided with financial compensation amounting to two million rubles.
There were 65 people on board the plane, including 3 minors - the youngest was 5, one teenager was 15 and the oldest was 17 years old. The passengers were people from different cities of the country, and there were also citizens of foreign powers - a Swiss and an Azerbaijani. It was immediately established that they all died instantly, from a strong blow to the ground.
According to the latest news, it is clearly clear that the real cause of the crash of the AN 148 aircraft has not yet been identified. However, the guesses of the people and experts make people again worry about terrorist instability in the country.
The top-ranked Boeing 737 crashed in Kazakhstan last August shortly after the European Union banned Itek Air from flying to Europe due to the ship's poor safety. Then 68 people died in the disaster. According to BusinessWeek, there is one fatal crash per 507,500 Boeing 737 flight hours. Meanwhile, the oldest version of the Boeing 737 family is still flown by airlines in poor countries.2. IL-76.
The Il-76 aircraft, which is most often operated by airlines in the countries of the former Soviet Union, ranks second in the ranking of the most dangerous aircraft models, which are operated around the world in quantities of 100 or more. There is one accident per 549,900 flight hours of this aircraft. There are currently 247 Il-76 aircraft in use around the world, produced from 1974 to the present day. One of the largest Il-76 plane crashes occurred in 2003. Then the crashed plane of the Iranian airline Iran Revolutionary Guard took the lives of 275 people.
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The Il-76 aircraft, which is most often operated by airlines in the countries of the former Soviet Union, ranks second in the ranking of the most dangerous aircraft models, which are operated around the world in quantities of 100 or more. There is one accident per 549,900 flight hours of this aircraft. There are currently 247 Il-76 aircraft in use around the world, produced from 1974 to the present day. One of the largest Il-76 plane crashes occurred in 2003. Then the crashed plane of the Iranian airline Iran Revolutionary Guard took the lives of 275 people.
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3. Tu-154.
Title="3. Tu-154.
The most common aircraft in most CIS countries, flying domestic and international routes, is also one of the most dangerous. For every 1,041,000 flight hours of a Tu-154 aircraft, there is one plane crash, writes BusinessWeek. Currently, 336 aircraft of this model are in operation around the world. Since 2002, there have been four plane crashes involving the Tu-154 in Iran. The last disaster occurred on July 15 of this year: a Tu-154 of the Iranian airline Caspian Air, en route from Tehran to Yerevan, crashed. 168 people died.
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4. Airbus A310.
Title="4. Airbus A310.
There is one accident per 1,067,700 Airbus A310 flight hours. Majority major airlines have already stopped operating it, while carriers in poor countries continue to fly the aircraft from European aircraft manufacturer Airbus. Among them is Pakistan International Airlines. On June 30 this year, an A310 airliner belonging to Yemenia Airlines fell into the open sea. 153 people died, only a 12-year-old girl managed to escape.
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5. McDonnell-Douglas DC-9.
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The McDonnell Douglas aircraft, which has not been in production since 1982, is still used by Delta Airlines and many other smaller carriers. Meanwhile, one plane crash occurs every 1,068,700 aircraft flight hours. Last April, a DC-9 belonging to Hewa Bora Airways crashed in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 44 people died.
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6. Tu-134.
The Tu-134 entered the history of Russian civil aviation as the most popular aircraft. Its production ceased in 1986, but the Tu-134 is still widely used by airlines from countries of the former Soviet Union and in the Middle East. There is one accident per 1,087,600 aircraft flight hours. One of the largest Tu-134 crashes occurred in August 2004. Then an airline plane crashed
Title="6. Tu-134.
The Tu-134 entered the history of Russian civil aviation as the most popular aircraft. Its production ceased in 1986, but the Tu-134 is still widely used by airlines from the former Soviet Union and the Middle East. There is one accident per 1,087,600 aircraft flight hours. One of the largest Tu-134 crashes occurred in August 2004. Then an airline plane crashed">!}
7. Boeing 727.
Title="7. Boeing 727.
There is one crash per 2,306,300 Boeing 727 flight hours. The plane has been out of production since 1984, and most major carriers have long since replaced older Boeing 727s with more modern aircraft. However, outside the United States, most charter interpreters continue to operate the Boeing 727. One of the plane's crashes occurred in the African state of Benin on Christmas Day 2003. Then 151 people died.
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8. McDonnell-Douglas MD-80.
Title="8. McDonnell-Douglas MD-80.
The McDonnell-Douglas MD-80 was created to replace the DC-9 in the early 1980s. Their production ceased in 1999, but the airliners are still operated by the American airline Delta, as well as a number of European carriers, including Alitalia and SAS. A total of 923 aircraft of this model are in operation. There are 2,332,300 McDonnell-Douglas MD-80 flight hours per crash. Last August, a plane of this model, owned by the Spanish airline Spanair, crashed on its way to the Canary Islands. 153 people died.
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9. McDonnell-Douglas DC-10.
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The DC-10 is an aircraft whose safety has, on the contrary, improved over the years. With 153 aircraft of this model flying around the world, there is one DC-10 crash for every 2,908,800 flight hours. The aircraft is currently used primarily by cargo and charter operators. However, the last plane crash involving a DC-10 occurred in 1999, when the airliner of the former French carrier AOM crashed in Guatemala. Only one airline uses this aircraft on scheduled flights.
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10. McDonnell-Douglas MD-11.
Title="10. McDonnell-Douglas MD-11.
The MD-11, whose production ended in 2001, disappointed its creator by ultimately demonstrating poor performance in terms of fuel efficiency and other parameters. Meanwhile, 187 airliners are operated worldwide by airlines such as Finnair and KLM. There is one crash per 3,668,800 MD-11 flight hours. The last time a plane of this model crashed was in 1999. Then, a China Airlines MD-11 caught fire while landing in Hong Kong during a typhoon.
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It should be noted that the aircraft occupying 5th and 8th seats are essentially one model, only slightly modernized, the same can be said about the aircraft in 9th and 10th seats. It is also worth noting that among the safest airliners (without human casualties among passengers) ), not included in the rating due to their small number, include the airliners Il-86/96, Tu-204/214, Airbus A380, Embraer 135/140/145/170/175/190/195, Canadair Regional Jet 700-900 , McDonnell Douglas MD-90, Fokker-70 and some others. Meanwhile, according to the Aviation Safety Network website, the most dangerous aircraft in the world currently in operation, according to a coefficient that is calculated based on the number of flights, the number of fatalities and the total number of crashes, is the Boeing 747. Next on the list are the Boeing 737-300/400 /500, Tu-154, Airbus A300, Boeing 757, Airbus A320/319/321, Airbus A310, Boeing 767, Yak-42.
Title="It should be noted that the planes occupying the 5th and 8th places are essentially one model, only slightly modernized, the same can be said about the aircraft in the 9th and 10th places. It is also worth noting that among the safe liners (without human casualties among passengers) that were not included in the rating due to their small number include the liners Il-86/96, Tu-204/214, Airbus A380, Embraer 135/140/145/170/175/190/195 , Canadair Regional Jet 700-900, McDonnell Douglas MD-90, Fokker-70 and some others.Meanwhile, according to the Aviation Safety Network website, the most dangerous aircraft in the world currently in operation, according to a coefficient that is calculated based on the number of flights, number of deaths and the total number of crashes is the Boeing 747. Next on the list are Boeing 737-300/400/500, Tu-154, Airbus A300, Boeing 757, Airbus A320/319/321, Airbus A310, Boeing 767, Yak-42 .
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A tragedy occurred today: a passenger plane " Saratov Airlines"Crashed in the Moscow region. An-148 was flying from the capital to Orsk. 71 people were on board: 65 passengers and 6 crew members. There are no survivors.
The President expressed his condolences to the families of the victims. In connection with this tragedy, Vladimir Putin changed his schedule: his working trip to Sochi was postponed. As the Kremlin press service reported, in order for the president to have the opportunity to directly coordinate the work of a special commission to determine the causes of the tragedy. The commission was created on behalf of the head of state.
These images were taken by eyewitnesses a few minutes after the disaster. The wreckage of the plane is scattered in a snow-covered field; around, at least at first glance, there are no signs of fire or explosion. It was as if he had simply fallen to the ground from a height. At the same time, the picture at the crash site - the wreckage is scattered over a radius of an entire kilometer - allows us to make the assumption that the airliner collapsed while still in the air. And eyewitnesses say that before the fall the plane seemed to be engulfed in flames.
Data on how long the plane remained in the air still vary. At first it was reported that the flight lasted about seven minutes. Later, information was received that it crashed just two minutes after takeoff. One way or another, the crash site is the vicinity of the village of Argunovo in the Ramensky district of the Moscow region - located just over 30 kilometers from Domodedovo airport.
“After a very strong bang, we went to look for the place where this cotton was found. The entire field is roughly the size, I can give it offhand - it’s two football fields"- said an eyewitness.
The Moscow-Orsk flight took off from Domodedovo airport at 14:21. And soon disappeared from the radar screens. Online publications publish the words of an air traffic controller, allegedly the same one who monitored the air situation in the area of the crash - the plane took off as normal, then began to descend, but no longer made contact and did not respond to requests. Even an audio recording of the negotiations has appeared on the Internet, although it is not yet possible to guarantee its authenticity.
One thing is certain: the crew did not report any malfunctions on board, although the breakdown of the aircraft, along with piloting error and unfavorable weather conditions, are now the three main versions of the disaster.
As reported official representative Investigative Committee Svetlana Petrenko, operational documentation from the Saratov Airlines company is being confiscated and its employees are being interrogated. In addition, investigators began interrogating workers at Domodedovo airport who were preparing the aircraft for flight.
So far, too little is known about the last flight of the crashed plane, but experts have already noticed its strange trajectory. According to the Flytradar service, after takeoff from Domodedovo it began to rise to a level of 1800 meters, then dropped to one and a half thousand, then rose again, and after that the plane sharply descended. Because of these contradictory data, at first there was even a version that the An-148 could collide with a helicopter in the air. But later these rumors were denied.
Aviation experts now suggest that the cause could be icing of the airliner - in the event that a piece of ice got into the engine.
“Sometimes, because of the weather, because of icing, something can happen. The plane was poorly treated or fell into sudden, severe icing. The weather here could only play a negative role if there was an engine failure and the crew did not see the site and could not pick up and land,” says Honored Russian Pilot Yuri Sytnik.
The crashed An-148 belonged to Saratov Airlines. Until that day, its fleet had four aircraft of this type. A short-haul aircraft designed to carry 80 passengers. The plane that crashed was produced less than eight years ago. At first it belonged to Rossiya Airlines and flew, among other things, on foreign routes. Later it was sold to Saratov. And the airline assures that they have no doubts about the serviceability of the aircraft or the qualifications of the crew.
“There was an experienced crew on board. The aircraft commander is Valery Ivanovich Gubanov, who has more than 5 thousand flight hours, and on this type Valery Ivanovich had 2147 flight hours,” said Elena Voronova, head of the press service of Saratov Airlines.
“8 years is, of course, not a long time for an airplane. Moreover, Antonovskaya is a reliable company. Our airworthiness standards are the most stringent in the world. Not only for new production aircraft, but for aircraft that are being submitted for testing,” said Honored Test Pilot of the USSR Vitaly Zhiltsov.
Meanwhile, the authorities are already publishing a list of those killed in the disaster. There were 71 people on board the plane - 65 passengers and six crew members. No one had a chance to survive.
The head of the Ministry of Transport of Russia, Maxim Sokolov, said that “in accordance with federal legislation, all relatives of the victims are paid insurance in the amount of more than 2 million rubles, and the necessary additional decisions in this direction will be made through the subject.”
To identify the bodies in the An-148 crash, DNA samples from relatives of the victims will be delivered to Moscow from Orsk by a special plane of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The bodies will be identified at the Moscow Bureau of Expertise.
The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations has opened a hotline. Phone: 8-800-775-17-17.
The hotline also operates in the Orenburg region: 8-3532-308-999.
There are almost 600 rescuers at the crash site of the An-148 passenger plane in the Moscow region. The wreckage is scattered over a large area, the search operation will be carried out around the clock, one of the black boxes has already been found.
“We have formed operational groups that work here and in Orsk, in the Orenburg region. The operational group works in Domodedovo and, where necessary, in the Moscow region. I will ask to provide support for all relatives and friends, taking into account vital signs, to organize the duty of medical teams of social workers and all specialists who are needed for vital reasons,” instructed the head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Vladimir Puchkov.
At the Orsk airport, the relatives of the victims are provided with all the necessary assistance. Airport director Sergei Sukharev said that psychologists and doctors work at the first-aid post.
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' performed a prayer service for those killed in this crash. Condolences were offered to Russian citizens in connection with the crash of the An-148 plane by the Prime Minister of Spain Mariano Rajoy, the foreign ministers of Turkey, France and Belgium and other countries.
In connection with this tragedy, Channel One is changing its broadcast schedule. Immediately after our program, instead of the club game “What? Where? When?" - broadcast from the Olympic Pyeongchang
Every 2-3 seconds someone lands or takes off. Some are happy about this, others are afraid. Is it worth giving in to fear? The answer will be given by statistics: how often planes crash, where it happens and how high the probability of a crash is.
About 100 thousand planes take off into the sky every day, and, oddly enough, the same number successfully land. Aircraft transport about 4.5 billion people annually, which is more than half the world's population. How many of them do you think add up to the statistics of those killed in plane crashes? No more than 1000 per year. The ratio is impressive, isn't it?
Over the entire existence of civil aviation (almost 100 years), less than 150 thousand people have died. This is less than the number of deaths per month in traffic accidents around the world.
How many planes crash per year?
According to Wikipedia, over the past 6 years, there have been 107 fatal plane crashes worldwide, killing 3,245 people. This is approximately 540 victims per year. It is important to clarify that the statistics take into account both commercial airliners and private small aircraft, and the number of victims is indicated taking into account those killed on the ground. That is, if a falling plane rammed a bus with 10 passengers, then they are also included in the statistics. Therefore, the real numbers of passenger plane crashes are much lower.
2010: 14 accidents in which 792 people died. The biggest tragedy was the unsuccessful landing of an Indian low-cost airline on a Boeing 737 (158 victims) and the crash of a Polish TU-154 near Smolensk (96 deaths).
2011 passed without any loud plane crashes. The largest number of victims (77 people) was in the Iranian Boeing 727, which could not be landed due to bad weather conditions. In total, 45 plane crashes were recorded, in which 552 people died. As is clear from the statistics, these were mainly light aircraft with no more than 10 people on board.
year 2012: 23 accidents, 315 dead. The worst case was the crash of a Pakistani Boeing 737, in which everyone on board (127 people) died.
year 2013 was relatively calm: only 5 aircraft accidents, the total number of victims was 128 people. 50 of them died in a Boeing 737 that crashed near Kazan.
year 2014 severely spoiled airline statistics: 15 accidents, with a total number of victims - 980 people. The most significant incident was the downing of a Boeing 777 over Ukraine, with 298 people on board.
2015 claimed 478 lives in just 5 plane crashes. The loudest was the Russian Airbus A321 that crashed over the terrorist attack, killing 224 people.
2016 remembered for the crash of the TU-154 of the Russian Ministry of Defense, in which 100 people died (92 passengers and 8 crew members. In total, over 12 months, air transport caused the death of 389 people.
2017 went down in history as the safest in the entire history of civil aviation. In just 12 months, 67 people died.
In which country do planes crash more often?
If we take into account exclusively passenger air transportation, then there is no clearly defined “Bermuda Triangle” in which planes most often crash. But if you take statistics on everything air transport, then the result will be somewhat unexpected.
Over the same 6 years, the most plane crashes occurred... in Russia - 41, the number of deaths - 559 people. During the same period, there were 11 aircraft accidents in the United States. It's interesting to note that the last one was back in 2013. Next comes Ukraine (7 disasters), Congo (6) and Germany (4, all in 2010).
Overall, the numbers are very encouraging. Having learned how often planes crash according to statistics, we hope you will feel more confident in flight.
