13 Jan 2020 16:58

IAC finishes decoding flight recorder data from Kazakh plane that crashed in late Dec

MOSCOW. Jan 13 (Interfax) - The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC, the organization that investigates air accidents and incidents in most former Soviet Republics) has decoded the data retrieved from the flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the Bek Air passenger aircraft that crashed while departing the Almaty airport in late December 2019, enabling the committee to determine a primary theory of the accident, the IAC said in a statement on its website on Monday.

"The IAC scientific-technical center has retrieved and decoded the data from the cockpit voice recorder as well as the flight data recorder, which were discovered at the scene of the accident. All information has been turned over to the investigative commission. Preliminary analysis of the information has made it possible to reconstruct a timeline of events and determine a priority theory as to the causes of the accident," the statement said.

In accordance with a decision by the investigative commission, the IAC, together with specialists from the Netherlands, Kazakhstan, and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), has begun mathematically modelling the flight in order to determine the aircraft's actual aerodynamic performance during the takeoff that led to the crash, as well as the external factors that affected it (primarily icing of the aircraft on the ground, as well as others), and also in order to analyze the aircraft's movement parameters and the actions of the crew, the statement said.

In line with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards, i.e. Annex 13 to the Chicago Convention, an authorized representative along with advisors from the Netherlands, the country where the aircraft was designed and manufactured, are involved in the investigation, the statement said.

A copy of the data from the flight data recorder has been shared with a representative of the Netherlands.

The IAC also mentioned the high level of organization of the emergency response work and the professionalism of investigative commission members and Kazakh technical specialists.

The Bek Air Fokker 100, en route from Almaty to Nur-Sultan, lost altitude soon after takeoff and crashed into a residential area, hitting a concrete structure and a two-story building on December 27.

Twelve people, including the plane's captain, were killed, and 67 others were injured in the crash, 49 of whom were hospitalized. There were 93 passengers and five crewmembers on board the plane.

The Kazakh government commission studying the plane crash named icing as the principle line of investigation, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar said on Friday.