Piloting errors behind Boeing-737 FlyDubai aircraft's crash in Rostov-on-Don, 62 deaths - Interstate Aviation Committee
MOSCOW. Nov 26 (Interfax) - The air crash of the Boeing-737 FlyDubai aircraft in Rostov-on-Don that claimed 62 lives in 2016 was caused by the commander's mistake, according to the Russian Interstate Aviation Committee's (MAK) final report.
"The emergency situation began evolving during the second landing approach attempt, and it is highly likely that this was caused by the inner psychological unpreparedness of the aircraft commander for a landing approach that led to the loss of his leading position on the crew, destroying the flight image and piloting errors, which shortly grew into inadequate actions that led to the loss of the aircraft's control," the MAK report reads.
The crucial moment for that critical situation to grow into a disastrous one is the fact that the commander pushed for a long time (for 12 seconds) and continued to press trimming buttons (the stabilizer control system) in the position of nose diving.
"Meanwhile, the speed of resetting the stabilizer with extended flaps is twice as high as that of resetting it with retracted flaps. This led to a large imbalance in the longitudinal channel, and along with the lingering inadequate situation involving the steering wheel column deviation in the push position, led the aircraft to near-zero and negative-G force with the loss of spatial orientation by the aircraft commander," according to the report.
The situation was due to the pilot incapacitation to steer the aircraft, but the airline's Flight Operations Manual did not describe the actions of the pilot not flying under the circumstances during the flight, according to the MAK.
"The second pilot evaluated the spatial position of the aircraft adequately, in general, suggested correct actions to the aircraft commander and even tried to interfere in the aircraft steering. However, basically correct suggestions of the second pilot on leading the plane out of a dangerous situation did not bring any positive result," the report reads.
The Boeing 737 aircraft's crash has occurred in Rostov-on-Don in the early hours on March 19, 2016. The FlyDubai Boeing 737-800 plane was about to end a regular passenger flight from Dubai to Rostov-on-Don. Following the second abortive landing approach attempt, while climbing the aircraft fell into a spin and hit the airport runway at the high speed and completely collapsed. All of the 62 people, including 55 passengers and seven crewmembers, on board were killed in the crash.
The MAK commission involving experts from the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and France are investigating this case.