Russian Aircraft Down.-- Red Army Choir Onboard

[Kip Powick]

Christmas Tragedy

CNN

[Guest]

Russian plane crash: First 'black box' brought to Moscow

The flight data recorder of the Russian military airliner which crashed in the Black Sea on Sunday has been recovered and brought to Moscow.

The Tu-154 jet came down with the loss of all 92 passengers and crew. At least 12 bodies have been recovered so far.

It was carrying artistes due to give a concert for Russian troops in Syria, and journalists and military personnel.

The cause of the disaster is still being investigated but there is no suggestion of a terror attack.

During the night, salvage teams recovered parts of the fuselage and the defence ministry now says the plane's chassis and one of its engines have been located underwater.

It disappeared from radar two minutes after taking off from Sochi's Adler airport at 05:25 (02:25 GMT) on Sunday, heading for Latakia in Syria.

Coming from Moscow, the plane had landed in Sochi for refuelling.

It was carrying 64 members of the famed Alexandrov military music ensemble, as well as one of Russia's best-known humanitarian figures, Yelizaveta Glinka, known as Dr Liza, executive director of the Fair Aid charity.

The Alexandrov Ensemble had been scheduled to perform a New Year's concert at Russia's Hmeimim air base near Latakia.

Russia has been carrying out air strikes in support of Syrian government forces who are battling rebels opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

 

The flight data recorder was found by a Seaeye Falcon underwater remotely operated vehicle at a depth of 17m (56ft), 1,600m from the shore, the Russian defence ministry told Russia's Ria-Novosti news agency.

A military spokesman said the recorder was in a "satisfactory condition".

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu described the crash as a "horrible tragedy" and said everything was being done to establish the cause.

It is believed that the location of a second black box has also been established and it could be recovered shortly.

Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov reiterated that investigators were looking into whether pilot error or a technical fault might have brought down the aircraft.

A source close to the investigation told Interfax the plane may have been overloaded.

 

"Witness accounts and other objective data obtained during the investigation suggest the plane was unable to gain height and for some reason - possibly overloading or a technical fault - crashed into the sea," the unnamed source said.

According to an Aviation Safety Net report, the plane made a U-turn back towards the coastline shortly after take-off, before disappearing off the radar.

But an audio recording played on Russian media and said to be of the final conversation between air traffic controllers and the plane reveals no sign of any difficulties.

Voices remain calm until the plane disappears and the controllers try in vain to re-establish contact.

◾Not used in Russia's civil aviation since 2009, but is still used by the military. Only about 50 in service worldwide

Russia observed a day of mourning on Monday for the victims.

One woman who came to the headquarters of the Alexandrov Ensemble to pay her respects told Reuters news agency: "This is Russia's best choir.

"I come from the Republic of Sakha [Yakutia]. They had performed in my home town six times... I do not know what to say. Words cannot express my feelings. Sorrow is the only thing left."

Mourners in Moscow have also been laying flowers outside the headquarters of Fair Aid in memory of Dr Liza, who had been on the plane to deliver medication to a university hospital in Latakia.

In the Russian capital, she is mostly remembered for feeding, clothing and providing medical care to the homeless people who sleep in train stations

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38441903

[mo32a]

I heard one report saying the aircraft may have received contaminated fuel at Sochi, but if that were the case anyone else that refueled would have presumably had the same problem.

[Guest]

Russia plane crash: Flight recorder 'reveals faulty wing flaps to blame'

• 2 hours ago
• From the section Europe

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38449058

Investigators examine one of the aircraft's 'black box' flight recorders

The main flight recorder from the Russian jet that crashed into the Black Sea on Sunday has revealed that faulty flaps were to blame, Russian media say.

The flaps, panels on the wings that help lift an aircraft, were not moving together, a source close to the probe told the private Interfax news agency.

The pro-Kremlin Life news website says this led the pilots to lose control as the plane was at a "critical angle".

It also quoted the crew's last words, including: "The flaps, hell... !"

The ageing Tu-154 airliner came down off the Russian coast with the loss of all 92 passengers and crew.

On board were 64 members of the famed Alexandrov military music ensemble, as well as one of Russia's best-known humanitarian figures, Yelizaveta Glinka.

Image copyright EPA Image caption Flowers have been laid outside the Alexandrov Ensemble building in Moscow

The plane was heading to Russia's air force base in Syria where the choir was due to perform at a New Year's concert.

• The victims of the Russian jet crash
• What we know
• How a plane crash is investigated
• Air disasters timeline

The latest findings allegedly come from a cockpit conversation stored on the flight's main "black box" data recorder, which was found underwater about a mile from the shore on Tuesday.

An earlier audio recording, played on Russian media, said to be of the final conversation between air traffic controllers and the plane's crew, revealed no sign of difficulties.

But Life, a new site which is close to the Russian security agencies, issued a transcript of the cockpit recording taken from the "black box", indicating the two pilots were taken by surprise.

---

Pilots' last words:

• "Speed 300 (inaudible)."
• "(Inaudible)."
• "I've pulled in the landing gear, commander."
• "(Inaudible)."
• "Oh bloody hell!"

Piercing alarm sounds

• "The flaps, hell, what a…!"
• "The altimeter [altitude meter]!"
• "We're in… (inaudible)."

Alarm sounds about dangerous proximity to the ground

• "(Inaudible)."
• "Commander we're falling!"

---

The plane crashed soon after take-off from an airport near the city of Sochi, where it had landed for refuelling.

It disappeared from radar two minutes after taking off from Adler airport at 05:23 (02:23 GMT) on Sunday.

A second flight recorder has been found in a good condition and was raised from the seabed on Wednesday, the defence ministry said.

 

[Boney]

From the Pilots last words above, my first impression was the flaps were not set for takeoff. 

 

[Kip Powick]

17 minutes ago, Boney said:

From the Pilots last words above, my first impression was the flaps were not set for takeoff. 

 

Well they got airborne and if they were flapless I think one of them would have noticed during a longer takeoff roll and the normal  ops after T/O is "Gear Up" and then "Flaps Up" at  specific speeds. (don't know if there is an alarm sound in that aircraft if flaps are not set for T/O).

My WAG is that perhaps the flap(s) blew up prior to flap retraction speed or perhaps a "split" flap when they were requested to be retracted

 

My reasoning is the speed is called at 300km/hr ((162kts)) (may be the  normal gear retraction speed after getting a positive rate of climb in a shallow climb)

 

...

• "Speed 300" (inaudible).is the inaudible the PF saying "Roger" ????
• "(Inaudible)." "( is the inaudible the PF saying "Gear Up" ?????
• "I've pulled in the landing gear, commander."
• "(Inaudible)."Is the inaudible the PF asking for "Flaps Up"?????
• "Oh bloody hell!" (could be that the PF notices aircraft is rolling with a split flap condition)

Piercing alarm sounds

• "The flaps, hell, what a…!"
• "The altimeter [altitude meter]!"
• "We're in… (inaudible)."

Alarm sounds about dangerous proximity to the ground

• "(Inaudible)."
• "Commander we're falling!"

.

 

[DEFCON]

"The flaps, panels on the wings that help lift an aircraft, were not moving together, a source close to the probe told the private Interfax news agency."