Lost flight: what is known about the causes of the A321 crash a year later. Airbus A320 family aircraft accidents. Chronology Plane crash a321 topic

On October 31, 2015, a Russian aircraft Airbus A321 of Kogalymavia Airlines (Metrojet), operating flight 9268 Sharm el-Sheikh - St. Petersburg, on Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.

There were 224 people on board the plane, including 217 passengers (58 men, 134 women and 25 children - of which 212 were citizens Russian Federation, four people are citizens of Ukraine, one citizen of Belarus) and seven crew members.

Most of the people on the plane were residents of St. Petersburg. Residents of neighboring regions also returned to Russia - Leningrad region, Novgorod, Pskov, Karelia, several people from other subjects of the Federation. Everyone on board died. The disaster was the largest in the history of Russian and Soviet aviation.

The Airbus-A321 aircraft of the Kogalymavia airline (Metrojet), in which the tour operator Brisco, took off from Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt) to St. Petersburg on October 31 at 06.51 Moscow time and disappeared from the radar screens after 23 minutes. According to the Egyptian Directorate civil aviation, the airliner followed at an altitude of 9.4 kilometers, then sharply decreased by 1.5 kilometers, after which it disappeared from the radar.

There was no word on the fate of the plane for quite some time. The airliner disappeared from radar screens in the Cyprus region, so for half an hour they could not determine the exact location of the possible crash.

For searches Russian plane was military aviation Egypt. The Israel Defense Forces sent a reconnaissance aircraft to Egypt to participate in the search operation.

The wreckage of A321 was discovered in the center of the Sinai Peninsula in the mountains between the areas of Al-Kantala and Al-Laksim near the city of Al-Hasna. To identify the aircraft, Egyptian emergency services were sent to the discovery site, where a large-scale search and rescue operation was carried out.

In agreement with Cairo, a group of forces and assets of the Russian United state system prevention and liquidation of emergency situations (RSChS) in the amount of more than one thousand people and 250 units of equipment, of which from the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia - more than 660 people and 100 units of equipment, as well as psychologists of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia.

Search operations were organized at the site using unmanned aerial vehicles. aircraft and space monitoring data, more than 40 square kilometers of territory were surveyed.

On the day of the plane crash, two A321 flight emergency recorders were found in Cairo - voice and parametric.

In connection with the crash of a Russian plane in Egypt, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared mourning in the country on November 1, 2015. The authorities of St. Petersburg until November 3, and the Leningrad region until November 4.

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation on the fact of the plane crash of a Russian plane in Egypt was first under the article “Violation of flight rules and preparation for them,” then another under the article “Performance of work or provision of services that do not meet safety requirements.” Later they were in the same production.

On instructions from the President, the Russian government in connection with the disaster, headed by Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov. The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) was under the leadership of the executive director of the committee, Viktor Sorochenko.

Cairo immediately after the disaster, all interested countries offered the opportunity to take part in the investigation of the tragedy. A special team was created, which included specialists from five countries: Russia, Egypt, France (the state that developed the aircraft), Germany (the state that manufactured the airliner) and Ireland (the state of registration). Ayman al-Muqaddam was appointed head of the commission to investigate the disaster.

On November 1, 2015, Egyptian Prosecutor General Nabil Ahmed Sadek investigated the causes of the crash of a Russian plane in the Sinai Peninsula. According to the Russian Ambassador in Cairo, Sergei Kirpichenko, Russia and Egypt have an agreement, according to which Russian specialists have access to almost everywhere they want to go as part of the investigation into the A321 crash.

A group of investigators and criminologists from the central office of the Investigative Committee of Russia, in agreement with the competent authorities and together with representatives of the Republic of Egypt, in accordance with the norms of national and international law, participated in the inspection of the scene of the plane crash in Egypt.

The head of the FSB of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bortnikov, during a meeting in the Kremlin on the results of the investigation into the causes of the crash of the Russian plane, said that as a result of an examination of personal belongings, luggage and parts of the plane that crashed in Egypt, traces of foreign-made explosives were identified. It happened like a terrorist attack.

In turn, the Egyptian authorities. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that this criminal case is considering the terrorist attack as one of the versions.

In March 2016, the International Commission of Inquiry into the crash of the Russian A321 aircraft announced that it was from the Investigative Committee of Russia and transferred it to the Egyptian Prosecutor General's Office to complete legal procedures. The commission itself, despite the transfer of the case to the investigative authorities of the country's state security, will continue the technical examination of the wreckage of the airliner.

In mid-April, Egyptian Prosecutor General Nabil Sadek spoke about the crash of a Russian plane to the Supreme Prosecutor's Office state security countries. The decision of the head of the supervisory agency, as noted in the text of the statement, was made on the basis of data from the report of the Investigative Committee of Russia, “which indicates a suspicion of the presence of a criminal trail.”

In June, CIA Director John Brennan, speaking in the US Senate, said that American intelligence implicated the Egyptian group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist movement banned in many countries, in the explosion on the Russian A321 passenger plane. (IS), and on August 4, the Egyptian Ministry of Defense announced the elimination of the leader of this terrorist group.

On August 28, the commission investigating the disaster began “laying out” fragments of the aircraft’s structure in an aircraft hangar in the city of Cairo, where they were delivered from the crash site. after its completion, the point from which the destruction of the airliner’s hull began was determined.

According to media reports, when analyzing the layout of the collected fragments of the A321 in the hangar of Cairo airport, experts said that terrorists placed an explosive device in the tail of the ship, the explosion caused the separation of the tail section and an uncontrolled dive. According to them, Russia has almost completed a report on the causes of the disaster, clearly indicating a terrorist trail: a powerful explosive device with a clock mechanism was used, which provoked a strong blast wave and fire.

The investigation into the crash of the Russian A321 over the Sinai Peninsula. On October 24, it became known that an investigation commission formed by the Egyptian Prosecutor General's Office sent twelve fragments of the airliner to a scientific alloy laboratory for a detailed study.

After the disaster, there were flights to Egypt from the Russian Federation and there was a flow of tourists. Russia stated the need to ensure security at Egyptian airports in order to resume air traffic between the countries. A number of European airlines have also suspended flights to this country. Egyptian authorities are making great efforts to improve security measures in resort places and airports, wanting to restore tourist flow. In the months since the tragedy, many foreign expert delegations have visited Egyptian airport security inspections in Cairo, Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Exactly a year ago, on October 31, 2015, the most massive plane crash in Russia in terms of the number of victims occurred. Then in the north of the Sinai Peninsula an A321 aircraft Russian airline"Kogalymavia". There were 217 passengers on board, including 24 children, and seven crew members. They all died. Russian authorities have recognized the incident as a terrorist attack, but the international investigation has not yet been completed.

On October 31, an A321 aircraft of the Russian airline Kogalymavia was operating a charter flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. The airliner took off at 5:50 am and disappeared from radar 23 minutes later. On the same day, Egyptian government search teams discovered the wreckage of a destroyed plane near the city of Nehel in the northern Sinai Peninsula. All 224 people on board died, including 219 Russians, four citizens of Ukraine and one native of Belarus.

Causes of the A321 crash

The international investigation, led by Egyptian aviation authorities, is not yet over. Representatives of Russia, France, Germany, Ireland and the USA take part in it.

Western media were the first to report that a terrorist attack could have occurred on board the A321, shortly after the plane crash, citing their sources in the intelligence services and officials. From these publications it followed that the US and British authorities considered the version of a terrorist attack to be the most likely. However, Moscow publicly distanced itself from it for a long time, calling the version of the terrorist attack premature and calling to wait for the official results of the investigation. And only on November 6, a decision was made to suspend air traffic with Egypt until the causes of the A321 crash were clarified and to evacuate the Russians there.

Officially, the FSB terrorist attack that occurred over Sinai only two and a half weeks after the disaster, on November 17. According to the department, an improvised explosive device went off during the flight. Vladimir Putin, at a meeting of the Security Council, find the organizers of the crash “anywhere on the planet” and destroy them.

However, even after these statements, the Egyptian authorities continued to insist that the most probable cause The disaster was a technical problem. And only in February 2016, the country's President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi admitted that a terrorist attack had occurred on board the A321.

In September, the Kommersant newspaper, citing sources, reported that an international technical commission had established the exact location of the explosion on the plane. According to the publication, experts determined that terrorists had mined the compartment oversized luggage in the tail of the plane, hiding an explosive device between baby carriages and wicker furniture carried by tourists.

Russia and the CIA believe that the explosion on board was organized by Wilayat Sinai (until 2014 - Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis), a cell of the terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS) banned in Russia. The group claimed responsibility for the downing of A321: On November 18, 2015, the Islamic State's propaganda magazine, Dabiq, published a photo of an improvised explosive device made from a can of Schweppes soda. As stated in the article, this is the device that was activated on board the A321. In August 2016, the Egyptian military reported the murder of Wilayat Sinai leader Abu Duaa al-Ansari, suspected of organizing the terrorist attack.

Scandalous case

Relatives of those killed in the disaster have repeatedly complained about the progress of the investigation and the process of paying compensation. In December, lawyer Igor Trunov, on behalf of 35 relatives, filed a complaint with the Basmanny Court about the inaction of the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin. According to the lawyer, it was expressed in the fact that the Investigative Committee ignored two appeals from relatives. In one of them, they asked to be informed of the number of the criminal case, to be recognized as victims and to be acquainted with the investigation materials. Another complaint concerned Ingosstrakh. The appeal alleged that the company fraudulently obtains from relatives of the deceased statements limiting their right to go to court to obtain compensation. Ingosstrakh itself categorically rejected these accusations. And the claim against Bastrykin was rejected.

Consequences

After the crash of the Kogalymavia plane, Russia suspended air traffic with Egypt, and tour operators were prohibited from working in this direction. They have been waiting all year for the resumption of communications with the country, which for many years was one of the main resort destinations for Russians. According to the latest data, this may happen no earlier than December-January.

To resume flights, the Egyptian side needs to fulfill a number of airport security requirements (their full list has not been officially published). During the year, Russia repeatedly sent its specialists to Egypt for inspections at the airports of Cairo, Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada, but each time there were violations. According to sources from the Al-Watan newspaper quoted by TASS, “a number Russian structures refuses to discuss the issue of resuming flights with Egypt until the results of the official investigation appear.”

With the closure of air traffic, Egypt suffered significant losses. From the collapse of tourism, one of the country’s key industries (more than 11% of GDP until November 2015), Egypt’s budget, according to Reuters, lost more than three billion dollars.

The crash of the Russian airbus and the subsequent cessation of flights to the Arab Republic led to problems for Kogalymavia itself and the associated tour operator Brisco, which was the customer of flight 9268. The case of declaring the carrier bankrupt has been dragging on since the spring of 2015, the next meeting will take place on November 10. In March, Rosaviatsia limited Kogalymavia’s operator’s certificate and deprived it of access to 13 international destinations.

The organizer of the flight, tour operator Brisco, suspended operations on August 2 until it repaid debts to clients and agencies. As reported on the Brisco website, after the closure of flights to Egypt and Turkey, the company suffered “colossal financial and economic losses.”

Until now, the picture of the crash looked too contradictory, which gave rise to a lot of rumors and unconfirmed versions that immediately spread in the media. Officially on this moment All that has been confirmed is that the plane began to fall apart while still in the air. This was announced by the head of the Federal Air Transport Agency Alexander Neradko. According to him, the wreckage of the plane scattered within a radius of 20 km.

All other data about the disaster that appeared earlier have now been almost completely refuted. Statistics of such refutations were presented to MK by specialists from the International Consulting and Analytical Agency “Flight Safety”:

The information that the crew reported a problem on board and requested landing in Cairo or another nearby airfield was denied by the Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation, who on the evening of November 1 said that the Russian crew did not send distress signals and did not make contact.

The information that the plane fell and two of its large parts lay on the ground - the fuselage and the tail - was refuted by video footage.

The information that the tail section was burnt was also refuted by photographs and video footage.

Information that rescuers hear groans from passengers inside crashed plane, is refuted by the appearance of the debris - no one can survive such destruction.

In the meantime, Sergei Melnichenko, general director of the International Consulting and Analytical Agency “Flight Safety”, told MK, Egypt published information containing a proposal to airlines not to use air space over North Sinai until the circumstances of the incident are clarified. So the wave of messages from carriers about the suspension of flights in this zone is no longer their own initiative, announced earlier, supposedly in order to reassure passengers.

Satellite photographs that have become available on the Internet, showing the areas where the debris fell, according to Melnichenko, indicate that the scattering of aircraft parts over an area of several kilometers really gives reason to believe that the disintegration of the A321 began in the air. It is possible that the front part of the aircraft, where the transponder and its antenna are located, flew a slightly greater distance than the first structural parts that separated from the aircraft - they were found along the route closer than the point where the mark from the transponder disappeared.

“The fact that the front part of the aircraft lies in an inverted position,” says Sergei Melnichenko, “is explained by the laws of aerodynamics and the design of the aircraft. While the wings create lift, the stabilizer located on the tail is responsible for the longitudinal stability of the aircraft. If we assume that for some reason the tail part separated in the air, then the nose of the plane will immediately go down, and the part remaining behind the wings will go up. So it remains to establish the cause of the separation of the tail section, and the main and accompanying causes of the accident will become clear. I would like to hope that they will actually be found.”

In this regard, the main hopes of all specialists for establishing the true causes of the disaster are now associated with deciphering the “black boxes”. However, experts from the Flight Safety agency believe that “perhaps the data obtained after decoding the recorders will not be enough to completely restore the picture of what happened. Let us remember how many hopes were pinned on deciphering the “black boxes” of the downed Malaysian Boeing, however, it only confirmed that the plane fell as a result of external influence.”

Airbus A321 flight 9268 of Kogalymavia Airlines (Metrojet brand) crashed and disappeared from radar on the morning of Saturday, October 31. There were 224 people on board the plane - passengers, children, 7 crew members, all of them were Russians. The airliner was operating a “tourist” flight between Sharm El-Sheikh and St. Petersburg.

The latest information about the disaster can also be read on Twitter using the hashtag #KogalymAvia And #7k9268 .

The Egyptian authorities officially confirmed the plane crash and began searching for the wreckage with the army, while the Turkish aviation authorities reported that the airliner had entered their airspace. At the same time, the media previously stated that the airliner continued its flight, but the official press of Cairo states that the plane crash did occur, and the wreckage of the airliner is in Sinai.

The most eloquent illustration is the Flightradar system, which allows you to track any civilian aircraft in the world that have special transponders. According to Flightradar it is seen that the plane "descended at approximately 6,000 feet per minute (110 km/h) before the signal was lost" 23 minutes after takeoff.

The press also reports that the airliner’s crew reported malfunctions; some journalists say that the PIC and co-pilot requested emergency landing- however, this information has not yet been confirmed.

Note that many pilots and aviation experts, speaking about plane crashes, they reminded that an engine failure (without destroying the engine or the plane) does not lead to the crash of airliners - they can glide even with all engines turned off to the nearest airfield (this has also happened in the history of aviation - the media also recall the emergency landing of the Tu-204, and "Gimli glider").

“The plane crashed in a closed military zone. Counter-terrorism operations are being carried out there,” reports VGTRK.

A state of emergency was introduced in northern Sinai in Egypt in connection with the crash of a Russian plane; the Prime Minister of Egypt, rescuers and military personnel went to the crash site.

Reuters reports that "the screams of surviving passengers may be heard at the crash site."

“The CREW OF THE CRASHED RUSSIAN AIRLINER COMPLAINED ABOUT ENGINE PROBLEMS SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK,” news agencies report.

"Egyptian emergency services have begun removing the bodies of those killed in the crash of the Russian A-321 in the Sinai Peninsula," - reports AFP. The disaster site is cordoned off and protected from looters.

"The bodies of five children have been found; the Russian plane that crashed in Sinai has broken into two parts," AFP said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his deepest condolences to the relatives of those killed in the Kogalymavia plane crash, ordering rescuers to be sent to the scene of the tragedy.

“The total flight time of the 48-year-old commander of the plane that crashed in Egypt was 3,682 hours. Of these, Valery Nemov flew 1,100 hours as an aircraft commander,” Lifenews.ru said.

“As it became known, before flying on an A-321 type aircraft, Valery Nemov flew a TU-154. The pilot was retrained at the AmurAir training center located in Turkey,” the press adds, calling the PIC a professional pilot.

It became known that at least one of the passengers on the flight posted a photo of the plane and her husband and daughter before takeoff, writing " we're flying home ".

“According to the Egyptian side, the plane was trying to land at El-Arish airfield,” the Russian Embassy reported.

“As it became known, about a hundred bodies of passengers were pulled out from under the wreckage of a Russian airliner that crashed 100 kilometers from El-Arish in the north of the Sinai Peninsula,” reports Egypt Independet.

"Eyewitnesses say that castaway in Egypt, the plane was burning in the air,” Kommersant FM reported.

The media reported that rescuers found one of the flight recorders - black boxes - at the scene of the tragedy.

President Vladimir Putin declared mourning on November 1 in connection with the crash of a Russian airliner in Egypt.

The bodies of all 17 children were found at the A-321 crash site in Egypt. RIA Novosti reports with reference to a civil aviation representative.

As Gazeta.Ru found out, travel company Brisco, whose clients were flying on the crashed plane, and Kogalymavia airline are owned by the same people.

“Either a fire in the central/tail section, or an engine fire spreading throughout the entire nacelle with subsequent thermal destruction of the wing,” they write on a professional pilot forum.

The local Bedouin tribe Al Tayaha saw a Russian Kogalymavia airliner crash on the Sinai Peninsula. According to the nomads, the Airbus A321 burst into flames in the air, in particular, they saw one of the plane’s engines burning.

"Many died in seats wearing seat belts," Egyptian intelligence official/Reuters

The office of the owner of the Kogalymavia airline on Stoleshnikov Lane in Moscow is being searched. Law enforcement officers are seizing documents and electronic media from the office, media reports.

Egyptian aviation authorities do not rule out that the crash with the Russian airline Kogalymavia in Egypt was due to a terrorist attack, CBS Extra reports. “This version is unlikely, since terrorists in the region do not have appropriate weapons - anti-aircraft missile systems, because the plane was at an altitude of more than 6 thousand meters,” experts say.

“A couple of months ago, rockets were fired at Israeli territory from Sinai. In Syria and Libya, Islamists captured dozens of C125 and C200 complexes. In Yemen, firefights are taking place using Point U, and the Saudis have deployed Patriots along the entire border,” they write on social networks.

"According to Egyptian Air Accident Investigation Committee spokesman Ayman al-Mugadem, the pilot warned ground controllers that there was an emergency on the plane." technical problem“and he needs to land as soon as possible,” Izvestia reports.

Egyptian authorities said no one survived the Russian plane crash, Reuters reported.

Before taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh, the crashed plane underwent the necessary technical checks and no faults were identified, said the head of the Egyptian airport company Adel Mahgoub. “A technical inspection of the aircraft was carried out and its airworthiness was confirmed,” he emphasized.

Why did the Kogalymavia Airlines (Metrojet) flight 7K 9268 Airbus A321-231 r/n EI-ETJ s/n 663 crash? No one knows the answer yet, and the results of the investigation may not appear for several months.

Googled for over an hour. I downloaded all available photographs of this particular aircraft from the Jetphotos.net website. I also found photos from other sources before the crash.

What caught my attention was a slight blackening on the conical part of the tail. These two photographs seem to have been taken on the last day or a few days before the disaster (from another site):

Blackening close-up:

I then looked at all the photos of this aircraft in reverse order back to 2012. There is no blackening in the photograph dated September 2, 2015:

I leafed through it in reverse order. Everything is clean. True, there are not enough photographs. Only September and August 2015. Then it was repainted. The photo from September 26, 2014 has a different coloring and everything is clean.

Everything about this color is clean. There are 8 photos in total. There is only slight darkening. Scrolled to the previous coloring page, last photo dated October 6, 2013, and the black conical part of the fuselage immediately caught my eye:

Close-up:

Photo from September 14, 2013:

Close-up:

A more or less clean fuselage is only in the very first photo dated May 31, 2012:

Then all the photos up to October 6, 2013 got darker and darker. And then repainted.

Now about the nature of the scattering of debris. I don't follow the news much. But I saw these photos on social networks:

Separately lying around the conical part with blackening on top:

The rear of the aircraft with a broken vertical stabilizer, without the conical part:

I wondered if there were blackening on other similar Airbuses. I googled it and looked at photos - other airlines have all their planes white and clean in the tail section, including other similar planes from Kogalymavia.

In addition, this particular plane landed on its fifth point in 2001 and slightly hit its tail during landing. At that time it was still owned by another airline. After that incident, the plane was repaired. But there could be negative consequences...

I started looking for descriptions of aircraft design. At this conical end there is an auxiliary power point(APU), or in English Auxiliary power unit (APU). It is necessary to start the main engines and to provide energy when parked. At the end of the cone is a nozzle. Those. there is electricity and fuel.

It is a small gas turbine engine driven by an electric or hydraulic battery. Generates alternating current necessary to start large engines (fuel pumps, spark for fuel), creates pressure in the hydraulic system, ensures the operation of the pneumatic system. To start the main engines, pneumatic spin-up of the turbine is necessary.

Not used during flight. But if one of the engines fails, it can be used to provide additional energy to various aircraft systems.

This is what the Boeing 737 APU looks like:

From the following videos you can see that the conical part with the APU, the tail, and separately the crash site of the main part of the aircraft, with the imprint of the wings, are scattered separately.

Video from above the crash site of the Kogalymavia plane 7K9268 Airbus A321, Sinai, Egypt 10/31/2015

Airbus A321 crash site shown from the air

Diagram of a similar aircraft A320-200:

Most likely, for some reason, the conical part was torn off first, then the horizontal stabilizer. The elevators are located on the horizontal stabilizer. Perhaps that is why the plane began to descend sharply, and then try to gain altitude again.

Photos of the fallen tail show holes where the horizontal stabilizer was attached. An explosive depressurization of the cabin occurred, and the previously deformed tail was torn off. The plane instantly became uncontrollable. All the electricity went out. I already saw something similar in one of the episodes “One Second Before Disaster.” This can also explain that the connection with the plane was cut off suddenly.

Also in the photos with the fallen tail, the control rudder on the vertical stabilizer is missing.

The separation of the conical part from the APU could have been caused by overheating of the aircraft body in this place. And blackening is only a consequence of overheating. In addition, the plane was constantly repainted.

P.S. Photos of APU on A321: