A military plane crashed under control
As it became known “Kommersant”, completed the technical part of the investigation into the crash of the Tu-154B-2 of the defense Ministry crashed in the Black sea 25 Dec 2016 after takeoff from Adler airport. From the conclusions of experts, according to sources, “b”, it follows that the plane does not fall, and went into the water in controlled flight under the control of the commander of the crew of Roman Volkov. The reason for such strange behavior of the pilot are now looking for is already on administrative lines: the defense Ministry studied the medical records of the deceased pilot and the results of passing psychological tests, interviewing instructors who taught the major to fly, and also find out whether there was organized a crew rest before the flight.
Note that the version error crew has become dominant in the investigation in December last year after the interviews a few witnesses the night of the crash, said the experts: a route to Syria Tu-154 cannot fall and dived after take-off, as it landed on the surface of the sea. This maneuver proved fatal for the aircraft and 92 of the on Board person: the car from blow has collapsed into pieces, which immediately sank.
However, to prove the suppositions quickly failed. Aviaexperts had first to convincingly refute all other possible versions of the accident, including the sudden on-Board technical problems, attack aircraft from the sea and undermining from within, getting into the engines of the birds, etc.
However, even after all the necessary studies and examinations in the involvement of the crew to the disaster are believed not all. To convince the skeptics would objective data from the parametric flight data recorder of the Tu-154, however, there arose some problems. The device was found, safely removed from the bottom of the Black sea and was not injured in the accident.
But the tape drive mechanism of the recorder was well worn — it does not provide a constant speed when scrolling through the records, and the coil had a gap that gave grounds to doubt the veracity of settings. In the end, the repair of the recorder and a transcript of the military instructed more experienced civilian experts of the Interstate aviation Committee (IAC).
There’s the flight data recorder is actually repaired, replacing worn parts, received from him the necessary information, and then synchronized the parameters of the flight with pilots talks, which, in turn, was recorded on the voice recorder. The outcome of the work of MAK was the so-called 3D-model of the last flight of the Tu-154 — videoregistratore motion machine in space with superimposed on it the figures that reflect the altitude, speed, operating mode, etc., as well as describing all uttered at the same words and actions of pilots. Insights on these materials has made the experts of the military technical Commission.
According close to the Commission source, “b”, they were, without exaggeration, the shocking. The plane, as shown by the 3D modeling took off in a completely normally. After takeoff, the crew also did not make any of the traditional in such cases of error — the machine is not left on supercritical angles of attack, not losing speed, do not fall into a tailspin and did not fall. About a minute after takeoff Tu-154 reached a height of about 250 m and a speed of 360-370 km/h and immediately after that, on Board the words of the interlocutor of Kommersant, was “to rapidly develop an emergency situation”.
She expressed that managing pilot — crew commander Roman Volkov, who had further to climb — in fact, turned the car in the Seating mode.
The Tu-154, as shown by the simulation, for ten seconds up to the collision with water were dropped in the so-called controlled flight under the control of the pilot.
According to experts, the cause of the tragedy could be disorientation of the pilot in space. Gaining altitude in the dark, over the sea, the pilot did not control the visual position of the machine, because I didn’t see any landmarks, and even the horizon.
Disorient the crew could even the stars, who were both both above and below — in the form of reflections on the water surface.
In these difficult conditions, the pilot flying pilot, according to experts, was supposed to fully trust in the devices, indications which the commander of the wolves, apparently, ignored it, trusting his experience and physiological sensations. So, for example, occurred during the acceleration overload could give the pilot the illusion of a climb — while actually the plane was down.
Now military experts are studying the whole professional biography of the deceased pilot and his first flight training, which may show up any gaps. However, the “write off” the catastrophe only on the possible error of Volkov commander that has a 4 thousand hours of flying time, according to interlocutors “” it would be wrong.
The tragedy must have happened due to the fatal combination of several adverse factors. Including crew fatigue and emotional tension of the pilots who have regular flying to Syria was delayed for a day.
As previously reported by “Kommersant”, the crew had several hours to wait for departure from Moscow, and then another, and down for weather conditions in poorly known Adler airport is scheduled to Mozdok. In the end, the flight of the day turned into night. What was your reaction to all these difficulties, the commander, is unclear — perhaps the delay was provoked by the aggravation of the pilot of some chronic diseases or brought him in a stressful condition, which the pilot was not able to quickly deal. Now, the experts withdrew in hospitals all the documents of Roman Volkov, as well as the results of his psychological tests, which should be examined carefully.
The conduct of the administrative investigation, according to sources, “b”, will help to establish conducive tragic mistake and a military pilot factors, and after summing up its results commanders Roman Volkov, flight instructors, psychologists and doctors may have to share with the deceased the responsibility for the catastrophe.
It is worth noting that in the defense Ministry about its possible crew error reject. In all reports, the Agency repeatedly spoke of experience and impeccable track record of the members of the crashed crew. During the farewell with the commander Volkov commander of aerospace forces of the Russian Federation Viktor Bondarev, in particular, stated that the preparation of major Volkov “met all the requirements that apply our laws to the execution of the flight task”.
Sergei Mashkin