An Azerbaijan Airlines crew diverted their Embraer E190 after a seemingly erratic flight, crashing short of the runway, with many fatalities.
This accident happened on Wednesday, the 25th of December. It involved Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243, a seasonal service that the airline currently performs twice weekly. It departs from Baku Heydar Aliyev International Airport (UBBB) in Azerbaijan, and its destination is Grozny Airport (URMG) in Russia.
According to Azerbaijan Airlines, there were 5 crew and 62 passengers on board the Embraer E190 on the day of this accident. The flight left Baku on time, using runway 34, heading northwest for Grozny.
The Azerbaijan Airlines E190 appears to have flown uneventfully for about half an hour after departing, reaching FL300 in cruise. At this point, with the aircraft just west of the Caspian Sea, flight tracking sites like FlightRadar24 reported losing reliable ADS-B information from the flight.
Azerbaijan Airlines E190 Disappears?
FR24 suggested that the aircraft may have been subject to GPS jamming and spoofing, with some signals suddenly placing it over 200 km (120 miles) west of its previous location. The aircraft’s signals then disappeared completely for approximately 87 minutes.
When the signals reappeared, the Azerbaijan Airlines E190 was over the Caspian Sea, over 200 km east-northeast of its previous reliable ADS-B position, and flying erratically. However, the accuracy of the altitude and speed information of the flight are still uncertain.
At this point, the flight had reportedly diverted to Aqtau International Airport (UATE) in Kazakhstan, possibly due to weather. The crew of the Azerbaijan Airlines E190 had declared an emergency, and soon appeared to attempt an approach on runway 11 in Aktau.
After making several turns at a seemingly low altitude (subject to GPS accuracy confirmation) near the airport, the Azerbaijan Airlines E190 crashed approximately 3 km (1.6 nm) from the runway.
The aircraft rolled inverted and broke up during the crash, bursting into flames. However, rescue crews have so far reported that 32 people have survived. The extent of their injuries is so far unclear. Azerbaijan Airlines has published a list with the names of the passengers and crew onboard the E190.
This aircraft is eleven years old, has registration 4K-AZ65 and has been with the airline since new. Its name is “Gusar W”. The airline has another seven Embraer E190s.
Sources: Aviation Herald, Reuters
This is a developing story. We will post updates below when new information becomes available.
Update
Video from the crash site and the aircraft’s interior show what appears to be shrapnel damage. Various news sources suggest that the damage is consistent with a missile strike. However, the nature of the damage or the timing of such an event still remains unclear.
Authorities in Kazakhstan reported that of the 32 survivors of the Azerbaijan Airlines E190 flight, 11 suffered serious injuries but remain stable. 18 others suffered lighter injuries, and four survivors didn’t require hospital care. All three cabin crew survived the crash. Both pilots were lost.
Investigators from both Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are on site. Embraer has offered its condolences and is cooperating with investigators.
The airline announced that it is temporarily stopping flights to Grozny. And on Friday the 27th, Azerbaijan Airlines stated that the crew of its E190 faced “external physical and technical interference”.
It appears that the Azerbaijan Airlines E190 made several approaches to land at its intended destination because of adverse weather conditions, including dense fog. Then, passengers on board reported hearing at least one loud bang, after which the way the aircraft moved changed.
A later report from Reuters quoted four sources stating that a Russian air-defense system is responsible for downing the aircraft. Russia’s aviation authority didn’t comment on this report. However, Russia’s aviation regulator confirmed that the Azerbaijan Airlines E190 was approaching Grozny when a drone alert was in effect.
Brazil’s CENIPA will decode the flight data and cockpit voice recorders for the investigators.
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18 comments
Jan Visser
Given the interruped tracking data, Ukrainian drone strikes and multiple video’s of (pantsir-s) anti aircraft missile systems active in the area it looks likely the tail section of the plane was hit by shrapnel of a small anti-air missile explosion in the vicinity. Like MH17 but smaller. There are a bunch of photo’s of the wreckage with a lot of small holes in the tail and aft section of the plane. The crew reported flight control issues and cabin pressure issues on the radio. The Russians denied them landing clearance on any Russian airport even after declaring emergency, and the pilots fought that plane over the caspian sea. There are some investigative pieces with a detailed timeline, tracking and altitude data and the radio communication in our national media already. What a tragedy, feels like MH17 all over again.
Liudmila Zvereva
Why are the admins not deleting the russophobic coments?
Dave Esher
It may be that people from Russia are not happy about critical comments about their country and its leadership. The fact is that this country and this leadership are causing immeasurable suffering to millions of people. Most notably the victims of this disaster. You have to put up with critical words, that is the least you can do.
Ivo Janáček
Maybe it’s because in the civilized world we don’t have a problem with someone writing the truth. However, this is not the case in RuSSia, and people often face the death penalty for telling the truth. Unfortunately, we need to accept that decent people don’t like terrorists, terrorist states, people who kill other people, including women and children. Simply put, RuSSia, led by agent Putin, is one big evil for the civilized world, which it exports to the world.
Alina F
The fact that the evidence suggests it is russian air-defence missile strike doesn’t make comments russophobic.. the fact that russia strikes civilian airplanes not for the first time is appalling. Shame…
Liudmila Zvereva
I have no doubts about the missile strike theory but what I hate is people using dumb words like “russians shot down the plane” or even worse, “ruzzia”, which intentionally or not dehumanize a whole ethnic group
ukrainan
because we’re aware of how “oppressed” by bloody putin that “ethnic group” is, how “strong” that “ethnic group” “stands against mass killing of innocent people throughout the world”. Regardless on gigabytes of bulshit about heroic democratic kind russians poured through western medias, books, TV and tiktok. russians and putin are the parts of the whole.
Понятно вьіражаюсь?
Jim Kunkel
Perhaps it is because of Russia’s habit of 1) spoofing GPS and 2) shooting down civilian airliners.
Liudmila Zvereva
does that justify the usage of words like “ruzzia”?
Philipp Debus
In the video circulating online, it is clearly visible that the pilots were experiencing flight control issues and the wreckage shows shrapnel damage. I firmly disbelieve it was a bird strike, as Russian media reports.
Alina F
Prominent russian pilot said in one of the interviews that it was a usual practice in russia/soviet union to blame bird strike if they needed to hide the real cause of the plane crash. It looks like they used this excuse this time as well.
Alina F
Viktor Zabolotsky is his name
Tomas Devosa
You are correct.
There are clear videos from INSINDE of the plane which show cabin was pierced thru with shrapnels.
This plane was shot down by russians.
ryhans
What’s the basis for your assertion that this plane was shot down by “russians?”
The investigation has barely begun, much less the culprits being identified.
Perhaps it was hit by a missile, but even if so we as yet have no idea whether it was deliberate and if so, who was responsible.
Sounds like you have your own axe to grind against russians but there is no evidence to yet to backup your theory. And it sounds highly improbable given the flight was headed to Grozny which is in Russia.
Агзам Юлдашев
ruzzia knows best how to shoot down civilian planes, so yes, it’s 100% them. More than that, they are denying landing at the nearest airfields and sending them to Kazakhstan in the hope that the plane will crash into the sea and thus hide the obvious evidence
Eugene Zaytsev
And flew 500 kilometers from Grozny to Aqtau after a hit from something like a Buk AA? Sorry, but we’ve seen how a downed plane looks and falls in the MH17 disaster.
Alexey Afanasyev
It might be Panzer-C1 missile. It might almost miss for some reason (for example the plane was on the edge of work distance)…
Liam Holloway
Thing with MH17 , it got hit in the front and broke apart midair , this one if it was a missile. Was hit towards the tail causing control issues. Aircraft have been hit before by missiles and carried on flying. Investigation will reveal all.
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