#18 - JRL 8370 - JRL Home
STATE COMMISSION PUBLISHES DETAILS OF AUGUST AIR CRASHES INVESTIGATION

MOSCOW, September 15 (RIA Novosti) - "The crashes of the Tu-154 and Tu-134 aircraft on August 24, 2004 were caused by structural damage of the aircraft in-flight resulted from blasting effect of explosive charges planted in the passenger cabin", said head of the state commission Transport Minister Igor Levitin.

"The parametric record made by the onboard flight recorders of the Tu-154 and the Tu-134 shows identical impact effect on the primary structural members of both aircraft with epicenter inside the fuselage and complete loss of pressure within one second", said the head of the state commission.

"The explosive impact effect occurred along the right board in the 25th row of seats aboard the Tu-154 and 19th row aboard the Tu-134", said Mr. Levitin. According to him, it happened when the Tu-154 was flying at the altitude of 12,100 meters and the Tu-134 at the altitude of 8,100 meters. The explosions "occurred practically simultaneously and unexpectedly for the crew", said the minister.

According to him, following the explosions in 2-3 seconds was failure of kinematic rudder control and separation of the tail section. According to Mr. Levitin, further control of the aircraft under the loss of pressure became impossible.

At the same time, the commission established that the crew had not been assaulted, neither had the plane been hijacked. "The onboard parametric recorders stopped in two or three seconds after the emergency situation occurred due to loss of power in the onboard circuit and failure to switch to backup power supply as a consequence of the aircraft structural damage. Cockpit voice recording onboard the Tu-154 continued for another 2 minutes 13 seconds from backup power supply in the central section of the fuselage. The essence of the record gives evidence of the loss of pressure, but does not produce the facts of assaulting the crew or hijacking the plane", said Mr. Levitin.

The two aircraft, having taken off from Domodedovo airport, practically simultaneously exploded airborne on August 24. The Tu-154 of Sibir airlines was flying from Moscow to Sochi, while the Tu-134 of Volga-aviaexpress airlines was going from Moscow to Volgograd. The air crashes killed 90 persons.