Search teams have recovered the flight recorders of the Metrojet Airbus A321 that crashed Oct. 31 in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula shortly after takeoff from Sham el-Sheikh airport, en route to Saint Petersburg, killing 217 passengers and seven crew members. This is the biggest crash in Russia’s and the USSR’s aviation history.
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia, spokesperson Sergey Izvolskiy confirmed to ATW that both the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder have been retrieved, but the deciphering process has not yet started. He said the data recorders are in good condition and will be analyzed in Egypt. Egyptian investigators are waiting for Irish investigation authorities. Metrojet A321 was registered in Ireland, its tail number EI-ETJ.
Izvolskiy also confirmed the aircraft destruction started in the air where the tail unit detached because of the vast debris area, which reached 20 sq km, according to the Russian head of Emergency Control Ministry (EMERCOM) Vladimir Puchkov. EMERCOM had found 12 pieces of fuselage by Nov. 2.
Metrojet representatives said at a Nov. 2 press conference that only external factors could have led to the crash. “None of the system failures could lead to aircraft destruction in the air,” Metrojet deputy CEO Alexander Smirnov added. It is already known that during the last minutes, the aircraft slowed dramatically and dipped down, Smirnov said. The carrier had previously said that all necessary maintenance checks were performed on time. The carrier operates its own line maintenance station.
The aircraft was piloted by Valery Nemov who has 12,000 hours of flight time—3,860 of these hours were spent piloting the A321.
atw
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia, spokesperson Sergey Izvolskiy confirmed to ATW that both the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder have been retrieved, but the deciphering process has not yet started. He said the data recorders are in good condition and will be analyzed in Egypt. Egyptian investigators are waiting for Irish investigation authorities. Metrojet A321 was registered in Ireland, its tail number EI-ETJ.
Izvolskiy also confirmed the aircraft destruction started in the air where the tail unit detached because of the vast debris area, which reached 20 sq km, according to the Russian head of Emergency Control Ministry (EMERCOM) Vladimir Puchkov. EMERCOM had found 12 pieces of fuselage by Nov. 2.
Metrojet representatives said at a Nov. 2 press conference that only external factors could have led to the crash. “None of the system failures could lead to aircraft destruction in the air,” Metrojet deputy CEO Alexander Smirnov added. It is already known that during the last minutes, the aircraft slowed dramatically and dipped down, Smirnov said. The carrier had previously said that all necessary maintenance checks were performed on time. The carrier operates its own line maintenance station.
The aircraft was piloted by Valery Nemov who has 12,000 hours of flight time—3,860 of these hours were spent piloting the A321.
atw