Combination of human factors, mechanical failure may have caused Tu-154 crash near Sochi
The crash of the Russian Defense Ministry's Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft near Sochi on Sunday may have been provoked by a combination of human factors and mechanical failure, a source from the headquarters dealing with the search operation at the crash scene told Interfax on Wednesday.
"Preliminarily, the data retrieved from the flight data recorder indicates incorrect operation of the flap drive mechanism during the aircrafts ascent. At the same time, there are grounds to presume that the crew may have not properly assessed the situation and made mistakes in their decisions in a critical situation, which could have potentially provoked the disaster," the source said.
The analysis of the flight recorders recovered from the sea is ongoing, the source said. "The first official results of the black boxes' analysis could be made public within the next 24 hours," he said.
The Tu-154 belonging to the Russian Defense Ministry disappeared from radar screens several minutes after taking off from the Sochi airport en route to Syria on Sunday morning. There were 92 people aboard the plane, including service members, journalists, the Alexandrov Song and Dance Ensemble, and head of the Fair Aid Foundation Yelizaveta Glinka.
It turned out shortly afterwards that the airliner had crashed into the Black Sea near Sochi.