A genetic examination of the bodies of those killed in the Tu-154 plane crash near Sochi will be carried out by forensic experts from the Russian Ministry of Defense. This was announced by the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Major General Igor Konashenkov.

“A decision was made to deliver all those killed in the Tu-154 plane crash of the Russian Ministry of Defense to Moscow for identification and genetic examination by specialists of the 111th Main State Center for Forensic and Criminalistic Expertise of the Russian Ministry of Defense,” Konashenkov said at a briefing.

On the morning of December 25, information appeared that a Tu-154 Russian Ministry of Defense aircraft flying from Sochi to the Khmeimim airbase disappeared from radar.

Something extreme happened in Tu-154 before the crash, expert

The fall of the Tu-154 into the Black Sea immediately after takeoff from Adler airport could have been preceded by an extreme situation on board, which did not allow the crew to transmit a distress signal to the ground, says former shift manager of the main center of the unified air traffic management system of Russia Vitaly Andreev.

“After take-off and a short flight - two minutes - the plane lost contact and did not transmit a signal to the ground about any problems, this may indicate that there was an emergency situation on board - either an external influence on the aircraft, or an encounter with an obstacle, which was unlikely to be there,” says Andreev, who worked in aviation for 47 years.

He adds that “The Tu-154 is a very reliable car, and miracles don’t happen, they don’t just fall.”

“In my practice, there have been cases when Tu-154s landed when all three engines failed, or, for example, the famous landing in the taiga on an abandoned runway,” the expert adds.

“Those versions of problems on board that are now being voiced - unbalance of the rudders, deviation from the established flight path - absolutely could not prevent the crew from transmitting a signal about this to the ground,” added Andreev.

“This means that something extreme happened, from practice - such situations are possible when a ship is hijacked,” he added.

The expert clarified that the data from the self-written intercom (SPU) “will be able to explain with an accuracy of 99.99% what was happening in the cockpit at the time of the disaster.”

A Tu-154 aircraft of the Russian Ministry of Defense, which was heading to Syria, crashed in the Black Sea on Sunday morning.

According to the military department, there were 92 people on board - eight crew members and 84 passengers, including eight military personnel, 64 artists from the Alexandrov ensemble, nine representatives of Russian television channels, the head of the Fair Aid charity foundation Elizaveta Glinka, known as Doctor Lisa, two federal government employees.

The possibility of a terrorist attack on the Tu-154 plane has been practically ruled out - source

The large spread of debris from the Tu-154 that crashed near Sochi is explained by water hammer, a source in the emergency services told Interfax.

“Apparently, when the aircraft collided with the water surface, a water hammer occurred, which resulted in a large scattering of debris,” the source said.

In turn, a source in the security forces told Interfax that a terrorist attack is not considered among the main versions of the disaster and such a version is practically excluded.

“The plane took off from the Chkalovsky airfield, which is a well-guarded military facility. It is not possible to penetrate there in order to plant an explosive device on board. In turn, the airport in Sochi is a dual-use airport and is heavily guarded. The entry of unauthorized persons or the carrying of unauthorized items by any employee is excluded,” the source said.

Konashenkov: 27 ships and vessels, 37 divers, 4 helicopters, UAVs and remote-controlled deep-sea vehicles are involved in the search for the plane

Briefing by the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense Igor Konashenkov on the situation with the crash of the TU-154 plane in the Sochi area as of 15:00:

“According to updated data, 10 bodies of the dead have now been lifted aboard the rescue vessel.

The search and rescue force continues to build up in the area where the Ministry of Defense Tu-154 plane crashed.

A search area with an area of ​​10.5 km2 has been formed.

The area is divided into sectors and distributed among the forces involved. The search is organized around the clock. Floodlight installations and special equipment were sent to illuminate the coastline in the dark.

The search involves 27 ships and vessels, 37 divers, 4 helicopters, UAVs and remote-controlled deep-sea vehicles.

In the near future, more than 100 deep-sea divers with special equipment will be delivered to the area of ​​the plane crash from other fleets.

In total, more than 3 thousand people take part in search and rescue activities.

At the Adler airfield, teams providing medical and psychological assistance are on duty, and vehicles have been allocated to transport relatives to places of temporary accommodation at the city’s sanatorium and resort institutions.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Tu-154 crash would be thoroughly investigated.

“A thorough investigation into the causes of the disaster will be carried out and everything will be done to provide support to the families of the victims,” he said during an emergency press conference.

About the likelihood of a terrorist attack

On the topic of the likelihood of a terrorist attack.

Air Force Major, pilot instructor Sergei Krasnoperov:

— What could have caused the disaster of this liner, in your opinion?

- Only the “black box” that will be lifted from this liner will tell about this. But, as you say, the versions - pilot error and equipment failure - are the real reasons, as always happens in such cases. But it is too suspicious that the plane, after taking off while climbing, literally a few tens of minutes, disappears from the radar screens.

- Now they have clarified that this happened in the seventh minute, while gaining altitude or during a turn, apparently over the Black Sea.

“This means that the engines were working properly, the fuel was normal. If this happened on takeoff, fuel could be the cause. The situation may be similar to the tragedy in Sharm el-Sheikh; there, too, very little time passed after takeoff.

— Do you mean the version of the terrorist attack?

- Certainly. What is very strange is that a plane crashes on takeoff very rarely, especially of this class. The Tu-154 has three engines and is very reliable. I myself flew on them as a passenger very often.

— Why don’t you look into the plane’s malfunction? After all, the Tu-154 is far from a new aircraft.

- Yes, but they are very reliable. I can look at the design of the aircraft from the point of view of the pilot, and believe me, what is connected with the control of the aircraft, there is such a reliable control system, not like electronics now, but there are cable backup systems, including aircraft control systems, that is, if one system fails , another one enters. Considering the experience of the pilots who now fly these planes, this situation is still very strange to me, that it was only the seventh minute after takeoff. I understand that the plane took off from our airfield, and it was monitored by an electronic surveillance system, so it could not have been that someone was flying up to it, it could have crashed into something.

“Initially it was reported that the signal from the radar screens simply disappeared, but the plane did not send any distress signals.

“This suggests that the plane, as in Sharm el-Sheikh, instantly lost speed and simply fell into a spin position, that is, uncontrollable. In this case, the pilot simply, with such an overload, which happens in this case, not only could not report to the dispatcher, but was also unable to turn on the distress signal. Just imagine, the liner just starts to spin violently. Therefore, I think the plane was destroyed, as it happened in Sharm el-Sheikh, where its speed was first 780 km/h and then suddenly became 170 km/h, and a loss of altitude of 1000 m. Now we need to look at the radars, exactly how the speed dropped. That is, the plane could glide and land on the water. Recently there was an incident with a Tu-154, when 37 people were saved. The pilots were then able to land the plane on an unfamiliar field in a strong wind, in a heavy snowstorm, and they saved almost all the people.
In this situation, there were simple weather conditions; if something had happened to the plane, to the engine, it would have simply turned around and started gliding towards the airfield and landed in the coastal zone. Even if the plane would have collapsed, the pilots, the crew, and the passengers would have been alive, you know? And then there is a sharp drop, this happens when something abnormal happens, something explodes, something falls off. As a rule, the tail of these planes can only fall off. And in all other cases, the pilot could easily transmit information and turn on the distress signal, but this did not happen. This means that something was abnormal and abrupt in the seventh minute of the flight. So, I can’t blame the crew, and the equipment doesn’t break down so suddenly.

— The scattering of fragments at such a speed, and its speed in the build-up is about 600-700 km/h, already there it goes over, at such a distance it may well be. But if the plane had fallen intact, then there would not have been such scattering of fragments, believe me. The plane fell apart, simply fell apart, which means it exploded, which means that somewhere someone was given a suitcase, considering that it was a flight to Syria, and musicians from the ensemble were flying, they could have brought something with these musical instruments, someone... I could have planted it. Believe me, such scattering of fragments only happens when an airplane is destroyed in the air. It just explodes, that's all. And when the liner just falls, it creates an oil stain, and then parts float up. A plane, if it falls, dives into the water, simply disappears, and is found after some time. And then they even found a person who was already in the coastal zone, damaged by debris. This suggests that the debris fell to the ground in a disorderly manner, which means it exploded in the air.

President of the Alpha Veterans Association Sergei Goncharov.

“With a high degree of probability, I can say that this is not a terrorist attack, for several reasons,” says Sergei Goncharov, president of the association of veterans of the Alpha anti-terror unit. - First. This is an aircraft that is serviced by the Ministry of Defense, and, believe me, the discipline in the Ministry of Defense is still quite serious, and the people who service these flights, they are proven people, naturally have all forms of clearance in order to do this work.
Second. There were people flying on this plane, our comrades, who practically all knew each other, and, as I understand it, no one put strangers on this plane. And the luggage that was there, naturally, was checked by precisely those people who were flying on this plane.
Third. The plane, as I understand it, was not in the air for so long, the sea waters provide opportunities, if it had been an explosion or some kind of flash, then, probably, there would have been eyewitnesses who could have seen it or, at least, could have recorded it . And one last thing. The wreckage of the plane has already been discovered, which means that they did not fly as far apart from each other as happens in some...
- One and a half kilometers for the sea, this distance, as you understand, is absolutely small. All this gives me reason to say that we must lean, as I understand it, towards the versions of either a pilot error, or the refueling that took place that did not meet some criteria. In any case, we must express our condolences to all those who died. Unfortunately, this tragedy has darkened our pre-holiday days. But in any case, I believe that now the Ministry of Defense will carefully look into it and dot the i’s. The only thing that confuses me is why the crew could not give any information to the dispatchers. This is a fact that I cannot answer yet, I think the investigation will answer.

Sergei Alekseevich, there were probably similar events in tragic world practice. And why did the crew, if we try to understand now using parallel analogies, couldn’t do the very first thing that every pilot probably does if he understands that the situation is beyond the normal standard - send a distress signal? Using examples of other situations, can you explain how events could have developed, why this could have happened?

- If we are talking about a terrorist act, then when there is an explosion on board the plane or in the luggage compartment, the communication system immediately disappears, and purely technically, the ship’s commander cannot give the dispatcher any information. Apparently, if some kind of technical short circuit occurred here, some technical problem that did not allow the crew to contact the dispatchers (I repeat once again, this is a problem that will be dealt with after the debris is raised)... If only this there was a terrorist attack, at the moment, in any case, there would be indirect evidence of what happened on the plane, in particular, a flash, an explosion, or at least we would have some new, albeit subjective or indirect, hints about that that the plane was blown up or crashed in the air due to an explosion.

From official sources:

“Preliminarily, during the climb, the crew encountered a critical technical malfunction, which led to a disaster,” said an Interfax source in the emergency services.
As a Pravda.ru source at the operational headquarters stated, “so far, according to preliminary data, the situation is as follows. The pilot and crew, and in the case of the Tu-154 it is larger, were professional, they had no flight accidents - everyone is almost sure that this was not a human factor. A professional captain and navigator participated in the landing of the tumbling Tu-154.
This is also not a terrorist attack, with a probability close to one - the plane is maintained and controlled in a special zone, control at Sochi airport has been tight since the time of the Olympics. The weather conditions, let's say, are not the best, yesterday Simferopol was closed due to weather and Sochi was a backup, but they were still flightable. Unless, of course, the liner got caught in a sudden tornado that formed by chance. Or into a flock of birds that “shut up” all the engines simultaneously on takeoff, at the moment of full thrust - there is an ornithopark nearby. Most likely a technical malfunction, and so instantaneous and critical, such as switching the stabilizer to a dive in Rostov, that the crew did not have time to fix it work out, nor report. Because even the failure of two engines on the Tu-154 does not kill; the crew would have landed the plane on the water one way or another.

And it’s stupid when they talk about an old plane, about “it’s already banned.” It was not banned, but withdrawn from use by commercial airlines, because it consumes a lot of fuel, exceeds noise standards, and indeed its interior environment cannot be compared with a Boeing or Airbus. An airplane does not have "old age", it has airworthiness - it is either fit to fly or not. In the USA there are "Douglas" aircraft from the 1950s and 1960s. I will say more, “black boxes” - parametric recorders have already been located, they will be lifted by specialists with bathyscaphes. All debris and bodies, naturally, will also be raised - 70 meters is now an accessible depth.” What happened is undoubtedly a tragedy. The reasons will be sorted out, since the investigation has been taken under the tightest control at the highest level. Decryption of the black boxes will also provide additional information. Now they have already begun to raise the bodies of the dead. According to TASS, by midday, four bodies had been discovered and recovered.

An operational headquarters has been created and is operating in Sochi to receive relatives of the deceased passengers on the plane. Psychological and psychiatric care teams are on duty at Sochi airport. The city mayor held an emergency meeting of the emergency situations commission. “A Kommersant correspondent in the Krasnodar region reports that local residents at the time of the disaster did not see the flash or hear the explosion,” the press notes.
Politonline.ru’s sources in the Russian FSB also explained why everyone who approached the liner, serviced it and was involved in technical training was being checked. “The version of the terrorist attack is not a priority, but it must also be worked out. Yes, the FSB is checking everyone who was in contact with the deceased aircraft, records are being reviewed, interviews are being conducted - to exclude the version, and not because it is being “secretly investigated.”

Test pilot, Hero of the Russian Federation, Anatoly Knyshov:

- The Tu-154 is a completely reliable aircraft, which is used not only by the Ministry of Defense, but also in civil aviation. It has proven itself to be reliable and comfortable. The fact that there were military specialists on board suggests that the plane was in full readiness. Because before each flight there is an inspection - this type of aircraft has a certain approval, airworthiness certification.
What happened... Anything can happen in aviation, but after takeoff, when the engines are operating at takeoff mode and the crew does not have any information about any malfunctions of individual systems or engines, otherwise, if such information were available, the pilot would follow instructions would turn around and land at the departure airfield. In this situation, we can say that, apparently, there was something on board. Because planes don’t just crash or land in an emergency. But why the crew did not provide information about what happened to them is also a question.

- What are the options for complete failure of the systems on board?

- One of the options is the failure of three engines. But in any case, the crew informs the dispatch service, informs the Ministry of Defense about one reason or another. In this situation, in my opinion, a sudden loss of communication, a sudden depressurization of the aircraft led to the fact that the crew was unable and did not have time to report the reason that happened on board.

Anatoly Nikolaevich, now that they are saying that the plane was refueling in Sochi, could poor quality fuel have caused the emergency? Or is this now more of an exception to the rule?

- When refueling occurs at any airport, both in the Russian Federation and abroad, the crew and crew that services (and I think there is a technical team on board that services this type of aircraft), they always check the fuel type according to the passport , its characteristics and so-called fuel samples are taken even before refueling. Therefore, I cannot yet say that this is the cause of low-quality fuel, only a commission can determine it; they will definitely take samples at the site of the plane crash (residues of fuel will be found somewhere in any case). They will be able to find out the quality of the fuel, the condition of the systems, and the readiness of the crew. Because in any case, if there was low-quality fuel, it would have been impossible for three engines to fail at the same time, which could have led to such a catastrophe. The cause is explosive. There is a sound alarm and light alarm that warns the crew about a particular malfunction. This warning didn't work. Because the warning works for the crew, it provides information so that the crew competently and correctly implements the recommendations that they have already worked on on the ground. It’s sad that this is happening to our colleagues, namely from the Ministry of Defense, precisely to those who were heading there, to a hot spot, where they could support our military personnel before the New Year. This is a tragedy that we will all experience.

The search is now underway. In particular, there was information that 7 sea vessels were searching for the plane in the Black Sea, and a Mi-8 helicopter from Sochi airport joined the search. But there was information that the possible point where the plane crashed was in the mountains. Can you explain why there is such contradictory information coming out now?

- Any aircraft that takes off is monitored by dispatch services, locators and helps the crew correctly build the trajectory to enter the route. If they evade somewhere, the dispatcher says: you are evading. Because on this air route there are possibly several types of aircraft - in the opposite direction, in the same direction. And the dispatch service controls and is responsible, to some extent, for the safety of being on this route. But even if the dispatch service, the locators could not notice where the mark from this type of aircraft was located... Because each dispatcher has the type of aircraft and its call sign displayed on the screen. And when this tag disappears, a command is immediately given to the search service (in this case, these are helicopters that are now searching in the area where the tag may have disappeared). And the situation in the mountains may be such that they have dropped below the detection zone.

- What could be the reason for this behavior of the crew?

- It could have been the explosive nature of the plane itself, that is, an explosion could have occurred, and no one could report it - neither the correspondents who were there, nor the crew themselves. I can't imagine anything else here.

PS. Almost the entire choir of the Alexandrov ensemble died

The deceased director of the Department of Culture of the RF Ministry of Defense.

Elizaveta Glinka. She was also on board the crashed plane.

Dead journalists.

PS2. Regarding the rejoicing freaks from Ukraine and Russia, in this regard it can be noted that at such moments the difference between people and moral monsters is clearly demonstrated.

Alexey Pushkov: Those killed in the disaster are heroes of the war on terror

Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Commission on Information Policy Alexey Pushkov commented on the plane crash in Sochi.

“Those killed in the disaster were flying to Syria to support our military. All of them are heroes of the war on terror. Their flight, their impulse was interrupted. Their spirit lives on,” he wrote.

Those killed in the disaster flew to Syria to support our military. All of them are heroes of the war on terror. Their flight, their impulse was interrupted. Their spirit lives on.

Let us remind you that while performing a scheduled flight from Sochi airfield after takeoff, the Tu-154 aircraft disappeared from radar radars. Later, the military department reported that fragments of the Tu-154 hull were discovered 1.5 kilometers from the Black Sea coast of Sochi at a depth of 50-70 meters. Among the passengers were journalists from Channel One, NTV, the Zvezda TV channel, musicians from the Alexandrov Ensemble, as well as Doctor Lisa.

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared nationwide mourning in the country in connection with the crash of a Russian plane in the Black Sea.

He stated this during an emergency press conference.

“Tomorrow, nationwide mourning will be declared in Russia,” Putin said.

Let us remind you that during a scheduled flight from Sochi airfield after the Tu-154 took off, it disappeared from the radar. Later, the military department reported that fragments of the Tu-154 hull were discovered 1.5 kilometers from the Black Sea coast of Sochi at a depth of 50-70 meters. Among the passengers were journalists from Channel One, NTV, the Zvezda TV channel, musicians from the Alexandrov Ensemble, as well as Doctor Lisa.

Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, singer, Iosif Kobzon was supposed to fly on the Tu-154 plane of the Russian Ministry of Defense that crashed over the Black Sea to Syria. TASS reported this on December 25 with reference to the People's Artist.

“On the 14th we had a concert with them in the Hall of Columns, and Valery Khalilov (director of the Alexandrov Ensemble - approx.) asked me to fly with them, but I said that I have a medical visa and I have to fly for treatment, especially since that I visited Syria with them and Khalilov once. So I said, next time sometime. But see how it turned out next time"

Kobzon said.

He assured that if he was offered, he would be ready to perform again for Russian military personnel in Syria.

“I am sincerely sorry, this is just shocking news for me. This is a great tragedy for culture, for the army audience. They were flying on a combat mission."

Russian TV channel published the first video of the wreckage of a crashed Tu-154

The Russian TV channel Life showed the first footage from the crash site of a Russian Ministry of Defense plane, which fell into the Black Sea. The sent footage shows the wreckage of the Tu-154 military aircraft in the water.

The media published a video of the rescue operation in the area where the Tu-154 crashed

The first video of the rescue operation in the area of ​​the crash of the Ministry of Defense Tu-154 plane has appeared.

Let us remind you that during a scheduled flight from Adler airfield after the Tu-154 took off, it disappeared from the radar. Later, the military department reported that fragments of the Tu-154 hull were discovered 1.5 kilometers from the Black Sea coast of Sochi at a depth of 50-70 meters. Among the passengers were journalists from Channel One, NTV, the Zvezda TV channel and 68 musicians from the Alexandrov Ensemble, as well as Doctor Lisa.

The crash of the Tu-154 aircraft of the 223rd flight detachment of the Russian Ministry of Defense became one of the biggest tragedies of the past year. There were 92 people on board the liner, all of them died. In each such case, the emergence of different versions of what happened is inevitable. Lenta.ru tried to figure out what was happening.

NB: Everything said below about the causes of the plane crash is a presentation of versions that have not yet been officially confirmed. Until the publication of official conclusions about the results of the investigation into the causes of the disaster, none of these versions can be considered true.

Circumstances

The Tu-154B-2 aircraft, tail number RA-85572, produced in 1983 at the Kuibyshev Aviation Plant (now the Aviakor plant), was operated almost all the time by the Ministry of Defense - first as part of the 8th Special Purpose Air Division of the USSR Air Force, then created in 1993 of the 223rd flying detachment.

As of the day of the disaster, the aircraft had about 11 percent of its flight life, with an average flight time of just over 200 hours per year, which is relatively little for passenger airliners, which in civil aviation are operated with an intensity of 1,000 or more hours per year. The assigned service life of the aircraft was 37,500 hours, or 16 thousand landings, and it could be extended to 60 thousand hours and 22 thousand landings.

Tu-154B-2 has currently been taken out of commercial service due to non-compliance with accepted noise standards and high fuel consumption, but military vehicles still remain in service.

The aircraft operator - the 223rd Flight Detachment of the Ministry of Defense, a Russian state aviation enterprise - provides air transportation in the interests of government agencies and carries out irregular cargo and passenger transportation, as a rule, of military personnel. The enterprise was organized on the basis of the 8th special purpose aviation division (8 adOSNAZ, 8 adon) of the Russian Air Force in Chkalovsky in accordance with the order of the President of the Russian Federation dated January 15, 1993 No. 37-rp “On supporting the activities of the 223rd and 224th flight detachments of the Russian Ministry of Defense" for air transportation in the interests of government agencies.

The plane took off from the Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow and was supposed to land for refueling in Mozdok, but due to weather conditions the refueling airfield was changed to Sochi. The airliner took off from Sochi at 05:25 and fell, according to available data, spending two minutes in the air before the crash.

The flight's destination was the Russian Khmeimim airbase in Syria. The plane of the artists of the Alexandrov military ensemble, journalists and the military personnel accompanying them. In addition, Elizaveta Glinka, known as Doctor Lisa, and the head of the Department of Culture of the Ministry of Defense Anton Gubankov were on board.

Versions

The main publicly discussed versions of what happened come down to three: equipment malfunction, pilot error, terrorist attack. A concomitant factor to the first two could be the weather, but the available data on the actual weather conditions in Sochi at the time of the disaster indicate that they were quite acceptable:

Visibility 10 kilometers or more. Cloudiness in several layers: the lower layer is 5-7 octants (eighths), with a lower edge of 1000 meters, above it there is another layer, continuous with a lower edge of 2800 meters, temperature +5, dew point +1, pressure approximately 763 millimeters of mercury. The runways are dry. East wind 5 meters per second. At sea - wave height is up to 0.1 meters.

All three versions can neither be confirmed nor excluded before the official conclusions of the investigation commission, but you can try to “lay out on the table” the available information, at least in order to organize it.

The last time the RA-85572 aircraft was repaired was in December 2014, and in September 2016 it underwent scheduled maintenance. The aircraft's total flight time over 33 years of operation was 6,689 hours.

This age and service life are completely normal for aircraft in military service. Thus, one of the main cargo-passenger aircraft of the US Air Force, the C-135 Stratolifter, built from 1956 to 1965, still remains in operation, and the total service life of these aircraft may approach a century - they will remain in the Air Force until at least 2040 -s.

The Tu-154 itself is a reliable aircraft, however, no aircraft are insured against technical problems, and, of course, this version will be one of the main ones.

The crew of the crashed airliner is described as experienced. The Tu-154 plane that crashed in the Black Sea was flown by first class pilot Roman Volkov.

“The Tu-154 military transport aircraft of the Russian Ministry of Defense was flown by an experienced pilot Roman Aleksandrovich Volkov. Roman Volkov is a first class pilot. The total flight time is more than three thousand hours,” the military department told a TASS correspondent.

Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Petukhov, the navigator of the crashed Tu-154B-2, took part in the rescue of "" in April 2011. Then a plane of the same model landed at Chkalovsky airport with a faulty control system. The Tu-154B-2 RA-88563 was planned to be transported to Samara for repairs. After the plane took off, problems were discovered in its control system. The plane began to sway in the air and bounce, which was noticeable from the ground. Journalists later called the liner dancing.

Nevertheless, the plane was returned to the runway in Chkalovsky thanks to the skillful actions of the crew. Petukhov was the navigator of the “dancing liner”, along with his colleagues he was awarded the Order of Courage.

At the same time, taking off from coastal airfields has always been not the easiest procedure, and the Tu-154, especially in the “B” version, is described by many pilots as a fairly strict aircraft to fly, placing high demands on the pilot, which also does not allow one to dismiss the version out of hand possible tragic mistake. According to civil aviation pilots, a little over three thousand hours of experience for the commander of a machine of this class is insufficient.

Finally, given the political situation, the possibility of a terrorist attack cannot be ruled out, including due to the specific features of the organization of military flights. Unfortunately, the stringency of screening and security on military passenger flights is much less than on commercial airlines. As noted by many military personnel and civilians who have experience flying Ministry of Defense aircraft from Chkalovsky and other military airfields, pre-flight inspection on such flights often comes down to an empty formality in the form of checking passenger lists with documents, especially when “their” team is flying. When flying abroad - to Syria, for example - it is somewhat stricter (border formalities are included), but even in this case it does not compare with traditional measures at most civil airports in developed countries.

Under these conditions, it is possible to assume the presence of an explosive device on board, which could have been placed in the luggage of the liner during loading or carried on board during an intermediate landing in Sochi. In any case, the possibility of such a development of events is not excluded by the special services, which began checking those who could have access to the plane at the departure airport and in Sochi.

A variation of the version of the terrorist attack is the assumption put forward in some media about an attack on the plane using a man-portable anti-aircraft missile system, which could have been carried out by terrorists either from a boat or from a residential area on the coast, but this option is hardly possible, given that the crashed airliner was supposed to land in Mozdok, and if they intended to attack him during landing/takeoff from the refueling airfield, they would have been waiting for him there.

One way or another, the investigation has just begun. A plane crashing into the sea can seriously complicate it - a steep drop in depth in the Sochi area, where the continental slope at an angle of 45 degrees drops sharply downwards, 500, 1000 or more meters, and a thick layer of silt will greatly complicate the search for the wreckage of the airliner. The Il-18V aircraft that crashed in the same area in 1972 fell a little further from the coast - at a distance of about 10 kilometers, but its debris went to a depth of 500 to 1000 meters, and neither large parts of the fuselage and wings, nor flight recorders could be found .

Given these conditions, every hour matters: with every hour, the wreckage that has sunk under water will sink deeper and deeper. This, obviously, is understood by all responsible persons - the diving elite of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Russian Navy is being transferred to Sochi - deep-sea divers from all four fleets, with special equipment and underwater vehicles.

To calculate the mass of the crashed aircraft, special techniques were used, including using data from a parametric recorder raised from the bottom of the Black Sea.

As a result, it became known that on December 24, when taking off from the Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow, where the Tu-1542B-2 began its route, the take-off weight of the aircraft, together with 24 tons of fuel filled into it, was 99.6 tons. This exceeded the standards, but the deviation was 1 .6 tons was insignificant. At this weight, the plane usually takes off without any problems.

In Adler, no one got out of the Tu-154B-2, with the exception of the commander and co-pilot. Nothing additional was loaded onto the plane, but the plane was refueled to the maximum. Its tanks contained 35.6 tons of fuel.

According to experts, as a result, the take-off weight of the airliner was about 110 tons instead of the standard 98 tons.

Early in the morning of December 25, the Tu-154B-2 took off along a large runway (there are two of them in Adler). After this, the plane had to turn first to the right, then to the left, and then head for Latakia, to the Khmeimim airbase. However, problems began during the rise.

The plane took off from the Adler runway only 37 seconds after the start of the takeoff run, at a speed of 320 km/h, with a pitch angle of 4 to 6 degrees. All these parameters indicate that the plane had difficulty getting into the air. The rate of climb was 10 m/s instead of the usual 12-15 m/s.

2 seconds after takeoff, the crew commander pulled the steering wheel, raising the nose of the plane so that the pitch was already 10-12 degrees. For the pilot of an overloaded aircraft, these were very rash actions. The crew began retracting the flaps at an altitude of 150 m and at a speed of 345 km/h. Taking into account the significant excess of the standard take-off weight of the Tu-154, these actions should have been carried out at a higher speed.

The stall speed of an aircraft (low flight speed when the angle of attack reaches a critical value and the aircraft becomes uncontrollable) increases with weight and also depends on the position of the flaps (the more they are extended, the lower it is). Therefore, at a certain weight, the speed may be such that before the flaps are retracted it will be greater than the stalling speed, and after that it will be less.

On the voice recorder recordings, you can hear how the co-pilot asked the commander for permission to remove the mechanization, but the latter did not answer. The co-pilot apparently took his silence as a sign of agreement. The lifting force naturally began to fall sharply from the moment the mechanization began to be harvested.

The plane managed to reach an altitude of 200 m when the commander again made an unexpected movement - he moved the control column away from himself and then suddenly took it over again, losing his already small altitude in the maneuver.

The flaps had not yet been completely retracted when a system in the Tu-154 cockpit activated, signaling a dangerous approach to the ground. The flap angle was 5-7 degrees when the commander moved the helm and rudder pedals to the left. As planned, he should have done the opposite. The plane fell into a bank of 30 degrees.

At this moment, a signal of a dangerous roll sounds, to which no one pays attention. "We're falling!" - the co-pilot shouts.

The commander moves the steering wheel and pedals in the opposite direction and takes control of the steering column. At this moment the angle of attack was 10 degrees. At the same time, the aircraft continued to accelerate to 500 km/h. The speed increased, the roll increased, and the lift decreased. The Tu-154 had practically no altitude reserve.

A few seconds later, already with a bank of 50 degrees and at a speed of 540 km/h, the plane touched the water with its left wing. In such conditions, a collision with a water surface is equivalent to a collision with a rock. The plane crashed and its debris was scattered over a large area.

In total, the last flight of the Tu-154 lasted only 74 seconds.

Until the moment it hit the water, the plane was fully operational. The weather conditions at the Adler airfield at the time of takeoff were favorable: ambient temperature - 5 degrees above zero, humidity - 76%, pressure - 763 mm Hg. Art., side wind - 5 m/s. No dangerous weather conditions were observed.

It also turned out that the deceased crew, together with an experienced commander, took off from the same runway in Adler just two months before the disaster - on October 1, 2016.

Then the takeoff from the runway was made at a speed of 310 km/h. With a rate of climb of 12-15 m/s, the crew began to climb. At an altitude of 450 m, a turn to the right was carried out with a right bank of 20 degrees, then the plane made a turn to the left, and only then, at an altitude of 450 m, within 13-14 seconds the flaps, which had previously been in the take-off position of 28 degrees, were retracted.

The actions of the experienced crew and the behavior of the serviceable aircraft during its next takeoff in Adler can only be explained by the fact that the Tu-154 commander did not know either the nature or the exact weight of the cargo on board, and therefore, the overload of his aircraft. That’s why fuel was poured into the plane in Adler. Probably, it would have been filled less if they knew the exact weight of the property that was loaded onto the plane in Chkalovsky.

Perhaps something relatively small in volume, but significant in its specific gravity, was placed on the plane.

If the crew commander knew that the standard take-off weight was exceeded by more than 10 tons, he would either refuse the flight or take off taking into account the fact that the plane was overloaded.

The latest actions of the crew can be explained by the fact that the pilots realized that something was wrong with the plane, and tried to return to the departure airfield in order to land on another, smaller runway in Adler. However, there was not enough height.

The dark time of day did not play the best role: the crew had no visual idea that there was very little left to the water surface.

The Tu-154 plane, which crashed early in the morning of December 25, was carrying artists of the Alexandrov Song and Dance Ensemble, who were supposed to give a New Year's concert at the Russian Khmeimim base in Syria. They were accompanied by film crews from Channel One and Zvezda. A total of 92 people died - 84 passengers and 8 crew members.

“Erroneous actions of the crew” are named as the cause of the Tu-154 crash over the Black Sea, which occurred on December 25, 2016. RIA Novosti, citing the Ministry of Defense, reported: “Based on the results of the investigation, it was established that the cause of the incident could have been a violation of the spatial orientation (situational awareness) of the aircraft commander, which led to his erroneous actions with the aircraft controls.”

Almost simultaneously with the RIA Novosti report, four pages of the report of the head of the Aviation Safety Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Sergei Baynetov, on the results of the work of the “commission for investigating the aviation accident” were leaked onto the Internet. The document is very similar to the real one. It is dated May 4, 2017 and has the reference number 137/2/883 DSP (the abbreviation DSP means for official use).

The report of Lieutenant General Baynetov describes in great detail the last flight of the crashed Tu-154, which was part of the 800th special purpose airbase of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS). At the same time, the last minutes are second by second. Key takeaways from the document: “The cause of the crash of the Tu-154 B-2 aircraft was a violation of spatial orientation (situational awareness) of the aircraft commander, which led to his erroneous actions with the aircraft controls, as a result of which the aircraft, during the climb, went into descent and collided with the water surface.” .

The document emphasizes that the aircraft commander, Major Roman Volkov “began to experience difficulties in determining his location on the airfield, associated with his idea of ​​​​the upcoming take-off course”, not understanding which of the two runways of the Sochi airport would take off from.

At 5 hours 24 minutes 36 seconds the crew began takeoff with a heading of 238°. But already in the seventh second of take-off, the aircraft commander (PIC) “emotionally began to ask the crew about the take-off course.” Moreover, with the use of “obscene language,” which led to “to the PIC’s failure to control take-off ground parameters, to the distraction of crew members from performing their functional duties”.

As soon as he took off from the ground, setting the plane to a pitch of 15°, Major Volkov turned the steering wheel away from himself, slowing down the climb. And already at the 53rd second of the flight, when the plane had gained only 157 meters of altitude, the PIC ordered the flaps to be removed, although according to all regulations this operation is carried out at an altitude of at least 500 meters. At the same time, Volkov continued to tilt the steering wheel away from himself. Which led to the fact that at an altitude of 231 meters the plane switched to descent mode, losing altitude at a speed of 6-8 m/s. The siren sounded and the red display flashed in the cockpit. But none of the crew paid attention to this.

At the 70th second of the flight, when the Tu-154 was only 90 meters from the surface of the water, the PIC abruptly turned the aircraft, which was turning with a slight right bank of about 10°, into a steep left bank of 53°. The plane rushed to the surface of the water three times faster, at a speed of 20 m/s, and was already doomed.

At the 73rd second of flight, the Tu-154, at a speed of 540 km/h and a left roll of about 50, touched the surface of the sea with its left wing, fell apart and sank.

The report of Lieutenant General Baynetov indicated that the emergence of a critical situation on board the Tu-154 was facilitated by the “emotional and physiological fatigue” of commander Volkov, as well as his lack of “sustainable skills” in piloting in difficult situations.

Experienced military pilots, whom we asked to comment on the commission’s conclusions about the causes of the Sochi disaster and the document distributed on the Internet, similar to the report of the head of the Aviation Safety Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, agreed that there were many inconsistencies in both the official report and the “document.”

Our experts noticed that at the Sochi airport the planes taxi to the start behind the escort vehicle. In addition, the airport is equipped with illuminated taxiway and runway number signs. It is almost impossible to get lost at Sochi airport. If Major Volkov is already “lost” on the ground, a take-off ban should immediately follow.

It is impossible to explain what happened after takeoff:

“Unless there has been collective insanity,” said one of our experts. “The actions of both the captain and the crew are absolutely inadequate. The actions of the rudders (especially the rudder - from the pedals) after takeoff cannot be explained normally. The flight speed indicated in the document allows the plane to stay in the air, but a normal, trained, tested and approved pilot for this type of flight could not allow such actions with the rudders.

The actual withdrawal of the co-pilot and navigator also defies explanation:

— The crew sees that the PIC is making one fatal mistake after another, and does nothing. This is impossible in military transport aviation.

“We can assume that KPP-1 (the flight control instrument is the main instrument of any aircraft) failed,” another of our interlocutors suggested. — The “document” says about its direct indication, they say, it’s difficult. Yes, it's difficult. During retraining, on the simulator. And Volkov was an experienced pilot. In addition, KPP-1 has a backup attitude indicator AGR-72.

Our experts noticed that the “document” says that the landing gear was removed, but in all the photographs of the collected debris of the crashed Tu-154, the landing gear is in the extended position.

One of our experts, a military transport aviation veteran with more than 10 thousand flight hours, of which about 4 thousand as a Tu-154 crew commander, continues to adhere to the version that Novaya published back in March. Our interlocutor suggests that the full-time commander of the Tu-154 crew, Major Roman Volkov, acted as a co-pilot during takeoff, although he was in his seat, and the pilot who took off was not only not trained and not authorized to fly this type of aircraft, but also not included in the flight mission, senior in rank and position. Yes, he had extensive flying experience, but on other types of aircraft, for example on the An-72. On board the crashed plane there was indeed a senior instructor-pilot of military unit 42829, a lieutenant colonel. And he flew precisely on the An-72.

The “document”, positioned as the report of Lieutenant General Sergei Baynetov, is very similar to the real one, but our experts do not rule out that it is a fake, made “on the basis” of the real document.

According to the official version of the Tu-154 crash in Sochi on December 25, 2016, an orangutan turned out to be at the controls of the plane instead of a human, and began to jerk the control sticks absurdly, which led to the tragedy. If we draw a parallel with driving a car, it would look like this: the driver got behind the wheel, drove off, and drove into a snowdrift. I backed out and crushed three cars nearby. Then he drove forward and crashed as hard as he could into a garbage container, which is where the trip ended.

Conclusion: either the driver was dead drunk - or something happened to the car.

But the Tu-154 recorders showed that the plane was fully operational. And it also doesn’t work to assume that the pilot began to take off in a dead state in front of other crew members, who were not suicides. And his voice on the recorder is absolutely sober.

However, the plane crashed, allegedly as a result of the inexplicable actions of the crew. Or is there still an explanation - but the military leadership is desperately hiding it?

Cunning journalists discovered that the plane may have been heavily overloaded - hence all the consequences. Moreover, it was reloaded not at Sochi’s Adler airport, where it made an intermediate landing, but at the Chkalovsky military airfield near Moscow, from where it took off.

The weight of excess cargo is more than 10 tons. However, at Chkalovsky, according to documents, kerosene was poured into this Tu-1542B-2 10 tons less than a full bowl - 24 tons, as a result, the total weight of the aircraft was 99.6 tons. This exceeded the norm by only 1.6 tons - and therefore was uncritical. The pilot probably noted that the takeoff took place with an effort - but there could be many reasons for this: wind, atmospheric pressure, air temperature.

But in Adler, where the plane sat down to refuel, this refueling played a fatal role. Fuel was added to the plane's tanks just below the cap - up to 35.6 tons, which is why its take-off weight became more than 10 tons more than permissible.

And if we accept this version with an overload, everything further receives the most logical explanation.

The plane took off from the Adler runway at a speed of 320 km/h - instead of the nominal 270 km/h. Then the rise occurred at a speed of 10 meters per second - instead of the usual 12–15 m/s.

And 2 seconds after lifting off the ground, the ship’s commander, Roman Volkov, pulled the steering wheel towards himself in order to increase the take-off angle. The fact is that the take-off and landing trajectories are strictly defined at each airfield: landing takes place on a flatter path, take-off - on a steeper one. This is necessary to separate the planes taking off and landing in height - without which they would constantly be in danger of colliding in the air.

But an increase in the angle of climb led to a drop in speed - the aircraft was too heavy and refused to perform this maneuver. Then the pilot, probably already realizing that he had been given some kind of pig in the form of an extra load, gave the helm away from himself in order to stop the climb and thereby gain speed.

This happened at an altitude of 200 meters - and if the plane had remained at this level, even in violation of all the rules, the tragedy might not have happened. But Volkov piloted the car outside its permissible modes - something no one had done before him, since overloaded flights are strictly prohibited. And how the plane behaved under these conditions is difficult to imagine. In addition, it is possible that that extra cargo, being poorly secured, also disrupted the alignment of the aircraft during takeoff.

As a result, there was a slight panic in the cabin. Pilots began retracting the flaps ahead of schedule to reduce air resistance and thereby gain speed faster.

Here a dangerous approach to the water began, over which the take-off line was. The speed was already decent - 500 km/h, Volkov suddenly took the helm to raise the plane, at the same time starting a turn - apparently, he decided to return to the airfield. Then the irreparable happened: the plane, in response to the pilot’s actions, did not go up, but crashed into the water, scattering into fragments from the collision with it...

This scenario, based on recorder data, is absolutely consistent - and looks much more plausible than Shoigu’s delusional explanation that the pilot lost spatial orientation and began to descend instead of climbing.

During takeoff, no spatial orientation is required from the pilot at all. There are two main instruments in front of him: an altimeter and a speed indicator, he monitors their readings without being distracted by the views outside the window...

One might also ask: how did an overloaded plane manage to get off the runway? The answer is simple: there is a so-called screen effect, which significantly increases the lifting force of the wings at a height of up to 15 meters from the ground. By the way, the concept of ekranoplanes is based on it - half-planes, half-ships, flying within this 15-meter altitude with a much larger load on board than aircraft of equal power...

Well, now the most important questions.

First: what kind of cargo was placed in the belly of this Tu - and by whom?

It is clear that these were not light drugs from Dr. Lisa, who was on this flight, and not an armored personnel carrier: a passenger plane does not have a wide port for entry of any equipment. This cargo was apparently heavy and compact enough to enter through the cargo hatch.

And what exactly - you can guess anything here: boxes of vodka, shells, gold bars, Sobyanin tiles... And why they decided to send it not by cargo, but by passenger flight - there could also be any reasons. From sloppiness for the failure to send combat cargo, which they decided to cover up gradually - to the most criminal schemes for the export of precious metals or other contraband.

Another question: did the pilots know about this left cargo? For sure! This is not a needle in a haystack - but a whole haystack that cannot be hidden from view. But what exactly was there and what the true weight of it was - the pilots may not have known. This is an army, where the order of the highest rank is higher than all instructions; and most likely that order was accompanied by some other generous promise - with a hint of all sorts of intrigues in case of refusal. Under the influence of such an explosive mixture, a lot of malfeasance is committed today - when a forced person is faced with a choice: either make decent money - or be left without work and without pants.

And the famous Russian, perhaps, at the same time, as they say, has not been canceled!

Who ordered? There can also be a big spread here: from some Lieutenant Colonel, Deputy for Armaments - to Colonel General. Depending on what kind of cargo was brought onto the plane.

In short, in Chkalovsky the plane is overloaded, but this overload is compensated for by incomplete refueling - and in Adler the tanks are already filled to capacity. Obviously, the calculation was to fly to Syrian Khmeimim (destination) and back on our own fuel. And the fact that the ship’s commander agreed in Adler to these 35.6 tons of fuel speaks in favor of the fact that he still did not know the real magnitude of the overload. If he were to fly alone, he could still indulge in the dashing daring that Chkalov himself laid the foundation for in our aviation. But behind Volkov there was his own crew of 7 people, and another 84 passengers, including artists from the Alexandrov ensemble!

The fact that the Ministry of Defense in this matter is not just obfuscating, but completely hiding the truth is evidenced by such facts.

1. Shoigu’s version of “a violation of the commander’s spatial orientation (situational awareness), which led to erroneous actions with the aircraft controls” does not stand up to criticism. For any pilot, not only with 4,000 hours of flight time, like Volkov, but also with ten times less, takeoff is the simplest action that does not require any special skills. For example, landing in difficult weather conditions is a completely different matter. The crash during the landing of the same Tu-154 from the Polish delegation near Smolensk is a typical example of the lack of skill and experience of the pilot. But no one has ever crashed while taking off on a working plane.

2. The decoding of the recorders probably already in the first days after the tragedy gave the full breakdown of what happened. An analogy with the same Polish case in 2010 is appropriate here: then, already on the 5th day, the IAC (Interstate Aviation Committee) issued a comprehensive version of the incident, which was fully confirmed later.

The IAC has been stubbornly silent about the Adler disaster for 6 months now. On his website, where detailed analyzes of all flight accidents are published, there are only two brief messages about the Adler incident that the investigation is ongoing. And another significant passage:

“The resources of research and expert institutions have been mobilized to investigate this disaster. Among them is the Interstate Aviation Committee, which has extensive experience in investigating accidents involving Tu-154 aircraft and the necessary resources to provide assistance in order to speed up the investigation. At the same time, the IAC informs that official comments on this investigation are provided exclusively by the Russian Ministry of Defense.”

That is, read, “we were silenced, sorry.”

3. Naturally, the Minister of Defense in the very first hours, if not minutes after the disaster, found out what cargo was on board the crashed Tu. And the incredibly long search for the wreckage of the plane, which added absolutely nothing to the information from the recorders, suggests that they were looking for that same secret cargo. And not at all the truth, which was clear to the military immediately.

Well, one more question: why do the military, led by their minister, hide this truth so much? And from whom – from Putin himself or from the people?

Well, I very much doubt that they would hide her from Putin: he doesn’t look like a person who can be fooled around his finger. This means they are hiding from the people. This means that this truth is such that it somehow terribly undermines the prestige of our military.

That is, either some lieutenant colonel, a complete idiot, loaded something into a passenger plane that should not have been on it. And then a shadow over our entire army, in which there are such idiots on horseback that they can ruin as much as the backbone of Alexandrov’s ensemble with their idiocy.

Or a colonel general, who is at the very top, is involved - and then there is also shame and disgrace: it turns out that after the change from Serdyukov to Shoigu, our army was not cleansed of general outrage?

And the very last thing. Remember, when we watched the film “Chapaev” as children, many of us shouted in the audience: “Chapay, run!” I just as spontaneously want today, when everything has practically become clear with the Adler tragedy, to shout to the pilot Volkov: “Don’t take this cargo! And if you take it, don’t fly higher than 200 meters above the sea!”

After all, if you look at the calm mind, which was not praised by the pilot caught in a storm of circumstances, he had a chance of salvation. Namely: when the plane is overloaded, do not even try to follow the instructions, which oblige you to rise to such and such a height at such and such a distance from the airfield. Violate it to hell, get a reprimand for it, even dismissal - but thereby save your life and the lives of others. That is, fly at a minimum altitude, burning off fuel, and when the weight of the plane drops in an hour and a half, begin lifting.

Another thing that comes to mind again is that if you decide to return to Adler, make a turn not by a standard turn with a side roll, which is what dumped the plane into the sea, but by the so-called “pancake”. That is, with one rudder - when the plane remains in horizontal plane, and the turning radius increases greatly: a maneuver practically not used in modern aviation.

But even this chance, which could save this plane, in the future would still be illusory and deadly. Let’s say Volkov managed to get out of the disastrous situation set by the organizers of his flight. Then next time he or his colleague would be given not 10, but 15 extra tons of some “unspecified” cargo: after all, appetites grow as their satisfaction. And the tragedy would have happened anyway - not in this case, then in the next, if its causes remained the same.

God grant that as a result of this catastrophe, someone in our armed forces will give someone a hard time, putting an end to the outrages that led to the inevitable outcome.

Alexander Roslyakov