‘Faulty’ flaps brought Russian airliner down

Moscow: Pro-Kremlin news website Life said on Wednesday that the Tu-154 airliner’s wing flaps might have caused the crashed. The main flight recorder, recovered on Tuesday, revealed that faulty flaps were not moving together, a source close to the probe told the private Interfax news agency.

The flaps are panels on the wings that help lift an aircraft. Life says the faulty flaps led the pilots to lose control as the plane was at a “critical angle”, according to the BBC. It also quoted the crew’s last words, including, “The flaps, hell... !” According to the transcript one pilot shouted “Commander, we’re falling.” The latest findings come from a cockpit conversation stored on the flight’s main black box data recorder, according to the BBC.

Meanwhile, Russian rescuers trawling the Black Sea on Wednesday found the second black box from the Syria-bound military plane. The ageing Tu-154 airliner came down off the Russian coast with the loss of all 92 passengers and crew. On board were 64 members of the famed Alexandrov military music ensemble, as well as one of Russia’s best-known humanitarian figures, Yelizaveta Glinka. The plane was heading to Russia’s air force base in Syria where the choir was due to perform at a New Year’s concert.

The Soviet-era jet, whose passengers included more than 60 members of an internationally renowned Red Army music troupe, was heading to Russia’s military airbase in Syria on Sunday when it went down off the coast of Sochi shortly after take-off from a refuelling stop at the airport. Russia’s FSB security service has said it is looking into four main suspected causes: pilot error, technical failure, faulty fuel and a foreign object in the engine. The FSB added that so far, there are no indications to suggest terrorism was behind the crash, but did not rule it out entirely.

The discovery of the second black box comes as searchers scramble to recover bodies and remaining debris from the aircraft in a major operation involving deepwater machines, helicopters and drones. The defence ministry told Russian news agencies that so far, 15 bodies and 239 body parts from those onboard the ill-fated aircraft have been found. The loss of the plane has shocked Russia at a time when the Kremlin was celebrating the recapture of Syria’s Aleppo.