"Commander, we are falling!" Why did the crew talk about flaps in the last seconds? The black box is the last words of the pilots.
During the investigation of the causes of the plane crashes, they hope to decipher the records of the "black boxes" in order to understand what happened. And, I must say, it is not pleasant to hear the voices of those who in most cases know that they will die in a moment.
The first crash: An-148 Saratov Airlines, February 11, 2018
The plane crashed in the Ramensky district of the Moscow region. Of the 71 people on board, none survived. The reason was the error of the co-pilot and icing of the speed sensors. Below you can find a text transcript of the pilots' conversation, where the PIC is the aircraft commander, and the VP is the co-pilot.
FAC: Up! Here.
VP: Now-now.
FAC: And you are down ...
VP: In general, some kind of garbage!
FAC: No, well, as I understand it, you wanted it ... And you, on the contrary, go down.
VP: Then we will talk. So, we control everything!
FAC: Everything, everything is fine.
VP: That's it, the speed has returned to normal.
VP: Op-op-op! 390!
FAC: Where is down? Where are you down? Why down ?! Where?!
ALARMS: Compare speed, compare speed.
VP: Yes, because *** is good, 200 speed, ***!
FAC: Height! Height! Height!
FAC: Up!
ALARM: Terrain ahead! Pull up! Terrain ahead!
FAC: Everything, ***.
Other transcripts are provided in audio format.
Crash Two: Flydubai's Boeing, March 19, 2016
The plane tried to re-land after go-around and went into a tailspin. During the disaster, 62 people died (7 crew members and 55 passengers). The reason for the rapid descent of the vessel was the simultaneous recoil of the steering wheel "from itself" and the deflection of the stabilizer to dive.
Wreck Three: Falcon 50, October 20, 2014
During the takeoff run, the plane collided with an airfield snowblower, collapsed and caught fire. Four French citizens on board, including Christophe de Margerie, manager of the major oil and gas company Total, were killed. The plane crash happened after a number of violations.
The fourth crash: Yak-42D, September 7, 2011
During the takeoff run along the runway of the Yaroslavl Tunoshna airport in simple weather conditions, the plane skidded out of the runway. He took off from the ground 400 meters behind the end of the runway. From that moment, he gained a height of 5-6 meters, collided with a radio beacon, crashed into the ground and exploded. The hockey club Lokomotiv was on board at that time. The plane crash killed 44 people. The reason was the pressing of the brake pedal by one of the pilots at the moment of the liner takeoff.
Fifth crash: Boeing 737-505, September 14, 2008
The liner made a flight on the route Moscow-Perm. At the final point, he was already landing, but did not fly 11 kilometers to the Bolshoye Savino airport. The plane fell to the ground and completely collapsed, as a result of which of the 88 people on board, none survived. The experts called the reason for the shortcomings of the entire system of training the crew for flights, as well as the lack of interaction in the crew.
The sixth crash: Tu-154M, August 22, 2006
The airliner crashed on the way to Irkutsk, where it was supposed to make a stopover during the flight from Yekaterinburg to Vladivostok. When making a turn and landing approach, the plane turned 180 degrees, it began to fall. The cause of the accident was that the crew did not maintain the set altitude of 850 meters during landing. The co-pilot tried to correct the error, for which he pulled the control wheel towards himself. The plane completely lost control and crashed, killing 144 people.
"take-off, subsequent flight and fall of the aircraft at sea". In addition, the experts have already been able to decipher the voice recorder recording from the deceased board of the Ministry of Defense - on it one of the pilots shouts "flaps, bitch!", And the other "commander, we are falling!"
Investigators have not yet reported under what circumstances an eyewitness was able to film the tragic video of the crash, but experts suggest that it was either a Coast Guard or an airfield service who decided to capture a beautiful sight of a liner taking off. There are many similar videos on Youtube - when eyewitnesses filmed the takeoff or landing of the plane, which suddenly ended in disaster.
The UK also said that it had already "found and questioned several" new eyewitnesses to the plane crash. "
"In addition to this video, recordings of the Tu-154 landing in international airport Sochi, the subsequent taxiing to the parking lot and the passage of border control by its passengers, "the investigative committee said.
Also, aviation experts have not only studied the state of the speech flight recorder from the Tu-154 of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, but were also able to decipher the recording on it. A source close to the investigation told Life that the film in the "black box" was not damaged either by a blow or by water.
“The conversation is interrupted when one of the pilots exclaims:“ Flaps, bitch! ”And then a cry sounds:“ Commander, we are falling! ”, - he quoted the last words of the Tu-154 pilots.
Speed 300 ... (Inaudible.)
- (Inaudible.)
Took the racks, commander.
- (Inaudible.)
Wow, e-mine!
(A sharp beep sounds.)
Flaps, bitch, what the fuck nya!
Altimeter!
US... (Inaudible.)
(The signal sounds about a dangerous approach to the ground.)
- (Inaudible.)
Commander, we are falling!
END RECORD
“The decoding of the black boxes showed that before the crash in the Tu-154 the sensor for exceeding the angle of attack was triggered,” adds Life.
“The crew had some problems with the takeoff and landing mechanization during the climb. The flaps control the vertical movement of the aircraft at low speeds. In the extended state, they increase the wing lift. The position of the flaps is important both during takeoff and landing. it is impossible to say exactly what the problems of the Tu-154 were. It may have been a mistake of the pilots when controlling the mechanization, or maybe it was an asynchronous cleaning of the mechanization, "the newspaper's interlocutors say.
"The disaster happened when the pilots removed the mechanization, and the plane went with a large pitch angle. As a result, it stalled from the echelon during the maneuver to the right," Life's interlocutor said.
"Probably, the cause of the Tu-154 crash during the climb could be a failure of the aircraft's hydraulic system, which led to a complete loss of the crew's ability to control the machine. The cause of the aircraft's hydraulic system failure could be a short circuit in one of the aircraft's engines," a source at the GVSU said.
A second recorder recording the flight parameters was also found, but has not yet been delivered to the Central Research Institute of the Air Force for decoding.
Life also quotes the opinion of the honored test pilot of the USSR Viktor Zabolotsky, who deciphers the cry about "flaps" and told about the uncontrollability of the plane.
"It turns out that one wing has a large lift, while the second has a small one, of course, the plane will turn over. If the flaps are not retracted or retracted unevenly, then very powerful heeling moments arise and it is very difficult to control the plane," the pilot explained.
At the time of the crash, the Tu-154 plane of the Ministry of Defense tried to maneuver to the right and flew with its nose pulled up, a source in the security forces told TASS.
“The disaster happened when the pilots were removing the mechanization (in the extended state it increases the wing lift). At the same time, for unknown reasons, the plane was going with a large pitch angle. Apparently, it stalled from the level during the maneuver to the right. As a result, at the end of the turn he collided with the water surface with a left bank at a speed of about 510 kilometers per hour, "- said the agency's interlocutor.
According to another source, the plane was "going with an excessively high angle of attack and dangling from side to side."
Both interlocutors of the agency do not exclude that the disaster could have happened due to a combination of reasons, including the crew's mistake and the malfunction of one of the engines.
The media also report that rescuers found in the Black Sea a large accumulation of debris from the Tu-154 that crashed near Sochi on December 25, as well as fragments of bodies. "The objects were in the water on an area ranging from two and a half to five meters wide and 200 meters long."
On December 26, the Russian FSB established eyewitnesses to the fall of the Tu-154 in the water area of Sochi. One of them was an officer of the coast guard of the border troops of the FSB, who was at the time of the accident on a boat in the water area of Sochi.
According to him, the plane that took off from the Adler airport, instead of gaining altitude, began to quickly descend to the sea surface, as if it was about to land on it. The border guard explained that the position of the aircraft in the air was strange - allegedly the Tu-154 was going at low speed with an unnaturally raised nose and looked like a motorcycle put on the rear wheel by its driver. As a result, the plane touched the surface of the sea with its tail, which fell off on impact, crashed into the waves and quickly sank.
"It should be noted that the investigation continues and while all the versions that sound are speculative," the media add.
A Tu-154B-2 of the Russian Ministry of Defense, flying to Latakia (Syria), crashed on the morning of December 25, shortly after taking off from Sochi, where it was landing for refueling. All 92 people on board were killed: eight crew members and 84 passengers - the Alexandrov ensemble headed by artistic director Valery Khalilov, journalists from three TV channels, a representative of a charitable organization, military personnel and officials.
Earlier, the media have already quoted an audio recording of the talks between the pilot of the Tu-154 who died in Sochi and the dispatcher of the Black Sea Air Traffic Management Center Yulia Samodurova - a video with sound was published on the website youtube.com by the user sersed21... In the radio exchange on board the taken off liner, no emergency situations occur, the crew and equipment are working normally, the voices of the pilots are calm.
1.5 minutes after takeoff, traffic controllers take turns trying to contact the 85572 crew, but they no longer get in touch.
Preliminary data from the decoding of the speech recorder of the Ministry of Defense liner indicate that the plane lost control due to problems with the flaps and went into a critical angle of attack.
After the rescuers managed to lift the voice recorder from the crashed Tu-154 of the Ministry of Defense from the bottom of the Black Sea, experts were able to decipher the recording stored on it. The tape recording the crew's conversations and conversations inside the cockpit was not damaged.
The conversation is interrupted when one of the pilots exclaims: "Flaps, bitch!" And then a shout sounds: "Commander, we are falling!", - said the source.
When decoding the black boxes, the specialists heard a characteristic signal from the system, which accompanies exceeding the angle of attack. This system automatically reacts to a critical angle of attack, - explained the source of Life.
The expert explained to Life that it is still premature to draw final conclusions about the causes of the disaster based on fragments of the phrases of the crew members.
This may be a subjective view from the crew, which, however, confirms the recorded sound of an automatic voice alarm, notifying the crew that the angle of attack has been exceeded, says the expert.
In his opinion, the crew had some problems with takeoff and landing mechanization during the climb. Flaps control the vertical movement of the aircraft at low speeds. V when released, they increase the lift of the wing.The flap position is important both during takeoff and landing. In what exactly the problems of the Tu-154 were expressed, it is still impossible to say. Perhaps it was a mistake of the pilots in the management of mechanization, and maybe asynchronous cleaning of mechanization.
Now we need to figure it out, - says a source of Life in the commission to investigate the crash of the airliner of the Ministry of Defense. - V the second recorder, parametric, has not yet been delivered to the Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense, and it is not yet known when its decryption will begin.
As the vice-president of the Federation of Aviation Amateurs, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR Viktor Zabolotsky, explained to Life, if the plane has problems with the flaps, it can become uncontrollable.
It turns out that one wing has a large lift, while the other has a small one, of course, the plane will turn over, - he noted. - If the flaps do not retract or retract unevenly, then very powerful heeling moments arise and it is very difficult to fly the aircraft.
Test pilot Hero of Russia Magomed Tolboyev also believes that flap problems can't just happen.
This is a failure of aviation technology. Failure to retract the flap or retract only on one side leads to the destruction of the half-wing of the aircraft. From the side from which they were released, the plane stalls and the speed is lost, '' Tolboyev explained. - All this happens very quickly, and many pilots simply do not know what to do in such a situation. This applies not only to military pilots, but also to civilians.
According to Tolboev, when decoding the black boxes, the specialists heard a characteristic signal from the system, which accompanies exceeding the angle of attack. This system reacts automatically. Tolboyev says, that the triggering of this sensor is a serious signal for the crew commander.
It is triggered when the speed is lost or when the wing is at full load and the plane cannot lift any more, - the expert explained.
A Life source in the Ministry of Defense says that the transcript of the voice recorder confirms the preliminary conclusions of the engineers of the Research Center for the Operation and Repair of Aircraft (SRC ERAT) of the Ministry of Defense about the causes of the disaster.
The disaster occurred when the pilots were removing the mechanization, and the plane was going with a high pitch angle. As a result, he fell off the echelon during the maneuver to the right, - says the interlocutor of Life.
One of the pilots of the Federal Air Transport Agency confirms the version of military aviation engineers.
The reason for the fall of the Tu-154 at this time mark of the flight can only be the desynchronization of the retraction of the flaps, - the aviator told Life.
According to him, in the second minute of the flight, the flaps are retracted - the parts of the wing that control the turns. At this stage, the automation can fail, then one of the flaps will remain raised.
This disrupts aerodynamics so that the aircraft begins to twist towards the wing with the flap not retracted. It was possible to stop this situation if there was a reserve of height, but at the time of the tragedy the pilots of the Tu-154 did not have it yet, - the pilot told Life.
Aviation expert Sergey Krutousov believes that it is necessary to wait for the complete decoding of both the speech and parametric recorder Tu-154, which records the operation of the aircraft components and assemblies.
Sergei Krutousov did not rule out the notorious human factor: during the climb, the pilots could not calculate the correct pitch angle.
When piloting when climbing in a helm mode, the main difficulty lies precisely in maintaining the speed, which is stability when piloting and holding the airliner in pitch at a climb speed of 500-550 km per hour, says expert Sergey Krutousov.
According to him, with a large positive pitch angle, when the nose of the liner was raised, it could reach critical indicators, lose lift and fall off the echelon.
An expert from the Federal Air Transport Agency says that a preliminary study of the voice recorder recording gives priority to versions of a technical malfunction of the airliner and a pilot error. However, other versions are also being worked out. For example, the ingress of foreign objects into the engine (for example, birds), low-quality fuel, resulting in a loss of power and engine failure.
The GVSU investigators, who are investigating the disaster, also lean towards the technical factor.
Probably, the cause of the Tu-154 crash during the climb could be a failure of the aircraft's hydraulic system, which led to a complete loss of the crew's ability to control the aircraft. The reason for the failure of the aircraft's hydraulic system could be a short circuit in one of the airliner's engines, - a source at the GVSU told Life.
Experts will be able to confirm or deny this version in the near future.
The Tu-154 crash occurred on December 25, 2016 at 5:40 am Moscow time, 1.7 kilometers from the coast of Sochi. The board of the Russian Ministry of Defense flew to the Syrian Khmeimim from the Chkalovsky airfield, while it refueled at the Sochi airport. There were 92 people on board. Two minutes after taking off from the runway, not having time to gain altitude, the plane disappeared from the radar screens. The crew did not give any alarm signals.
Rescuers have already found the tail section of the Tu-154 with engines, as well as flight recorders and 14 bodies of the victims.