Kazan plane stalled after losing speed, flight records show

Russian Civil Defense and law enforcement personnel work on the crash site of the Tatarstan Airlines Boeing 737 which crash landed at Kazan international airport (Maximum photo quality available).(RIA Novosti / Vladimir Astapkovich)

The plane that crashed in Russia on Sunday rapidly lost speed and as it was attempting a second landing at Kazan airport, preliminary analysis of the flight recorder has shown. The plane then nosedived to the ground, killing all 50 people on board.

Forensic analysis indicates a technical failure as the likely cause of the deadly incident, Interfax reported, citing a source familiar with the investigation. “Not everything went smoothly. There weretechnical difficulties minutes before the crash, just before the second landing attempt,” the source said.

The source said that the results are preliminary and would not comment on the nature of the problems. He said, however, that apparently the plane lost much of its speed and stalled, which explained the nosedive seen on video footage taken by security cameras on the ground.

The data was recovered from the parametric flight recorder discovered at the crash site.

The probe is complicated by the absence of the recording capsule from the voice flight recorder, which apparently was destroyed when the powerful impact and explosion damaged the device. There is hope that the tape may be found among the fragments of the aircraft scattered across the airfield, rather than being obliterated.

Meanwhile the head of the airline admitted on Tuesday that the pilot may have lacked experience. When asked whether that captain had previously performed a go-around maneuver, Aksan Giniyatullin, head of Tatarstan airlines, replied “No, I believe not.” 

The Tatarstan Airlines Boeing 737 crashed Sunday evening as it was trying to land in Kazan, the capital of Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, after a 500-mile flight from Moscow. There were 44 passengers and six crew members on board. Among the victims were Irek Minnikhanov, son of Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, and the head of the regional branch of the Federal Security Service, as well as a British citizen.

Technical failure and pilot error are both suspected to have caused the crash. The official investigation is still ongoing.