A321 accident. The crash of the Kogalymavia A321 aircraft was the largest in the history of Russian aviation. Investigation into the causes of the Sinai tragedy

On October 31, 2015, a Russian aircraft Airbus A321 of Kogalymavia Airlines (Metrojet), operating flight 9268 Sharm el-Sheikh - St. Petersburg, on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.

There were 224 people on board the plane, including 217 passengers (58 men, 134 women and 25 children - of which 212 were citizens Russian Federation, four people are citizens of Ukraine, one citizen of Belarus) and seven crew members.

Most of the people on the plane were residents of St. Petersburg. Residents of neighboring regions also returned to Russia - Leningrad region, Novgorod, Pskov, Karelia, several people from other subjects of the Federation. Everyone on board died. The disaster was the largest in the history of Russian and Soviet aviation.

The Airbus-A321 aircraft of the Kogalymavia airline (Metrojet), in which the tour operator Brisco, took off from Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt) to St. Petersburg on October 31 at 06.51 Moscow time and disappeared from the radar screens after 23 minutes. According to the Egyptian Directorate civil aviation, the airliner followed at an altitude of 9.4 kilometers, then sharply decreased by 1.5 kilometers, after which it disappeared from the radar.

There was no word on the fate of the plane for quite some time. The airliner disappeared from radar screens in the Cyprus region, so for half an hour they could not determine the exact location of the possible crash.

For searches Russian plane was the military aviation of Egypt. The Israel Defense Forces sent a reconnaissance aircraft to Egypt to participate in the search operation.

Wreckage of A321 was found in the center Sinai Peninsula in the mountains between the districts of El-Kantala and El-Laksim near the city of El-Hasna. To identify the aircraft, they sent emergency services Egypt, where a large-scale search and rescue operation was carried out.

In agreement with Cairo, a group of forces and assets of the Russian United state system prevention and liquidation of emergency situations (RSChS) in the amount of more than one thousand people and 250 units of equipment, of which from the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia - more than 660 people and 100 units of equipment, as well as psychologists of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia.

Search operations were organized on site using unmanned aerial vehicles and space monitoring data, and more than 40 square kilometers of territory were examined.

On the day of the plane crash, two A321 flight emergency recorders were found in Cairo - voice and parametric.

In connection with the crash of a Russian plane in Egypt, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared mourning in the country on November 1, 2015. The authorities of St. Petersburg until November 3, and the Leningrad region until November 4.

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation on the fact of the plane crash of a Russian plane in Egypt was first under the article “Violation of flight rules and preparation for them,” then another under the article “Performance of work or provision of services that do not meet safety requirements.” Later they were in the same production.

On instructions from the President, the Russian government in connection with the disaster, headed by Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov. The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) was under the leadership of the executive director of the committee, Viktor Sorochenko.

Cairo immediately after the disaster, all interested countries offered the opportunity to take part in the investigation of the tragedy. A special team was created, which included specialists from five countries: Russia, Egypt, France (the state that developed the aircraft), Germany (the state that manufactured the airliner) and Ireland (the state of registration). Ayman al-Muqaddam was appointed head of the commission to investigate the disaster.

On November 1, 2015, Egyptian Prosecutor General Nabil Ahmed Sadek investigated the causes of the crash of a Russian plane in the Sinai Peninsula. According to the Russian Ambassador in Cairo, Sergei Kirpichenko, Russia and Egypt have an agreement, according to which Russian specialists have access to almost everywhere they want to go as part of the investigation into the A321 crash.

Group of investigators and criminologists of the central office Investigative Committee Russia, in agreement with the competent authorities and together with representatives of the Republic of Egypt, in accordance with the norms of national and international law, participated in the inspection of the site of the plane crash in Egypt.

The head of the FSB of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bortnikov, during a meeting in the Kremlin on the results of the investigation into the causes of the crash of the Russian plane, said that as a result of an examination of personal belongings, luggage and parts of the plane that crashed in Egypt, traces of foreign-made explosives were identified. It happened like a terrorist attack.

In turn, the Egyptian authorities. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that this criminal case is considering the terrorist attack as one of the versions.

In March 2016, the International Commission of Inquiry into the crash of the Russian A321 aircraft announced that it was from the Investigative Committee of Russia and transferred it to the Egyptian Prosecutor General's Office to complete legal procedures. The commission itself, despite the transfer of the case to the investigative authorities of the country's state security, will continue the technical examination of the wreckage of the airliner.

In mid-April, Egypt's Prosecutor General Nabil Sadek reported the crash of a Russian plane to the country's Supreme State Security Prosecutor's Office. The decision of the head of the supervisory agency, as noted in the text of the statement, was made on the basis of data from the report of the Investigative Committee of Russia, “which indicates a suspicion of the presence of a criminal trail.”

In June, CIA Director John Brennan, speaking in the US Senate, said that American intelligence implicated the Egyptian group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist movement banned in many countries, in the explosion on the Russian A321 passenger plane. (IS), and on August 4, the Egyptian Ministry of Defense announced the elimination of the leader of this terrorist group.

On August 28, the commission investigating the crash began “laying out” fragments of the aircraft’s structure in an aircraft hangar in the city of Cairo, where they were delivered from the crash site. after its completion, the point from which the destruction of the airliner’s hull began was determined.

According to media reports, when analyzing the layout of the collected fragments of the A321 in the hangar of Cairo airport, experts said that the terrorists placed an explosive device in the tail of the ship, the explosion caused the separation of the tail section and an uncontrolled dive. According to them, Russia has almost completed a report on the causes of the disaster, clearly indicating a terrorist trail: a powerful explosive device with a clock mechanism was used, which provoked a strong blast wave and fire.

The investigation into the crash of the Russian A321 over the Sinai Peninsula. On October 24, it became known that an investigation commission formed by the Egyptian Prosecutor General's Office sent twelve fragments of the airliner to a scientific alloy laboratory for a detailed study.

After the disaster, there were flights to Egypt from the Russian Federation and there was a flow of tourists. Russia stated the need to ensure security at Egyptian airports in order to resume air traffic between the countries. A number of European airlines have also suspended flights to this country. The Egyptian authorities are making great efforts to improve security measures in resort areas and airports, wanting to restore the flow of tourists. In the months since the tragedy, many foreign expert delegations have visited Egyptian airport security inspections in Cairo, Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

The death of aircraft A-321, operating flight 9268 from Egyptian Sharm el-Sheikh to Pulkovo with 217 passengers and seven crew members on board, became the largest aviation disaster in the history of Russia and the USSR. In the Soviet Union, the worst air accident occurred in the Uchkuduk area on July 10, 1985. Then, as a result of the crash of a Tu-154 flying from Karshi to Leningrad, 191 passengers and nine crew members were killed.

From the very beginning, the death of flight 9268 of the Kogalymavia company (Metrojet) was accompanied not only by unverified information, but also by outright fabrications. In the first hours after the tragedy, Arab news agencies reported, citing some rescuers operating at the crash site, that the A-321 fell apart into two large parts and groans and requests for help were even heard from the tail. A little later, some representatives of the “Islamic State” took responsibility for terrorist attack on board a Russian plane. This statement was immediately picked up by foreign and some domestic media.

On the fateful day, Airbus A-321 took off from the Egyptian airport at 6:51 Moscow time (3.51 GMT), but already at 7.14 (4.14) it did not contact Larnaca airport, and a few seconds earlier the flight disappeared from radar screens.

As a result of the search and rescue operations that began, it was established that the wreckage of the plane, scattered over an area of ​​16 to 20 square kilometers, had characteristic signs that the Airbus had collapsed in the air. Let us recall that the wreckage of the Malaysian Boeing 777, which was traveling on flight MH-17 and died over the south-east of Ukraine, was spread over an area of ​​more than 50 square kilometers. Already on November 1, the Federal Air Transport Agency and the Interstate Aviation Committee confirmed that the destruction of the A-321 occurred while still in the air.

At this moment, despite the fact that the flight recorders, also known as “black boxes,” were not only found by rescuers, but are already being decrypted, data on the flight parameters of the A-321 Kogalymavia is available only from the FlightRadar24 Internet service.

At 7.12 (4.12) the plane was at an altitude of 10,200 meters (33,500 feet), continuing to climb in order to reach the flight level to Pulkovo Airport. The flight speed was approximately 750 kilometers per hour (just over 400 knots), and the vertical speed was constant. But exactly at 7.13 (4.13) the flight speed dropped to 170 kilometers per hour (just over 20 knots) and, according to calculations by the aviation-safety.net resource (the diagram was obtained as a result of processing FR24 data), the vertical speed became equal to 6000 feet per minute or 30.48 meters per second (a negative reading means the plane is descending). This was no longer a decline or a dive, but actually a fall. At this point, the A-321, having lost 5,000 feet, was at an altitude of about 8,600 meters (28,375 feet).

And then something strange begins. In a matter of seconds (from 07.13.00 to 07.13.22), the vertical speed of the liner rose to 4000 feet per minute (20.3 m/s), then dropped again to 6000, but then sharply increased to 4000 feet per minute. The plane went up. But not having time to gain the lost hundreds of meters, the liner began to fall again at a vertical speed of 6,500 feet per minute (33 m/s). And again the fall gave way to a sharp climb. From 13/07/15 to 13/07/19 the vertical speed increased to 9000 feet per minute (45 m/s). The Airbus went into a sharp climb, which at 07.13.22 again ended in a fall, during which, most likely, the plane began to crumble.

To summarize, for 22 seconds the plane actually tried to stop its fall and begin to climb, stalling each time. But then its vertical speed increased to such levels that the vehicle reached maximum angles of attack and, accordingly, prohibitive overloads. Next - the fall and destruction of A-321.

Note that the given vertical speed indicators were obtained from processing data from the FlightRadar24 service and in reality could be lower.

There was a report in the media that the plane's crew allegedly turned to air traffic controllers for help. According to some sources, he reported some kind of malfunction, according to others, he requested permission to land. But both Egyptian and Russian authorities deny that such a conversation took place.

In the first hours after the tragedy, evidence emerged that the deceased A-321 had engine problems, which the pilots repeatedly reported to their management. True, on the evening of October 31, representatives of the carrier stated that there were no complaints, the airliner underwent all routine maintenance in a timely manner.

The Military-Industrial Courier observer was able to communicate with employees and personnel of companies operating similar passenger liners, as well as representatives of Russian government bodies responsible for control in the aviation sector.

Most of the interlocutors unequivocally stated that they would not draw conclusions at least until the transcripts of the flight recorders were announced, but agreed to give explanations on the already existing facts.

But a mechanical failure of the rudders or stabilizer could only lead to the plane crashing. Kit

Judging by aviation-safety.net, although there was a sharp decrease in speed, one can hardly talk about problems or failure of one of the IAE V2500 engines. In this case, the plane could not climb several times before falling. According to one of the representatives of the airline - operator of the A-321, this at least indicates that not only power plants they retained traction, but the automatic propulsion system also worked.

We can say that for 22 seconds the autopilot of the airliner tried to fend off something that, according to one of the interlocutors, “was almost impossible to fend off.” But then, instead of stabilizing the airliner, the automation, unable to cope, sent the plane into a sharp climb, which led to extreme overloads, reaching critical angles of attack, stalling (possibly a spin) and structural destruction.

The reasons for the impact that led to the death of the Airbus could be either mechanical problems with the elevators or stabilizer, or a failure of the automation itself, also known as the EDCS (electronic remote control system). It is possible that the pilots, faced with a malfunction in the control system, tried to hold the plane on their own, countering the impact.

heights in this case are unrealistic. And even a partial failure of the control system causes the occurrence of so-called self-oscillations, to which the above data on vertical speed are very similar.

True, almost all those interviewed questioned the possibility of a failure of the EMDS, pointing out that this had not happened during the operation of the A-321, and that the Airbus control system itself was very reliable and its most important elements were duplicated.

Industry representatives were also quite skeptical about the possible destruction of the aircraft by anti-aircraft missile systems, as well as the detonation of a device placed on board by terrorists. A missile hit, as shown by the example of the Malaysian Boeing 777, would lead to instant destruction of the structure and the fall of the remains of the aircraft over a sufficiently large area, the same can be said about the use of IEDs.

The tragedy of flight 9268 is still awaiting investigation. While the data from the flight recorders has not been published, debris is being collected. The remains of the A-321 are laid out ahead, but now not only experts of varying degrees of awareness, but even various officials are drawing attention to the fact that the crashed airliner outlived four owners and the car is already 18 years old - there is no place for such things in the fleets of Russian carriers, the domestic aviation industry must be raised .

The A-321 is the largest aircraft of the A-320 family, which is considered the record holder for the number of aircraft produced and operated. "Three hundred and twenty-first" is capable of transporting from 170 to 220 passengers over a distance of up to 5,600 kilometers. At the same time, the Superjet carries from 98 to 108 passengers with a range of just over three thousand kilometers (or 4,500 in the Long Range version). Theoretically, the newest Russian MS-21, the first flight of which has not yet taken place, should have close indicators to the “three hundred and twenty-first” put into operation in 1994. Tu-204/214, also capable of carrying over 200 passengers over a range of six to seven thousand kilometers (depending on the model), is operated by only a few airlines (the most big park SLO "Russia" and "Red Wings" have 12 and 8 cars, respectively).

Alas, one thing is already clear: the tragedy of flight 9268 will be used for all sorts of loud statements for a long time, and the rise of the domestic aviation industry requires painstaking, hard work.

Airbus A321 flight 9268 of Kogalymavia Airlines (Metrojet brand) crashed and disappeared from radar on the morning of Saturday, October 31. There were 224 people on board the plane - passengers, children, 7 crew members, all of them were Russians. The airliner was operating a “tourist” flight between Sharm El-Sheikh and St. Petersburg.

The latest information about the disaster can also be read on Twitter using the hashtag #KogalymAvia And #7k9268 .

The Egyptian authorities officially confirmed the plane crash and began searching for the wreckage with the army, while the Turkish aviation authorities reported that the airliner had entered their airspace. At the same time, the media previously stated that the airliner continued its flight, but the official press of Cairo states that the plane crash did occur, and the wreckage of the airliner is in Sinai.

The most eloquent illustration is the Flightradar system, which allows you to track any civilian aircraft in the world that have special transponders. According to Flightradar it is seen that the plane "descended at approximately 6,000 feet per minute (110 km/h) before the signal was lost" 23 minutes after takeoff.

The press also reports that the airliner’s crew reported malfunctions; some journalists say that the PIC and co-pilot requested emergency landing- however, this information has not yet been confirmed.

Let us note that many pilots and aviation experts, speaking about plane crashes, recalled that an engine failure (without destroying the engine or the aircraft) does not lead to the crash of airliners - they can glide even with all engines turned off to the nearest airfield (this has also happened in the history of aviation - media they remember both the emergency landing of the Tu-204 and the “Gimli glider”).

“The plane crashed in a closed military zone. Counter-terrorism operations are being carried out there,” reports VGTRK.

A state of emergency was introduced in northern Sinai in Egypt in connection with the crash of a Russian plane; the Prime Minister of Egypt, rescuers and military personnel went to the crash site.

Reuters reports that "the screams of surviving passengers may be heard at the crash site."

“The CREW OF THE CRASHED RUSSIAN AIRLINER COMPLAINED ABOUT ENGINE PROBLEMS SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK,” news agencies report.

"Egyptian emergency services have begun removing the bodies of those killed in the crash of the Russian A-321 in the Sinai Peninsula," - reports AFP. The disaster site is cordoned off and protected from looters.

"The bodies of five children have been found; the Russian plane that crashed in Sinai has broken into two parts," AFP said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his deepest condolences to the relatives of those killed in the Kogalymavia plane crash, ordering rescuers to be sent to the scene of the tragedy.

“The total flight time of the 48-year-old commander of the plane that crashed in Egypt was 3,682 hours. Of these, Valery Nemov flew 1,100 hours as an aircraft commander,” Lifenews.ru said.

“As it became known, before flying on an A-321 type aircraft, Valery Nemov flew a TU-154. The pilot was retrained in training center AmurAir, located in Turkey,” adds the press, calling the PIC a professional pilot.

It became known that at least one of the passengers on the flight posted a photo of the plane and her husband and daughter before takeoff, writing " we're flying home ".

“According to the Egyptian side, the plane was trying to land at El-Arish airfield,” the Russian Embassy reported.

“As it became known, about a hundred bodies of passengers were pulled out from under the wreckage of a Russian airliner that crashed 100 kilometers from El-Arish in the north of the Sinai Peninsula,” reports Egypt Independet.

“Eyewitnesses say that the plane that crashed in Egypt was burning in the air,” Kommersant FM reported.

Media reported that rescuers found one of the flight recorders - black boxes - at the scene of the tragedy.

President Vladimir Putin declared mourning on November 1 in connection with the crash of a Russian airliner in Egypt.

The bodies of all 17 children were found at the A-321 crash site in Egypt. RIA Novosti reports with reference to a civil aviation representative.

As Gazeta.Ru found out, travel company Brisco, whose clients were flying on the crashed plane, and Kogalymavia airline are owned by the same people.

“Either a fire in the central/tail section, or an engine fire spreading throughout the entire nacelle with subsequent thermal destruction of the wing,” they write on a professional pilot forum.

The local Bedouin tribe Al Tayaha saw a Russian Kogalymavia airliner crash on the Sinai Peninsula. According to the nomads, the Airbus A321 burst into flames in the air, in particular, they saw one of the plane’s engines burning.

"Many died in seats wearing seat belts," Egyptian intelligence official/Reuters

The office of the owner of the Kogalymavia airline on Stoleshnikov Lane in Moscow is being searched. Law enforcement officers are seizing documents and electronic media from the office, media reports.

Egyptian aviation authorities do not rule out that the plane crash Russian airline“Kogalymavia” in Egypt occurred due to a terrorist attack, CBS Extra reports. “This version is unlikely, since terrorists in the region do not have the appropriate weapons - anti-aircraft missile systems, because the plane was at an altitude of more than 6 thousand meters,” experts say.

“A couple of months ago, rockets were fired at Israeli territory from Sinai. In Syria and Libya, Islamists captured dozens of C125 and C200 complexes. In Yemen, firefights are taking place using Point U, and the Saudis have deployed Patriots along the entire border,” they write on social networks.

"According to a representative of the Egyptian investigation committee aviation incidents Ayman al-Mugadem, the pilot warned ground controllers that the plane had " technical problem“and he needs to land as soon as possible,” Izvestia reports.

Egyptian authorities said no one survived the Russian plane crash, Reuters reported.

Before taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh, the crashed plane underwent the necessary technical checks and no faults were identified, said the head of the Egyptian airport company Adel Mahgoub. “A technical inspection of the aircraft was carried out and its airworthiness was confirmed,” he emphasized.

The biggest disaster in the history of our civil aviation occurred this morning. 224 people - passengers and crew of the flight Sharm el-Sheikh - St. Petersburg - crashed in Egypt, on the Sinai Peninsula. People were flying back from vacation with their families. 27 children among the dead. The Egyptian Prime Minister said that 129 bodies have been found so far. Experts are working on the "black box".

This is the first evidence of a plane crash in Sinai - photographs published by an Egyptian television channel. The first - for the whole day. Before this, there was not a single photograph, not a single video recording, even the shortest one. Towards evening, the first military helicopters carrying the remains of disaster victims from Sinai landed at the Egyptian Air Force Kabrit air base, a little over a hundred kilometers from Cairo. Ambulances - a long line of cars with lights flashing - transport them from the airbase to the Cairo morgue. Before nightfall, the bodies of almost all the dead were delivered to the Egyptian capital. From there they will be sent to Russia, to St. Petersburg.

“Since this tragic incident, our countries have been working in close contact. The President and government of Egypt expressed condolences in this regard and offered to do everything possible to, firstly, conduct a joint investigation, and secondly, help in transporting the bodies of our citizens to their homeland ", said the Russian Ambassador to Egypt Sergei Kirpichenko.

Airbus Flight 9268 flew for only 23 minutes. Much longer - several hours after it disappeared from radar - conflicting information came about the fate of the liner. It was not immediately possible to create a more or less clear picture of what happened in the skies over Sinai.

Sharm el-Sheikh airport, 5 hours 51 minutes local time (6.51 Moscow time). Airbus "Kogalymavia" is charter airline, also known under the Metrojet brand, took off and is heading for St. Petersburg. There were almost no empty seats left. An experienced crew commander - 12 thousand flight hours, a third of which were on an Airbus 321. Almost immediately after takeoff, he discovered some problems on board, contacted the ground, reported the malfunctions, and asked for permission to land at the nearest airfield. At this point the session ended, and the Airbus did not make contact again. By 7:14 am Moscow time, the plane was lost by radar.

“At 7.14 I was supposed to establish a communication session with Larnaca, the Republic of Cyprus. Radio communication did not take place with the plane, it was lost. The aircraft’s mark also disappeared from the radio radars of the dispatch services. There were 217 passengers and 7 crew members on board the plane, mostly citizens Russia," said Sergei Izvolsky, press secretary of the Federal Air Transport Agency.

Of the 217 passengers, 27 were children. Families were returning from a holiday in Sharm.

Judging by data from the Internet resource Flytradar, the last thing the earth recorded was that the plane dropped about two kilometers in altitude a minute before disappearing from the screens. The speed also dropped sharply: from almost 750 kilometers per hour, first to 350, and then to 170 kilometers per hour! This is the last thing the transponder transmitted, and these numbers are beyond critical. Big liner at such a low speed it simply cannot stay in the air. Moreover, according to witnesses who observed the crash of the Airbus, its engine seemed to be on fire.

The plane had already crashed - it fell in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, 35 kilometers from the city of El-Arish, and the press and news agencies continued to pour out contradictory messages. Someone immediately declared the plane crashed. Then information came that he allegedly got in touch again. Then all the confusing references to Egyptian dispatchers appeared, who allegedly claimed that they had handed over the Airbus to their Turkish colleagues. But this information was not confirmed either.

Closer to noon, it became clear that the plane did not leave Egyptian airspace. The prime minister of this country canceled all trips, called an emergency meeting and announced that the plane had crashed after all. A state of emergency has been declared in Sinai. And finally, in the afternoon, it was officially announced: the wreckage had been found.

“We have sent a working group of the Ministry of Civil Aviation to the scene of the crash. It will conduct an investigation, this is a standard procedure. Of course, we are in constant contact with the Russian ambassador,” said Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail.

Those who were the first to see the crash site with their own eyes conveyed news that finally buried hope: the liner was completely destroyed, there was no chance of finding survivors. After another half hour, rescuers began to remove the bodies of the dead from the rubble. Search efforts were complicated by the difficult mountainous terrain and the fact that the fallen airliner was literally scattered around the area.

An Egyptian security officer described a terrible scene to Reuters: "I am witnessing a tragic scene. There are many dead bodies lying on the ground, many of them fastened with seat belts in their seats. The plane is split into two parts. The first - a small tail part - is burned, the second - the large front part crashed into the rock. We have already recovered 100 bodies, the rest are still under the rubble. We heard dozens of phones ringing that belonged to the dead, our officers collected them in a bag."

The crashed Airbus 321 was in operation for about 19 years - this is quite acceptable in civil aviation; another question is how the aircraft was maintained. This particular aircraft served for several years in airlines in the countries of the Middle East region: in Lebanon, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Syria. The Russian Kogalymavia acquired it in 2012.

Experts are looking into the causes of the tragedy, but photographs of the people remain. Photos of those who flew from Egypt, returned from vacation on flight 9268 and, before takeoff, managed to leave publications on social networks with the following caption, for example: “Hello, Peter, goodbye, Egypt. We are flying home.”

October 31, 2015, flight Sharm el-Sheikh - St. Petersburg. Someone looks through photos on their phone, imagining how they will tell their family and friends about their vacation. Married couples calm down children who are acting too violently in the morning - and are probably afraid to fly. Departure was on schedule, we headed straight into the sky. The very next day, the media circulated a photo of the “main passenger” - ten-month-old Darina Gromova. This photograph will become a kind of symbol of the fateful Airbus flight 321, from which none of the 224 people returned alive.

"Flight in normal mode"

The plane took off safely and began to climb at 6:50 Moscow time. Everything is going as normal, when suddenly after 23 minutes the dispatchers lose contact with the crew.

Meanwhile, St. Petersburg Pulkovo Airport reports that the flight is delayed “for technical reasons.” Time is postponed once, rescheduled twice... In Russia, they try not to think about the worst and nervously wait for messages from relatives: about an emergency landing, or about anything, as long as they write. When the flowers had already begun to fade, and the message about the next flight postponement was on the board, the relatives’ nerves could not stand it: calls began pouring in to the Kogalymavia airline and the tour operator Brisco. “We’re figuring everything out,” “Don’t worry,” people in different authorities heard.

And then came the news that flashed through everyone’s head, but they refused to believe. It was not immediately known that everyone had died. One of the rescuers who immediately moved to the scene after the crash reported that he heard the voices of passengers coming from under the wreckage of the liner. Within minutes it became clear: I hadn’t heard, it seemed.

Main passenger

A photograph of ten-month-old Darina Gromova from Gatchina, taken at Pulkovo airport, seemed to have gone around all the well-known Russian media and was circulated on social networks. The photograph became one of the symbols of that terrible tragedy.

Son, Alexey, wanted to be a pilot. Only I didn’t allow it,” Darina’s grandmother Elena later told Life.

Alexey's father was a military pilot for 30 years. The young man himself graduated from a technical specialty and went to work for an IT company. Here he met Tatyana. The young people got married a little more than a year before the tragedy. The young man’s social network page, which is still accessible, contains many photos of the couple in love, taken on their wedding day.

Tatyana called her daughter “the main passenger.” Before the flight from Pulkovo, she photographed a girl who was pressing her hands against the glass and posted the picture on social networks.

Darina’s grandmother suggested that parents not take their child on the flight: he would be scared and would not tolerate it well. But they didn’t listen: the child needed to bask in the sun.

"I won't live without her"

October 31st was a tragedy for thousands of people. Svetlana Dudochkina’s husband, Anatoly, was unable to fly with his wife on vacation that time. The couple had been to Egypt more than once, so the woman knew quite well how to behave at the resort. His warning seemed even more strange.

It was the first time she went on vacation without me. I told her that if something happens, I won’t survive without her. “I don’t want to live anymore, I’m not interested,” Anatoly said after the crash.

The woman went on vacation in the company of her daughter and two young grandchildren. But the daughter decided to stay another day or two, since there was an opportunity to rest longer. As a result, only Svetlana of the whole family boarded the fateful flight.

Birthday gift

On October 27, the common-law wife of the then deputy head of Pskov, Alexandra Kopylova, celebrated her birthday. He bought trips for himself and his beloved, Elena Melnikova. They didn’t want to let me go from work, but the deputy head of the city persuaded me to do it. He argued that the reason was too weighty.

The man met his future common-law wife at work. The fact is that Elena is the head of the personnel department in the Pskov City Duma. Alexander’s wife died several years earlier, Elena was divorced. They had been together for about a year at that point.

All the time on vacation, Elena talked on social networks about how they had a very good rest - swimming, sunbathing and generally “having a blast.” I went online for the last time three hours before the fateful flight.

“A little more and I’ll leave aviation”

Senior flight attendant, 38-year-old Valentina Martsevich, who devoted 12 years to the sky, planned to retire from aviation in the near future. I wanted peace of mind and made plans for a calm family life. Valentina's husband, Maxim, is the commander of the aircraft. At that moment he was on a China Airlines flight.

Valentina herself is from Anapa, she was working at the Krasnodar airport when she met her future husband. Soon they moved to Moscow together. He is always on the flight, she is on the next flight. Tired of seeing my husband and family in fits and starts.

On October 5, her birthday, she flew home to hug her mother. Friends later recalled that she behaved quite strangely: she spoke strangely, smiled strangely, and took a lot of pictures.

While returning to Moscow, shortly before the fateful flight, the woman got scared for the first time in her life while boarding. She told her friends how the plane was shaking and she was afraid that the pilots would not land the plane successfully.

"Fluffy, I'm waiting"

Flight attendant Marina Okhotnikova was supposed to meet her steward husband Andrei Belomestnov at Domodedovo on November 1. The plan looked like this: Andrey lands in Pulkovo, rests, and then goes to Moscow as a passenger. 20 minutes after its arrival in the capital, it lands. The young people were planning an unforgettable weekend.

The couple had a tradition: all four years that they were together, Andrei sent his beloved SMS during such “intersections” with the same text: “Fluffy, I’m already waiting for you.” This time there was no message. Andrei was supposed to turn 30 in November...

Versions

Experts considered four main versions of the plane crash: a technical malfunction, a pilot error, that the plane was shot down, and an explosion.

Technical problem

The first version that investigators began to consider was a technical malfunction. Allegedly the liner had defects. For example, 14 years before the tragedy, in November 2001, at Cairo airport, the airliner landed unsuccessfully and hit the ground with its tail. At that time it was still owned by Middle East Airlines. After the incident, the aircraft was repaired and sold. After that he was chartered various airlines until, finally, it “settled” in Kogalymavia in 2012.

You can say whatever you want about this airline, but any aircraft of any carrier undergoes inspection before a new flight. In addition, the boards undergo technical checks. So, the engines of the airliner were examined five days before the tragedy. And it is unlikely that the experts would have missed such a significant malfunction that could have caused the plane to crash. This point of view was confirmed by the airline. In addition, experienced pilots have repeatedly said that none of the crew members would risk their own lives, but would simply refuse to fly if in doubt.

Another fact speaks against the version of a malfunction: on the eve of the crash, the Airbus was flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to Samara and back. After that, it underwent maintenance at the Egyptian airport; no critical problems were recorded.

A week after the tragedy, IAC representatives said that until the recording of the recorders stopped, the flight proceeded as normal; information about failures of the aircraft’s systems and components was not recorded on the parametric recorder.

Crew error

This version became the second. Allegedly, the pilots could panic and behave incorrectly in a critical situation. This version was denied by the Federal Air Transport Agency on the same day. PIC Valery Nemov was originally a military pilot, and after retirement (the man was 48 years old) he retrained as a civil aviation pilot at the AmurAir training center in Turkey. His total flight experience is 3,682 hours, of which 1,100 hours were as an aircraft commander.

The co-pilot, 45-year-old Sergei Trukhachev, had 5,641 flight hours under his belt - more than the PIC. He underwent special training in the Czech Republic to fly the A321.

The Kogalymavia pilots themselves ruled out the possibility of an error: they posted a letter on the Internet just a few hours after the tragedy, where they claimed that there could be no error.

Shot down

Shortly after the crash, ISIS militants claimed responsibility for the plane crash. They even published a video where the aircraft was allegedly shot down. It soon turned out that the video was nothing more than a fake, and no one shot down the Russian airliner.

After a preliminary inspection of the wreckage of the plane, it became clear to experts that no one had fired at it.

The plane broke up in the air. Initially, the tail section was torn off, and then the entire airliner began to disintegrate. The wreckage of the aircraft was located at a distance of about 40 km from each other, the tail and nose were at a distance of 5 km.

Terrorist attack

This version is a priority. The media began writing about the fact that there was a bomb on board a few hours after the tragedy. Within a month, the fact of the explosion was confirmed by Russian experts. Thus, on November 16, 2015, the head of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov, at a meeting in the Kremlin for the first time officially stated that what happened was a terrorist attack.

It was initially assumed that the bomb was planted between passenger seats in the 30th row. However, later experts came to the conclusion that an improvised explosive device with a capacity of up to 1 kg in TNT equivalent was located in the tail section, next to the baby strollers. A timer installed in the bomb counted down how many more minutes the 224 people would live. After the explosion, the tail section of the airliner was torn off, and it went into an uncontrolled dive.

For a long time, Egyptian officials did not officially recognize the incident as a terrorist attack (according to one version, for fear of multimillion-dollar lawsuits from relatives of the victims). Cairo called for waiting for the official results of the investigation, which, by the way, are still missing. However, in February 2017, the representative of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Ahmed Abu Zeid, somewhat admitted that a terrorist attack had occurred on board.

Dozens or even hundreds of people became victims of terrorist operations, including as a result of the crash of a Russian airliner in the Sinai, he said.

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