Kazakh pilot calls for thorough probe in fatal plane crash
The most famous female pilot from Kazakhstan, the former head of the Department of Flight Operations of the Civil Aviation Committee, Toty Amirova, has commented on the plane crash near Aktau, which resulted in the deaths of 38 people.
On Wednesday, December 25, a passenger plane of Azerbaijan Airlines, traveling from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Russia, crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan. The crash led to the deaths of 38 people and left 29 injured.
A cross-departmental investigative and operational group, led by the General Prosecutor's Office of Kazakhstan, has been appointed to investigate the disaster. The team includes experts from the Transport Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
The renowned Kazakh pilot, Toty Amirova, commented on the crash. She believes that the investigative commission should include representatives not only from the plane's manufacturer, Brazil, but also from the engine's country of origin, the USA.
"Many citizens fear that the commission might conceal the real cause of the accident, but I am confident that, in our current reality, nothing can be hidden. Over the past few years, technology has improved significantly. In modern planes, information from black boxes is replicated on servers, and some airlines have online recordings of black boxes, making their destruction almost impossible," said the pilot, as quoted by the service tengrinews.kz.
"Additionally, the recordings of conversations between the dispatcher and pilots can even be listened to in real-time and are recorded on electronic media," added Toty Amirova.
According to PAP, Azerbaijan Airlines reported on Friday, December 27, that based on preliminary findings, the plane experienced "external physical and technical interference."
Media reports suggest that the crash may have been caused by a Russian surface-to-air missile. This explanation is supported by an American official, quoted by the "Financial Times," who stated that the Azerbaijani passenger plane "may have been hit by a Russian air defense system."