2016 Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 crash

2016 Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 crash
	RA-85572, the aircraft involved, in May 2016
Accident
Date	25 December 2016
Summary	Loss of control at night, spatial disorientation
Site	Black Sea, approx 1.5 km (0.93 mi) off the coast from Sochi, Russia ; 43°25′30″N 39°50′13″E / 43.42500°N 39.83694°ECoordinates: 43°25′30″N 39°50′13″E / 43.42500°N 39.83694°E
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Tupolev Tu-154B-2
Operator	Russian Air Force
Registration	RA-85572
Flight origin	Chkalovsky Airport, Russia
Stopover	Sochi International Airport, Sochi, Russia
Destination	Khmeimim Air Base, Latakia, Syria
Occupants	92
Passengers	84
Crew	8
Fatalities	92
Survivors	0

On 25 December 2016, a Tupolev Tu-154 jetliner of the Russian Defence Ministry crashed into the Black Sea shortly after taking off from Sochi International Airport, Russia, while en route to Khmeimim Air Base, Syria. All 92 passengers and crew on board, including 64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble choir of the Russian Armed Forces, were killed. The aircraft had flown from Chkalovsky Airport and had landed at Sochi to refuel.

Aircraft[]

The aircraft involved was a Tupolev 154B-2,^[1] tail number RA-85572, msn 83A-572,^[1] which had been in operation since 1983,^[2]^[3] and had flown for about 7,000 hours before the crash.^[1]^[4]

Crash[]

Accident site within the western part of Russia

The Tupolev had taken off at 05:27 local time (02:27, 25 December 2016 (UTC) (2016-12-25T02:27UTC)) from the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, Russia, where it had landed to refuel, bound for Syria.^[5] Two minutes after takeoff, the aircraft crashed into the Black Sea, 1.5 kilometres (0.9 mi) from the coast. Wreckage was found at a depth of 50 to 70 metres (160 to 230 ft).^[6]^[7] All 92 people on board were killed.^[1]

Passengers and crew[]

Of the 92 passengers and crew on board, 64 were members of the Alexandrov Ensemble choir, the official choir of the Russian Armed Forces, including its director Valery Khalilov.^[6] The members of the Ensemble were travelling from Moscow to the Russian military base at Khmeimim near Latakia, Syria, to take part in New Year celebrations.^[8]

Among the passengers was Russian humanitarian worker Elizaveta Glinka,^[9] the Director of the Department of Culture for the Russian Ministry of Defence Anton Gubankov,^[10] seven soldiers (besides Khalilov), nine journalists (three each from Channel One Russia, NTV, and Zvezda), and two civilian officials.^{[citation needed]}

Investigation[]

Map of crash site released by the Russian Ministry of Defence

Immediately after the crash, the Investigative Committee of Russia launched a criminal case to probe the cause.^{[citation needed]}

By 27 December, the cockpit voice and flight data recorders had been located, and both were later recovered and sent to Moscow for analysis.^[11]^[12]^[13] By 28 December, the bodies of 18 people had been recovered from the sea.^[14] On 29 December, a third recorder, which backs up data from the CVR and FDR, was found, which, despite being damaged, revealed more information.^[13]

One Russian official downplayed the possibility of a terrorist attack as the cause of the crash, focusing more on the possibility of mechanical or human error.^[15]

A bright flash was purportedly caught on surveillance cameras along the Sochi coastline before the crash.^[16] Witnesses told reporters the plane appeared to experience trouble in gaining altitude, turned 180 degrees, started descending and crashed into the sea.^[17]^[18]

On 27 December it was reported that an investigative source had told the Interfax news agency that Russian investigators believed a fault with the aircraft flaps had caused the crash. The Life.ru news portal was reported to have obtained a recording of the last words of one of the pilots: "Commander, we are going down." There was no official confirmation.^[19]^[20]

On 29 December it was announced by the Flight Safety Service of the Russian Ministry that a preliminary analysis of data from the cockpit voice recorder showed that no explosion had occurred on board.^[21]

On 16 January the Interstate Aviation Committee, the civil authority in aviation accident investigation, announced that its representative would participate in the investigation.^[22]

On 19 January Interfax reported that, during the underwater search, remains had also been found of a Soviet Douglas A-20 Havoc/DB-7 Boston bomber, supplied from the U.S. through the Lend-Lease agreement, which crashed on 15 November 1942.^[23]

On 31 May 2017, Russia's Kommersant said all the evidence pointed to the pilot, Maj Roman Volkov having suffered from somatogravic illusion. Analysis of the flight data suggested that the pilot had "lost his bearings and ignored his instruments, believing that the jet was climbing too sharply." Tiredness was thought to be a factor. Experts said that he was already feeling unwell on the ground and had trouble getting the plane on to the correct runway.^[24]^[25]^[26]

Reactions[]

Russia observed a national day of mourning on 26 December, at the declaration of President Vladimir Putin.^[27]^[28] Lieutenant Colonel Igor Shevernyov, director of the Military Band Service of the Moscow Military District and inspector general of the band service commented to RT on Khalilov's by noting that it was "an irreparable loss."^{[citation needed]} "It will be very difficult for us", said Shevernyov. The NYPD Police Band, which had previously worked with the ensemble in Quebec, also expressed its condolences.^{[citation needed]} The victims were buried in the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery in Mytishchinsky District in Moscow Oblast.^{[citation needed]} Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu ordered that the Moscow Military Music College be given the honorific Valery Khalilov.^[29]

On 28 December, French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo published several cartoons mocking the tragedy.^[30] In response, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said: "If such, I dare say, 'artistry' is the real manifestation of 'Western values', then those who hold and support them are doomed".^[31]

References[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c ^d "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
^ "Туполев Ту-154Б-2" [Tupolev Tu-154B-2] (in Russian). Russianplanes.net.
^ Fedorov, Gleb (25 December 2016). "Monday declared day of mourning following Tu-154 crash near Sochi". Russia Beyond The Headlines. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
^ "All 92 on Syria-bound Russian military jet killed in crash, including 60 from Red Army Choir". Reuters. 25 December 2016.
^ "Russian military plane with 91 on board crashes over Black Sea". ITV.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b "Russian military plane crashes in Black Sea near Sochi". BBC News. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
^ Farrer, Martin. "Russian military plane missing in Black Sea with up to 100 on board". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
^ "Russia focusing on pilot error or technical issues rather than terrorism in plane crash". The Washington Post. 26 December 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
^ "'Dr. Liza' dies in Russian plane crash". Barre Montpelier Times Argus. Archived from the original on 26 December 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
^ "Putin declares national day of mourning over Russia military plane crash". The Straits Times. 25 December 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2016. Other passengers named were the head of the military band, Valery Khalilov, and the head of the defence ministry’s department of culture, Anton Gubankov, said RT.
^ "Russian plane crash: Black box found in wreckage". Sky News. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
^ "Russian plane crash: Experts begin examining flight recorder". BBC. 27 December 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b "Third flight data recorder of Tu-154 plane destroyed – source". TASS. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
^ "В Черном море нашли тела еще трех погибших при крушении Ту-154" [Rescuers find three more bodies from Tu-154 disaster in the Black Sea]. РИА Новости (in Russian). Retrieved 26 December 2016.
^ "Terror attack possible cause of Russian plane crash, investigators say". The Irish Independent. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
^ "(VIDEO) OVO JE TRENUTAK KADA JE AVION PAO U MORE: Od eksplozije noć se pretvorila u dan!" (in Croatian). Kurir, Serbia. Archived from the original on 26 December 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
^ Павлов, Александр; Тихонов, Дмитрий; Тихонов, Дмитрий; Шевченко, Ксения; Шевченко, Ксения (25 December 2016). "Катастрофа Ту-154 Минобороны России в Черном море" [Catastrophe Defense Ministry Russian Tu-154 in the Black Sea] (in Russian). ommersant.ru. Retrieved 27 December 2016 – via Kommersant.
^ "Chyba zkušených pilotů? Rusové našli první černou skříňku, při zkoumání pádu letadla ale stále tápou" [Error experienced pilots? The Russians found the first black box, when examining the plane crash but still grope] (in Czech). zpravy.aktualne.cz. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
^ "Wing flap fault main theory behind Black Sea Russian jet crash". Reuters. 27 December 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
^ Sridharan, Vasudevan (28 December 2016). "'The flaps, damn it,' Russian pilot's last words before Tu-154 plunged into Black Sea". International Business Times. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
^ "Defense Ministry: Terror attack possibility in Tu-154 crash not discarded". TASS. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
^ "TU-154B-2 RA-85572 25.12.2016 investigation". Retrieved 16 January 2017.
^ "Американский бомбардировщик времен войны найден под Сочи в ходе поисков Ту-154". Retrieved 19 January 2017.
^ "Управляемая катастрофа" [Managed catastrophe] (in Russian). 31 May 2017. The Commission fully confirmed as set out in the "b" version of another January 9 that managing their pilot lost orientation in space, hitting the power of the so-called somatogravic illusions.
^ "Russia Black Sea air crash: Pilot error blamed". BBC News. 1 June 2017.
^ "Deadly TU-154 Christmas Day Plane Crash Caused by Human Error, Says Russian Defence Ministry". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
^ Blau, Max. "Russian plane crash: No sign of survivors". CNN. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
^ "Russia Observes Day of Mourning for Crash Victims". The New York Times. Reuters, Associated Press. 26 December 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
^ Ruptly (26 December 2016), Russia: Moscow Military Music College to be renamed after Alexandrov Ensemble director
^ "French Satirists at Charlie Hebdo Infuriate Russians With Mockery of Dec. 25 Plane Crash". The Moscow Times. 28 December 2016.
^ "Charlie Hebdo Cover: Russia Angered By Cartoon Of Tu-154 Plane Crash". International Business Times. 28 December 2016.

[ASN-1] Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c ^d "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 25 December 2016.

[2] "Туполев Ту-154Б-2" [Tupolev Tu-154B-2] (in Russian). Russianplanes.net.

[3] Fedorov, Gleb (25 December 2016). "Monday declared day of mourning following Tu-154 crash near Sochi". Russia Beyond The Headlines. Retrieved 25 December 2016.

[Reuters25Dec16-4] "All 92 on Syria-bound Russian military jet killed in crash, including 60 from Red Army Choir". Reuters. 25 December 2016.

[5] "Russian military plane with 91 on board crashes over Black Sea". ITV.

[BBC38430164-6] Jump up to: ^a ^b "Russian military plane crashes in Black Sea near Sochi". BBC News. Retrieved 25 December 2016.

[7] Farrer, Martin. "Russian military plane missing in Black Sea with up to 100 on board". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 December 2016.

[8] "Russia focusing on pilot error or technical issues rather than terrorism in plane crash". The Washington Post. 26 December 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2016.

[9] "'Dr. Liza' dies in Russian plane crash". Barre Montpelier Times Argus. Archived from the original on 26 December 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2016.

[straitstimesputindeclares-10] "Putin declares national day of mourning over Russia military plane crash". The Straits Times. 25 December 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2016. Other passengers named were the head of the military band, Valery Khalilov, and the head of the defence ministry’s department of culture, Anton Gubankov, said RT.

[Sky10709817-11] "Russian plane crash: Black box found in wreckage". Sky News. Retrieved 27 December 2016.

[12] "Russian plane crash: Experts begin examining flight recorder". BBC. 27 December 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2016.

[tass.com-13] Jump up to: ^a ^b "Third flight data recorder of Tu-154 plane destroyed – source". TASS. Retrieved 29 December 2016.

[14] "В Черном море нашли тела еще трех погибших при крушении Ту-154" [Rescuers find three more bodies from Tu-154 disaster in the Black Sea]. РИА Новости (in Russian). Retrieved 26 December 2016.

[15] "Terror attack possible cause of Russian plane crash, investigators say". The Irish Independent. Retrieved 26 December 2016.

[16] "(VIDEO) OVO JE TRENUTAK KADA JE AVION PAO U MORE: Od eksplozije noć se pretvorila u dan!" (in Croatian). Kurir, Serbia. Archived from the original on 26 December 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2016.

[17] Павлов, Александр; Тихонов, Дмитрий; Тихонов, Дмитрий; Шевченко, Ксения; Шевченко, Ксения (25 December 2016). "Катастрофа Ту-154 Минобороны России в Черном море" [Catastrophe Defense Ministry Russian Tu-154 in the Black Sea] (in Russian). ommersant.ru. Retrieved 27 December 2016 – via Kommersant.

[18] "Chyba zkušených pilotů? Rusové našli první černou skříňku, při zkoumání pádu letadla ale stále tápou" [Error experienced pilots? The Russians found the first black box, when examining the plane crash but still grope] (in Czech). zpravy.aktualne.cz. Retrieved 27 December 2016.

[19] "Wing flap fault main theory behind Black Sea Russian jet crash". Reuters. 27 December 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2016.

[20] Sridharan, Vasudevan (28 December 2016). "'The flaps, damn it,' Russian pilot's last words before Tu-154 plunged into Black Sea". International Business Times. Retrieved 28 December 2016.

[21] "Defense Ministry: Terror attack possibility in Tu-154 crash not discarded". TASS. Retrieved 29 December 2016.

[22] "TU-154B-2 RA-85572 25.12.2016 investigation". Retrieved 16 January 2017.

[23] "Американский бомбардировщик времен войны найден под Сочи в ходе поисков Ту-154". Retrieved 19 January 2017.

[24] "Управляемая катастрофа" [Managed catastrophe] (in Russian). 31 May 2017. The Commission fully confirmed as set out in the "b" version of another January 9 that managing their pilot lost orientation in space, hitting the power of the so-called somatogravic illusions.

[25] "Russia Black Sea air crash: Pilot error blamed". BBC News. 1 June 2017.

[26] "Deadly TU-154 Christmas Day Plane Crash Caused by Human Error, Says Russian Defence Ministry". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 1 September 2017.

[cnn-27] Blau, Max. "Russian plane crash: No sign of survivors". CNN. Retrieved 25 December 2016.

[28] "Russia Observes Day of Mourning for Crash Victims". The New York Times. Reuters, Associated Press. 26 December 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2016.

[29] Ruptly (26 December 2016), Russia: Moscow Military Music College to be renamed after Alexandrov Ensemble director

[30] "French Satirists at Charlie Hebdo Infuriate Russians With Mockery of Dec. 25 Plane Crash". The Moscow Times. 28 December 2016.

[31] "Charlie Hebdo Cover: Russia Angered By Cartoon Of Tu-154 Plane Crash". International Business Times. 28 December 2016.

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show v t Aviation accidents and incidents in the Soviet Union and Russia
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1930s	Osoaviakhim-1 SSSR-V6 OSOAVIAKhIM
1950s	1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash Aeroflot Flight 4 1958 Aeroflot Tu-104 Kanash crash Aeroflot Flight 315 (1959) Aeroflot Flight 120
1960s	Aeroflot Flight 315 (1960) Aeroflot Flight 207 Austrian Airlines Flight 901 Aeroflot Flight 68 Aeroflot Flight 245 Aeroflot Flight 902 Aeroflot Flight 415 Aeroflot Flight 191 Aeroflot Flight 3 Aeroflot Flight 25 Aeroflot Flight 12 CCCP-45021 Aeroflot Flight 663 Aeroflot Flight 721 Aeroflot Flight 20/101 Aeroflot Flight 513 Aeroflot Flight 99 Aeroflot Flight 65 Aeroflot Flight 2723 Aeroflot Flight 5003 (1967) Aeroflot Flight 2230 Aeroflot Flight 51 Aeroflot Flight 15 Aeroflot Flight 831 Aeroflot Flight 826 1969 Yukhnov mid-air collision
1970s	Aeroflot Flight U-45 Aeroflot Flight 1661 CCCP-11000 CCCP-12996 Aeroflot Flight 1969 Aeroflot Flight 1912 Malév Flight 110 Aeroflot Flight 773 Aeroflot Flight 2174 Aeroflot Flight 1491 Aeroflot Flight 558 Aeroflot Flight 1036 Aeroflot Flight 217 Japan Airlines Flight 446 Aeroflot Flight 6263 Aeroflot Flight 141 Aeroflot Flight 630 Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Flight 307 Aeroflot Flight 6551 Aeroflot Flight 109 Aeroflot Flight 13 Aeroflot Flight 3932 Aeroflot Flight 964 Aeroflot Flight 19 Aeroflot Flight 2022 CCCP-75559 1974 Surgut mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 2003 Aeroflot Flight 3739 (1976) Aeroflot Flight 909 Aeroflot Flight 1802 Aeroflot Flight 418 1976 Anapa mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 2415 Aeroflot Flight 36 (1976) Aeroflot Flight 3843 Aeroflot Flight 5003 (1977) Aeroflot Flight 331 CCCP-65639 Aeroflot Flight 2 Aeroflot Flight 6709 Korean Air Lines Flight 902 Aeroflot Flight 1080 Aeroflot Flight 1691 1979 Dniprodzerzhynsk mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 5484
1980s	Aeroflot Flight 4225 1981 Pushkin Tu-104 crash Aeroflot Flight 498 1981 Armenia mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 811 Aeroflot Flight 3603 Aeroflot Flight 8641 Aeroflot Flight 411 Aeroflot Flight 343 Aeroflot Flight 5463 Aeroflot Flight 601 Aeroflot Flight 3352 Aeroflot Flight 3519 Aeroflot Flight 7841 Aeroflot Flight 8381 Aeroflot Flight 7425 Aeroflot Flight 101/435 Aeroflot Flight 2306 Aeroflot Flight 6502 Aeroflot Flight 892 Aeroflot Flight 505 Aeroflot Flight 528 Aeroflot Flight 3739 (1988) Korean Air Lines Flight 007
1990s	Aeroflot Flight 2808 (1992) Sakha Avia Flight 301 (1993) Aeroflot Flight 593 (1994) Stavropolskaya Aktsionernaya Avia Flight 1023 (1997)
2000s	Vladivostok Air Flight 352 (2001) Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 (2001) Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 9560 (2002) 2004 Russian aircraft bombings (2004) Armavia Flight 967 (2006) S7 Airlines Flight 778 (2006) Aeroflot Flight 821 (2008)
2010s	Smolensk air disaster (2010) Dagestan Airlines Flight 372 (2010) Kolavia Flight 348 (2011) RusAir Flight 9605 (2011) Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash (2011) Red Wings Airlines Flight 9268 (2012) Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363 (2013) 2014 Vnukovo Airport Falcon 50 crash (2014) Metrojet Flight 9268 (2015) Flydubai Flight 981 (2016) 2016 Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 crash (2016) Khabarovsk Airlines Flight 463 (2017) Saratov Airlines Flight 703 (2018) Aeroflot Flight 1492 (2019) Angara Airlines Flight 200 (2019) Ural Airlines Flight 178 (2019)
2020s	Volga-Dnepr Airlines Flight 4066 (2020)