Investigators are attempting to grasp why an Azerbaijan Airways jet heading to Russia crashed on Christmas, killing 38 folks. The aircraft skilled an explosion earlier than it went down in Kazakhstan.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Investigators are attempting to piece collectively why an Azerbaijan Airways jet crashed yesterday in Kazakhstan. Thirty-eight folks died, and greater than two dozen others survived. Azerbaijan noticed a nationwide day of mourning at the moment. Video of the wreckage exhibits punctures within the rear of the plane. And that has some questioning whether or not the jet was introduced down by an explosion over Russia. NPR transportation editor Russell Lewis is overlaying the story. Hello there.
RUSSELL LEWIS, BYLINE: Hello there.
SHAPIRO: Inform us extra about what occurred yesterday.
LEWIS: Properly, it is nonetheless very early within the investigation. What we are able to say is that the Embraer 190 took off from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku for an hour-long flight to Grozny, in Russia. For the primary half-hour or so of the journey, there was actually nothing out of the strange, however then the aviation monitoring website, Flightradar24, says the jet encountered vital GPS interference. And in some unspecified time in the future not lengthy after this, the surviving passengers reported listening to a loud bang, much like an explosion.
SHAPIRO: And what occurred after that?
LEWIS: Properly, Flightradar24, which tracks planes worldwide, says that this specific jet wasn’t sending any positional knowledge for a complete of about half-hour. However it definitely seems that the flight crew was wrestling with the aircraft because it started to climb and descend uncontrollably. And Ari, we have seen this factor earlier than when a aircraft’s hydraulic traces are broken. And for causes that are not but clear, the jet flew east throughout the Caspian Sea and tried to land at an airport in Kazakhstan. Bystander video exhibits the aircraft actually flying in a collection of oscillations because it moved up and down and finally crashed. And we now have to level out that the flight crew did an incredible job of maintaining the aircraft in a considerably flyable situation, and it is one purpose why greater than two dozen folks survived.
SHAPIRO: That is exceptional. Let’s speak about what might need prompted this. I discussed punctures within the rear of the plane. You stated there was vital GPS interference. What different clues are there?
LEWIS: Properly, I feel a few of the different – I imply, the really vital clues are in movies that had been recorded of the wreckage. In each the tail of the plane and the rear fuselage, there have been quite a few holes, and these had been small – maybe an inch or so throughout. And these punctures pushed the steel inward, which means that no matter prompted this occurred on the surface of the aircraft. We all know this a part of Russia has been topic to drone assaults fired by Ukraine’s army. And we additionally know that Russia has been utilizing antiaircraft artillery and utilizing GPS jammers to attempt to shoot down these drones earlier than they get to their targets.
Once more, it is too quickly to pinpoint what occurred and why, however certainly, these are the sorts of issues that investigators shall be parsing over within the days and weeks forward. And Embraer, which is the Brazilian maker of this aircraft, has a powerful security report, as does Azerbaijan Airways. The final deadly crash for the airline was 19 years in the past.
SHAPIRO: Wow. Properly, has Russia stated something?
LEWIS: Properly, the Russian authorities has warned in opposition to hypothesis at this level about the reason for the crash. A Kremlin spokesman stated, and I am quoting right here, “we, in fact, won’t do that, and nobody ought to do that. We have to wait till the investigation is accomplished.” You realize, the climate in Grozny – it wasn’t the perfect when this occurred. It was overcast, and there have been low clouds. And Russia’s aviation authority says the jet might have struck a flock of birds.
We should always level out that previously, Russia has been concerned within the shootdown of two passenger jets. A Russian fighter shot down a Korean Airline 747 that strayed into Russian airspace in 1983. The Russian Air Drive thought that it was a U.S. spy aircraft and shot it down. After which, a decade in the past, a Malaysia Airways triple-7 was shot down over Ukraine by Russian-backed forces utilizing a surface-to-air missile. Whereas this investigation continues, the Azerbaijan Airways says it is now stopping all flights into Grozny.
SHAPIRO: That is NPR’s Russell Lewis. Thanks.
LEWIS: You are welcome.
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