AZAL Plane Crash in Kazakhstan: Preliminary Investigation Report (updated)

On the morning of December 25, 2024, flight J2-8243 departed from Heydar Aliyev International Airport en route to Grozny. The Embraer ERJ 190-100, a twin-engine jet operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, took off with 62 passengers and five crew members on board.

At 3:56 AM UTC, the aircraft took off as scheduled. The captain, a 62-year-old veteran with over 15,000 flight hours, and his 29-year-old co-pilot, a rising talent in Azerbaijani aviation, maintained a steady course. The initial phase of the flight was uneventful, with clear and routine radio communication with Russian air traffic controllers. However, as the aircraft approached Grozny, an eerie silence filled the cockpit—both GPS systems had failed.

At 4:36 AM, the pilots attempted to land in Grozny under increasingly challenging conditions. The airport's runways were covered in dense fog, with visibility dropping to as low as 300 meters at times. The crew’s reliance on ground-based navigation became crucial. The Grozny control tower provided vectors for landing, guiding the aircraft toward the runway. But something was wrong.

In the cockpit, repeated ground proximity warnings sounded. "PULL UP, PULL UP," urged the automated system. Twice, the pilots attempted to land, and twice they failed. The aircraft climbed back into the sky, with the increasingly frustrated crew trying to determine their next step.

At 5:11 AM, after failing to land in Grozny, the crew made a fateful decision: they would return to Baku. But as the plane turned westward, the pilots faced a new disaster. Systems began to fail one after another. The autopilot disengaged. Hydraulic pressure in a critical system plummeted to zero. A warning light flashed: "AFT SERVICE DOOR OPEN." Moments later, the cabin depressurized, causing chaos on board.

The captain issued a distress call. "We’ve lost control. Collision with birds. Two seats exploded in the cabin," he said, his voice tense. It was a shocking revelation—something had hit the aircraft mid-air.

Causes of the Crash: Key Theories

According to the investigation, the primary causes of the disaster could be:

• Failure of navigation systems (GPS), making it difficult to control the aircraft.
• Loss of hydraulic pressure, which led to a failure of control surfaces.
• Foreign object penetration into the aircraft’s structure, causing destruction of control elements.

Experts discovered metal fragments in the stabilizer and hydraulic system, which may have caused the critical failures.

The report found no evidence of bird remains, ruling out the possibility of a bird strike.

By 5:20 AM, the aircraft was barely holding together. The pilots pleaded for an alternate airport. "Tell us the weather at Mineralnye Vody," one of them asked air traffic control. But the plane was losing altitude. The Grozny tower suggested Makhachkala as an emergency landing site. The response was grim: "We can't maintain altitude."

The aircraft experienced a loss of GPS signal when flying in the airspace of the Russian Federation, and not just over Grozny Airport.

The pilots had to make a final decision. They headed toward Aktau, a coastal airport on the Caspian Sea. Their descent was steep and rapid. The crew tried to deploy flaps and landing gear, but at 6:27 AM, with no ability to fully control the aircraft, flight J2-8243 crashed into the ground in a sharp right bank, breaking apart in a fiery wreck.

The investigation, led by Kazakh authorities, quickly located the aircraft’s wreckage. The right wing was destroyed by fire, the fuselage torn apart. Hydraulic lines were punctured by foreign metal objects, leading to speculation that the plane had been struck by external debris. But from where? Investigators have yet to determine the source of the impacts, raising the question of whether the aircraft suffered a rare high-altitude collision, a mechanical failure, or something more sinister.

Among the survivors—27 passengers and two flight attendants—some described scenes of terror. Oxygen masks failed to deploy in certain areas of the cabin. The air filled with the smell of fuel. Some reported hearing a "blast" before the final descent.

The investigation is ongoing. Kazakh, Brazilian, Azerbaijani and Russian aviation agencies are involved in the investigation. The Kazakh authorities promise to give a full report.

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2025-02-04 20:50

azakh Report Cites External Damage in AZAL Plane Crash

The Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Kazakhstan has published a preliminary report on the investigation of the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer-190 aircraft, which occurred on December 25, 2024, near Aktau. The report is publicly available on the ministry's official website.

According to preliminary findings, the aircraft was likely damaged by "external objects" during flight. The incident tragically resulted in the deaths of 38 out of the 67 people on board, including 62 passengers and 5 crew members. Among the deceased were six citizens of Kazakhstan.

Keep an eye out for updates.