AIR DISASTER INVOLVING ARMENIAN PLANE SHAKES ARMENIA
ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 3 2006
YEREVAN, May 3 (Itar-Tass) –Armenia has been shocked to hear the
news about the air disaster involving an airbus A-320 owned by the
Armavia Armenian company.
Few people in Armenia are in the habit of listening to news on radio or
television early in the morning; therefore, many people knew nothing
about the tragedy early on Wednesday morning yet.
There were 113 people on board, including twenty-eight Russian
citizens, when the plane that performed a regular flight from Yerevan
to Sochi on the Russian Black Sea coast crashed into the Black Sea
off Adler airport.
The plane took off at 1.47 a.m. local time (0.47 a.m. Moscow time).
An air traffic controller warned the crew about bad weather in
Sochi, and the crew decided to return to the home airport, said
representatives of the Armavia company. However, a new weather forecast
radioed on board said that weather conditions were improving, and
the plane continued the flight. When the plane was approaching Adler
airport weather conditions sharply worsened, and the pilots had to
a make a second landing approach. Then, the plane disappeared from
radar screens.
Deputy Commerce director of the Armavia company Andrei Agadzhanov
said that the plane was in perfect technical condition. First deputy
director of the Armavia company Ashkharbask Kalantara said that the
plane had undergone a pre-flight check made by the Yerevan personnel
of the Sabena technical Belgian aircraft technical service company.
The air disaster was a great shock to Armenia. People say they
experienced a shock similar to the one caused by an air disaster
in July, 1975 when a Yak- 40 plane crashed on the way from Yerevan
to Batumi.
Meanwhile, relatives of the victims killed in the plane crash have
been coming to Yerevan airport pending a special flight that will
take them to the area of the plane crash off the Russian coast. A
special commission of the Armavia Company and the Head Civil Aviation
Department under the Armenian government flew to Adler to inspect
the area of the plane crash.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
