CAUSE OF ARMAVIA CRASH STILL MURKY
By Anatoly Medetsky – Staff Writer
Viktor Klyushkin / Itar-Tass

The Moscow Times, Russia
June 20 2006

One of the black boxes from the Armavia flight on display May 24,
shortly after it was retrieved from the Black Sea.

The Armavia plane that slammed into the Black Sea last month, killing
all 113 on board, had fully functional engines and plenty of fuel
at the time of the accident, the Interstate Aviation Committee
said Monday.

It was also intact before the crash.

The committee, which is based in Moscow, released its findings after
an investigating panel analyzed the tape from a flight recorder of
the French-made Airbus A320 plane.

The tape did not include voices, but it did include extensive
information about the condition of the plane and its various operating
systems.

The information from the black box does not permit authorities to rule
out technical failure, said Oleg Yermolov, the panel’s deputy head.

Vladimir Karnozov, the Moscow-based correspondent for Flight
International, a British magazine for industry insiders, agreed
with Yermolov.

But he speculated, as he has elsewhere, that a heated conversation
could have taken place between the crew and some passengers over
where to land, putting undue stress on the pilots.

The nighttime flight originated in Yerevan, Armenia and was heading
to the popular resort of Sochi. But because of inclement weather,
the crew considered landing in nearby Georgia instead.

Among the plane’s passengers were a former head of Armenia’s KGB, a
former Armenian interior minister and the director of Armavia — all
of whom, presumably, would have been comfortable confronting the pilot.

The plane made one unsuccessful landing attempt. It then made a
second approach to the airport but had to pull up again in the face
of worsening weather conditions.

It was then that the plane suddenly veered off course and plummeted
into the water, breaking apart on impact.

At the time of the accident, Russian authorities blamed bad weather
and speculated that pilot error could have played a role.

Armavia maintained that the pilots were seasoned and that the plane
was in top shape.

The investigating panel has also completed the transcription from
another flight recorder in the cockpit, the investigating panel said
in a statement last week.

But the panel did not release the contents of that transcription,
which included voices. The panel said it was standard practice not
to release that information.

The panel will now conduct a "comprehensive" analysis of data from
both flight recorders, attempting to peg snippets of conversation to
specific moments in the plane’s ill-fated trip, Yermolov said.

The panel also plans to conduct a simulation of the flight, Yermolov
said.

The measures would help determine if the plane’s systems "were fully
operable," he said.

Asked to comment on the cause of the May 24 crash, the International
Civil Aviation Organization declined to say anything.

One of the leading goals of the Montreal-based organization is the
promotion of flight safety.