Armenian Airbus crash due to ‘human factor’: minister

Agence France Presse — English
July 26, 2006 Wednesday 9:25 AM GMT

The crash of an Armenian Airbus plane off Russia’s Black Sea coast
in May that killed all 113 people on board was caused by a "human
factor", Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin said Wednesday.

"Weather conditions were difficult, the human factor played its role,"
Levitin was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying at a press
conference, held about the results of an inquiry into the crash of
the A320 liner belonging to Armavia airlines.

Tatyana Anodina, head of the intergovernmental aviation committee
that took part in the enquiry, said: "The main pilot did not ensure
control of the plane as far as angle and altitude were concerned,"
ITAR-TASS reported.

"The co-pilot did not ensure necessary control on the descent,"
Anodina said, adding that an alarm system had gone off as the plane
plunged but that it was too late to regain altitude.

The Airbus A320 plunged into the Black Sea on May 3 amid rainy weather
as it was coming in to land in Sochi — a popular coastal resort city
in southwest Russia.