IAC: A320 crash caused by inadequate actions of the captain

Regnum, Russia
July 27, 2006

The Chief Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia has received the
official findings of the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) concerning
the crash of the Armenian Airbus A320 plane that fell into the Black
Sea while flying from Yerevan to Sochi on May 3. The press service
of the Department has informed REGNUM of the content of the findings:

"The investigation has shown:

With autopilot turned on, the plane was gliding strictly within
the landing configuration and was already 300 meters high when
the air controller instructed the crew to stop landing because
of low clouds, and to make a climbing turn. When turning, the
captain turned off the autopilot and, after climbing for a while,
with improper bank and pitch attitude, began to land the aircraft –
thereby, acting inadequately. Meanwhile, the second pilot failed to
properly control the landing parameters (pitch, altitude, vertical
speed). When the terrain warning system went off, the crew’s actions
were poorly coordinated and insufficient for pulling the plane up. No
single system failed, the aircraft adequately reacted to both the
instructions of the autopilot and the actions of the crew. There was
enough fuel for safe landing."

The investigation was carried out by the IAC, a group comprising
representatives of Russian Transport Control Service, Russian Aviation
Department, Russian Air Navigation Department, the Armenian air
authorities and experts from France (the A320 manufacturer-country)
in compliance with the ICAO standards, the Intergovernmental
Agreement of 12 regional states (including Russia and Armenia)
and the air accident investigation rules. During the investigation
the commissioners collected and examined all relevant data on the
aircraft, the crew and the services controlling the flight, decoded
and analyzed the data of the black boxes and the land air control
services. With the help of special stands and trainers, a group of
Russian, Armenian and French specialists simulated the whole flight,
including the actions of the pilots.

To remind, the A320 fell into the Black Sea near Sochi, 6 km away
from the shore, on May 3, 2006 02:13 AM. All the 8 crew members and
105 passengers onboard were killed.