AZG Armenian Daily #142, 29/07/2006

A-320 Air Crash

"ARMAVIA" STATES INVESTIGATION CONCLUSION MADE BY IAC IS INCORRECT

"ArmAvia" company considers incorrect and untimely the conclusion by
IAC (International Aviation Committee) on the crash of the A-320 liner
in Sochi, which found the pilots guilty of the catastrophe. Today, on
a briefing the head of "ArmAvia" Flight Department Mihran Khachatrian
informed that the statement by the IAC, signed in Toulouse by
Armenian, French and Russian experts, contained the following phrase:
‘the cause of altitude reduction, which resulted the catastrophe, has
not been found out’. Due to unknown reasons the in the statement
published by the Russian side, this phrase was replaced by another,
telling of ‘inadequate actions of the aircraft commander and the crew
members’. Such statements are untimely, as the investigation has not
been finished yet, said Mr. Khachatrian. Head of the Flight Security
Inspection at "ArmAvia" Arshak Nalbandian, who was present to the
briefing, in his turn said that he was not invited by the Russian side
to the signature of the document, although he was included in the IAC
subcommission. He admitted that in the emergency situation the crew
could make some mistakes, but whether the mistakes caused the
catastrophe or no, is not known yet. He said that the Russian said
nothing about that the Sochi airport dispatcher failed to inform the
A-320 crew about high cloudiness and strong wind.

By Marietta Khachatrian