Russian plane crash cause likely to be avionics’ icing: aviation committee

MOSCOW, Feb. 15– The crash of a Russian airplane resulting in
the death of 71 people on board could have been caused by the icing of its
avionics, the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) said in a statement
Tuesday.

The IAC, a supervising body overseeing the use and management of civil
aviation in the Commonwealth of Independent States of the former Soviet
Union said it had completed decoding the data of the plane’s onboard
recorders. “A preliminary analysis of the recorded information, as well
as an analysis of similar cases in the past, suggest that the development
of a special situation in flight could be caused by incorrect data on the
speed of flight on the pilots’ indicators, which in turn was apparently
associated with the icing,” the statement said. It said the heating of the
instruments, connected to indicators were switched off and the reasons for
that required additional investigation.

The Antonov-148 of Saratov Airlines with 65 passengers and a crew of six en
route from Domodedovo Airport in Moscow to Orsk of the Orenburg Region on
the border between Europe and Asia crashed Sunday near the village of
Argunovo, some 80 kilometers from Moscow, killing all people on board. The
Antonov-148 is a regional high-wing jet with a maximum range of about
2,100-4,400 kilometers and passenger capacity of 68-85. The plane was
designed and built by Ukraine’s Antonov company until 2017 and also built
by Russia since then. – XINHUA