AZAL aircraft black boxes arrive in Kazakhstan from Brazil for further investigation

The black boxes of the AZAL passenger plane, which crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, have been delivered to Kazakhstan from Brazil and handed over to the authorized commission for further investigation, according to the General Prosecutor’s Office of Kazakhstan.

The office confirmed that a state commission was established on the day of the crash to investigate the incident, Caliber.Az reports via local media.

The commission is responsible for decoding the flight recorders as part of the ongoing inquiry.

On January 7, the Brazilian Air Force's Aviation Accident Investigation and Prevention Center (CENIPA) reported that it had completed the decoding of the aircraft's flight recorders. "The extraction, collection, and verification of data from the two flight recorders have been successfully completed," CENIPA confirmed. 

Initially, the black boxes were sent to Brazil because the plane, an Embraer 190AR, was manufactured by the Brazilian company Embraer. CENIPA's specialists, with significant experience working on Embraer aircraft, and the advanced technologies at their disposal, allowed for the prompt and efficient decoding of the flight data. This practice of sending flight recorders to the manufacturer’s country is standard in the aviation industry, as manufacturers typically possess the necessary expertise and technologies.

The tragic crash occurred on December 25, 2024, when Azerbaijan Airlines flight 8243, en route from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Russia, crashed during an emergency landing attempt near Aktau. The flight carried 67 people, including 62 passengers and five crew members. Among the passengers were 42 Azerbaijanis, 16 Russians, six Kazakhs, and three Kyrgyz nationals. The crash claimed the lives of 38 people, while 29 survivors, including two crew members, were rescued. Tragically, three of the five crew members perished.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the aircraft was hit by a Russian surface-to-air missile during efforts to intercept a Ukrainian drone attack over Chechnya.

On December 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin contacted Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to offer condolences and apologize for the incident, which occurred within Russian airspace. President Aliyev called for those responsible to be brought to justice and for compensation to be provided to Azerbaijan, as well as to the families of the deceased and the injured passengers.

By Tamilla Hasanova