Black box reveals final minutes of Libyan plane before Ankara crash

Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu announced that the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) from the plane carrying Libya’s military delegation, which crashed near Ankara on December 23, 2025, has been fully deciphered. The recordings reveal that the pilots discussed failures in two of the plane’s generators during the flight, TRT channel reports.

“The plane took off at 20:17 local time. It is a three-engine aircraft. Just two minutes after takeoff, the pilots reported that the second generator had failed, and approximately 13–14 seconds later, they indicated the third generator had failed. There is no information regarding the first generator,” Uraloğlu said.

“Later in the conversation, the crew reported that all generators had failed, after which the system temporarily recovered. The pilots requested permission to return to the airport and issued a ‘Pan-Pan’ emergency call—indicating a serious but non-critical situation.”

Uraloğlu explained that the aircraft remained in contact with air traffic control until roughly the 27th minute of the flight, after which communication was lost. The plane ultimately crashed near Haymana 37 minutes after takeoff. “From the 27th minute onwards, the plane lost altitude and gradually disappeared from radar,” he said.

The minister added that the plane’s black boxes—the voice recorder and flight data recorder—were heavily damaged. “Only four countries in the world—Russia, the UK, France, and the USA—can analyze devices in this condition. As the flight data recorder was manufactured in France, it was decided, in consultation with the Libyan side, to conduct the analysis in the UK,” Uraloğlu noted.

He stressed that the investigation, led by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, continues, with final conclusions pending judicial review and expert reports. “Had the pilots requested to return immediately after the generator failures, the tragedy might have been avoided,” he said.

The crash claimed the lives of Libyan Chief of General Staff General Muhammad Ali Ahmed Al Haddad, four accompanying military personnel, and three crew members. A security perimeter was established at the crash site, and wreckage, including the black boxes, was secured for the ongoing investigation.

Uraloğlu also highlighted that the Ministry’s accident investigation teams closely monitored the entire process, both during the flight and through the UK-based black box analysis. “The voice recorder has been fully examined, and no additional information remains to be obtained from it,” he said.

By Vafa Guliyeva