Kazakh ministry: Black boxes to unveil details of AZAL plane crash near Aktau

Kazakhstan’s Vice Minister of Transport, Talgat Lastaev, has stated that the flight recorders recovered from the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) passenger plane that crashed near Aktau will provide a detailed account of the tragic incident.

"Typically, two flight recorders are installed in the tail section of the aircraft. In the case of this particular plane (an Embraer E190 – editor's note), both recorders have been found. They are currently being transported for decoding. This specific aircraft was equipped with recorders capable of capturing two hours of crew activity and technical parameters. Practically the entire picture of the incident will emerge during the investigation," Lastaev told Kazinform in an interview, Caliber.Az reports.

The Vice Minister explained that the "black boxes" consist of two types of recorders.

"The first is the cockpit voice recorder (CVR). It records everything that happens, including all voice communications and audio exchanges among the crew. From the beginning of the flight, the recorder automatically logs all this data: what, when, and how the crew speaks, how they respond, and so on. The second is the flight data recorder (FDR), which captures the aircraft's technical parameters: engine revolutions, oil pressure, hydraulic pressure, joystick or rudder position, and aeronautical data," he stated.

On December 25, an AZAL Embraer E190 aircraft en route from Baku to Grozny crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau. The tragedy claimed the lives of 38 passengers, while 29 others, including the five crew members on board, survived.

As of December 30, the black boxes recovered from the crash site have been sent to Brazil for further analysis. Kazakhstan has dispatched the flight data recorders to Brazil's Aviation Accident Investigation and Prevention Center (CENIPA), which will oversee the decoding and analysis process.

This analysis is expected to provide critical insights into the sequence of events that led to the crash and help investigators determine the cause of the disaster.

By Vugar Khalilov