On Christmas morning an Embraer E190 (Registration Number 4K-AZ65) crashed three kilometers from Aktau airport in Kazakhstan. The crash was on land near the shore of the Caspian Sea.
The flight, originally from Baku, Azerbaijan to Grozny, Chechnya, has been diverted to Aktau. Exactly what happened to Flight J2-8243? Was it shot down? Was it a terrorist attack?
Evidence piled up after the plane crash showing significant shrapnel damage in the rear section and vertical stabilizer of the plane. When the aircraft crashed, most of the front half of the plane was consumed in fire.
The rear section, however, broke off when the plane impacted the ground. It did not burn. Of the 29 known survivors of the crash, 22 of them were in the rear section.
Authorities in Kazakhstan reported that 38 people died, including four from the crew of five (a woman flight attendant survived). There were 67 passengers and five crew members on the flight.
On Christmas morning, the Kiev-junta in Ukraine was sending suicide drones over Russian territory including Chechnya and Ingushetia.
It is not clear if Grozny airport was actually closed because of the drone activity or because of fog, but it seems Flight J2-8242 had clearance to land at Grozny and made four attempts to do so.
The subsequent flight path of the aircraft late in its flight to Aktau was charted by flight tracking systems. This tells us that at least the flight’s transponder was operating, suggesting that some of the plane’s communications functioned.
The Embraer was at low altitude, around 2,000 feet, and never was able to climb much more than a few hundred feet. Judging from videos of the distressed aircraft, the pilot was having difficulty controlling the plane.
When the plane crashed its landing gear was fully deployed, although it appeared to be going too fast to land. The photos and videos don’t appear to show the plane’s flaps as down, normal for a landing.
Because the plane’s rear section was broken off from the forward part of the fuselage, it did not burn. Photo evidence shows that the rear section was pockmarked by either shrapnel, bullets or both.
There is also evidence from the inside of the rear section that some of the shrapnel penetrated the cabin and at least one passenger was wounded in the leg.
Speculation is mounting that the plane was hit by an air defense missile of some type. A larger missile would have torn the plane in half and it is unlikely it could have flown across the Caspian Sea, some 200 miles from Grozny.
If it proves true that the plane was downed by MANPADS, the question is whether it was friendly fire or if it was a terrorist operation? There is no way to answer that question, but shooting down a civilian airliner is in the repertoire of the Ukrainians.
Asia Times / ABC Flash Point News 2024.
Fishy
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