Christmas Day air crash, about 40 feared dead
December 25, 2024
Operating as Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243, the E190AR (registered 4K-AZ65) was en-route from Baku to Grozny (a short 1.5-hour flight). Though reports of the number on board vary wildly, (with one report saying there were 110 on the aircraft and Azerbaijan Airlines at one time using the figure of 73), AGN understands that there were 67 people on the aircraft – 62 passengers and 5 crew members. Azerbaijan Airlines subsequently published a full list of 62 passenger names, and a provisional breakdown of nationalities – 37 from Azerbaijan, 16 from the Russian Federation six from Kazakhstan and three from Kyrgyzstan.
According to early reports, somewhere over the Caspian Sea, at 0835 local, the crew declared an emergency, and ‘squawked’ 7700 (a universal transponder code that indicates an aircraft is in a general emergency and needs immediate assistance from air traffic control). The flight was diverted to Aktau, a city and oil and gas hub on Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea coast, for an emergency landing.
Some reports say that the aircraft was diverted because of fog at Grozny, others that the reason was a multiple birdstrike and/or an exploding oxygen tank. Grozny airport reported that due to bad weather, the flight had first been re-routed to Makhachkala, and then to Aktau.
Reports suggest that the aircraft encountered significant GPS jamming, causing it to transmit inaccurate ADS-B data, perhaps accounting for reports that the aircraft’s speed and altitude had been “all over the place” for the last 20 minutes of the flight.
Several videos have emerged showing the last moments of flight J2-8243, perhaps suggesting that people on the ground were aware that there was an emergency.
The aircraft appeared to be having pitch control issues (or to have stalled) before the aircraft hit the ground in a slightly nose down attitude, starboard wing low, at 0928 local. Unconfirmed reports indicated that the crew had reported flight control problems when declaring their emergency at 0835. One report says that at 0849 the crew requested an emergency landing in Aktau and “tried to make it in direct mode.”
The aircraft’s rear fuselage and tail broke away on impact, coming to rest upside down, and the remaining section suffered a significant post impact fire, consuming much of the wreckage.
According to Kazakhstan’s Emergencies Ministry, 28 people survived the crash, including two children. Some 22 of them were taken to hospital, where nine of the survivors are reportedly in a serious condition. Another report suggested that “32 people onboard the aircraft are alive and receiving treatment.”
The aircraft involved (4K-AZ65) was one of eight Embraer E190ARs operated by Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), which was officially established on 17 August 1992.
It is not yet known exactly what caused the crash.
