Officials have yet to identify the cause of FlyDubai Flight FZ981's crash at Rostov-on-Don airport in Southern Russia on Saturday, but preliminary reports indicate either pilot error or a technical failure were the likely culprits. Meanwhile, independent aviation experts cast doubt on the developing official narrative, and instead pointed to dangerous wind conditions as the likely cause.
“I see a clear tendency to blame everything on the crew,” said Vadim Lukashevich, a Russian aerospace engineer who has worked for Sukhoi, one of Russia's primary aircraft design firms. “In my understanding, an error on the part of airport management must also be considered. If they closed the airport, people would have been saved,” he said.
Lukashevich was referring to reportedly dangerous weather conditions around the Rostov-on-Don airport on Saturday.
While conditions did not technically surpass the threshold to be considered unsafe, the FlyDubai aircraft was not the only plane to experience difficulties landing that day. As such, air traffic should have been closed, Lukashevich said.
The plane, operated by a low-cost subsidiary of Emirates airlines, first attempted to land two hours before it crashed, killing all 62 people aboard. The pilot apparently attempted to abort his second landing attempt at an altitude of 900 meters, but the aircraft suddenly dropped and exploded.
21/03/16 Anastasia Bazenkova/The Moscow Times
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“I see a clear tendency to blame everything on the crew,” said Vadim Lukashevich, a Russian aerospace engineer who has worked for Sukhoi, one of Russia's primary aircraft design firms. “In my understanding, an error on the part of airport management must also be considered. If they closed the airport, people would have been saved,” he said.
Lukashevich was referring to reportedly dangerous weather conditions around the Rostov-on-Don airport on Saturday.
While conditions did not technically surpass the threshold to be considered unsafe, the FlyDubai aircraft was not the only plane to experience difficulties landing that day. As such, air traffic should have been closed, Lukashevich said.
The plane, operated by a low-cost subsidiary of Emirates airlines, first attempted to land two hours before it crashed, killing all 62 people aboard. The pilot apparently attempted to abort his second landing attempt at an altitude of 900 meters, but the aircraft suddenly dropped and exploded.
21/03/16 Anastasia Bazenkova/The Moscow Times
