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Icing, human error mulled as Sheremetyevo crash causes

Story Filed: Tuesday, March 14, 2000 3:02 PM EST

MOSCOW, March 14 (Itar-Tass) - The Yak-40 plane that crashed at the Sheremetyevo airport on March 9, had not been treated with deicing liquid in violation of rules, investigators from the Inter-state Aviation Committee (MAK) told reporters on Tuesday.

The crash killed all nine people aboard, including Artyom Borovik, a journalist and president of Sovershenno Sekretno media holding, and Ziya Bazhayev, president of the oil company Gruppa Alyans.

The probe also revealed that the plane was taking off with "a non-standard flap position." Commission experts found out at the crash site that the flap angle was 10 degrees, the normal take-off angle being 20 degrees.

MAK deputy chairman Rudolf Teimurazov said these factors may have caused uncontrollable listing after the take-off. The crew was trying to pull up but failed.

The investigators found out that the flaps that adjust listing were functioning synchronously, or had the same angles.

Asked what caused the banking, Teimurazov said "this is what we are trying to find out."

Some of essential engine data and list angle were missing in the flight data recorders, one of which had a burnt-out fuse.

Stalling may happen if the permissible angle of attack is exceeded, Teimurazov said, adding that for the Yak-40 this angle is 20 degrees. What the actual angle was remains obscure.

Preliminary analysis showed no signs of in-flight explosion or blaze, Teimurazov said.

The insurance company Afes is pursuing its own probe. The company's spokesman Alexei Malov told Itar-Tass on Tuesday that wing icing and human error remain two major versions.

If the icing is proven, the insurance company can sue for damages the company whose personnel failed to use the deicing fluid.

Afes does not rule out an error of pilots or air traffic controllers.

"Since a main cause of all air accidents is usually the human factor, it is also necessary to check the action of all persons who prepared or performed the flight," Malov said.

A spokesman for the Moscow city prosecutor's office, which has the charge of the criminal case instituted on the crash, told Itar-Tass that causes of it remain uncertain, but investigators say what leads there are suggest "technical malfunctions".

Investigators ascertained that the plane crashed at eight seconds following the take-off.

The plane had been through pre-flight technical checks and the crew through a routine medical examination.

Weather conditions during the take-off were "most favourable", with the wind's velocity of only four meters a second.

The technical condition of the Yak-40 met standard, with its service life short of the deadline 25 years and a year and a half remaining before its regular technical evaluation.

The spokesman said the flight data recorder yielded no clues, and the plane had no cockpit voice recorder.

Chemical analysis of the plane's fuel wil be carried out. Investigators said a terrorist act could be dropped as a version, as secuity cameras are ubiquitous at the Sheremetyevo airport, and its security arrangements had been tightened after a previous bomb threat call.

The investigating group comprises 15 officials of the transport prosecutor's office and 20 of the Inter-state Aviation Committee.

Copyright ) 2000, ITAR/TASS News Agency, all rights reserved.

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), March 14, 2000