On 25 December 2016, a

Tupolev Tu-154 The Tupolev Tu-154 (russian: Tyполев Ту-154; NATO reporting name: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian ...

jetliner of the Russian Defence Ministry crashed into the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

shortly after taking off from

Sochi International Airport Sochi International Airport (russian: Международный Аэропорт Сочи; ) is an airport located in Adler District of the resort city of Sochi, on the coast of the Black Sea in the federal subject of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. So ...

, Russia, while en route to

Khmeimim Air Base Khmeimim Air Base (Russian: Хмеймим), also Hmeimim Air Base, is a Syrian airbase currently operated by Russia, located south-east of the city of Latakia in Hmeimim, Latakia Governorate, Syria. The airbase shares some airfield facilities ...

, Syria. All 92 passengers and crew on board, including 64 members of the

Alexandrov Ensemble The Alexandrov Ensemble ( rus, Ансамбль Александрова, r=Ansambl' Aleksandrova; commonly known as the Red Army Choir in the West) is an official army choir of the Russian armed forces. Founded during the Soviet era, the en ...

choir of the

Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military forces of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with at least two m ...

, were killed. The aircraft had flown from

Chkalovsky Airport Chkalovsky is a military air base near Shchyolkovo, Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located 31 km northeast of Moscow. In 1932-35, the state flight testing institute was relocated here from Khodynka, the Central Airfield. A reorganisation ...

and had landed at

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents i ...

to refuel.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Tupolev 154B-2, tail number RA-85572,

msn MSN (meaning Microsoft Network) is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps for Windows and mobile devices, provided by Microsoft and launched on August 24, 1995, alongside the release of Windows 95. The Microsoft Net ...

83A-572, which had been in operation since 1983, and had flown for about 7,000 hours before the crash.

Crash

The Tupolev had taken off at 05:27

local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

() from the Black Sea resort city of

, Russia, where it had landed to refuel, bound for Syria. Two minutes after takeoff, the aircraft crashed into the Black Sea, from the coast. Wreckage was found at a depth of . All 92 people on board were killed.

Passengers and crew

Of the 92 passengers and crew on board, 64 were members of the Alexandrov Ensemble choir, the official choir of the Russian Armed Forces, including its director Valery Khalilov. The members of the Ensemble were travelling from Moscow to the Russian military base at Khmeimim near

Latakia , coordinates = , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = 11 , elevation_ft = , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , area_code = Country code: 963 City code: 41 , geocode ...

, Syria, to take part in New Year celebrations. Among the passengers was Russian humanitarian worker Elizaveta Glinka, the Director of the Department of Culture for the Russian Ministry of Defence Anton Gubankov, seven soldiers (besides Khalilov), nine journalists (three each from

Channel One Russia Channel One ( rus, Первый канал, r=Pervyy kanal, p=ˈpʲervɨj kɐˈnal, t=First Channel) is a Russian state-controlled television channel. It is the first television channel to broadcast in the Russian Federation. Its headquarters ...

NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Televis ...

, and Zvezda), and two civilian officials.

Investigation

Immediately after the crash, the

Investigative Committee of Russia The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (russian: link=no, Следственный комитет Российской Федерации) has since January 2011 been the main federal investigating authority in Russia. Its name (' ...

launched a criminal case to probe the cause. By 27 December, the cockpit voice and flight data recorders had been located, and both were later recovered and sent to Moscow for analysis. By 28 December, the bodies of 18 people had been recovered from the sea. On 29 December, a third recorder, which backs up data from the CVR and FDR, was found, which, despite being damaged, revealed more information. One Russian official downplayed the possibility of a terrorist attack as the cause of the crash, focusing more on the possibility of mechanical or human error. A bright flash was purportedly caught on

surveillance camera A closed-circuit television camera can produce images or recordings for surveillance or other private purposes. Cameras can be either video cameras, or digital stills cameras. Walter Bruch was the inventor of the CCTV camera. The main purpose o ...

s along the Sochi coastline before the crash. Witnesses told reporters the plane appeared to experience trouble in gaining altitude, turned 180 degrees, started descending and crashed into the sea. On 27 December it was reported that an investigative source had told the

Interfax Interfax (russian: Интерфакс) is a Russian news agency. The agency is owned by Interfax News Agency joint-stock company and is headquartered in Moscow. History As the first non-governmental channel of political and economic informat ...

news agency that Russian investigators believed a fault with the aircraft flaps had caused the crash. The Life.ru news portal was reported to have obtained a recording of the last words of one of the pilots: "Commander, we are going down." There was no official confirmation. On 29 December it was announced by the Flight Safety Service of the Russian Ministry that a preliminary analysis of data from the cockpit voice recorder showed that no explosion had occurred on board. On 16 January the

Interstate Aviation Committee The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC; russian: Межгосударственный авиационный комитет, МАК) is an executive body of the Civil Aviation and Airspace Use Council of the Commonwealth of Independent States ( ...

, the civil authority in aviation accident investigation, announced that its representative would participate in the investigation. On 19 January Interfax reported that, during the underwater search, remains had also been found of a Soviet Douglas A-20 Havoc/DB-7 Boston bomber, supplied from the U.S. through the

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

agreement, which crashed on 15 November 1942. On 31 May 2017, Russia's ''

Kommersant ''Kommersant'' (russian: Коммерсантъ, , ''The Businessman'' or Commerce Man, often shortened to Ъ) is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russia ...

'' said all the evidence pointed to the pilot, Maj Roman Volkov having suffered from somatogravic illusion. Analysis of the flight data suggested that the pilot had "lost his bearings and ignored his instruments, believing that the jet was climbing too sharply." Fatigue was thought to be a factor. Experts said that he was already feeling unwell on the ground and had trouble getting the plane on to the correct runway; he could not understand which of the two runways he was to take off from and which way to taxi. An escort vehicle was deployed to get him to the correct runway.

Reactions

Russia observed a

national day of mourning A national day of mourning is a day or days marked by mourning and memorial activities observed among the majority of a country's populace. They are designated by the national government. Such days include those marking the death or funeral of ...

on 26 December, at the declaration of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

. Russian Defence Minister

Sergey Shoigu Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu, ; tyv, Сергей Күжүгет оглу Шойгу, translit=Sergey Kyzhyget oglu Shoygu, . (russian: Сергей Кужугетович Шойгу; born 21 May 1955) is a Russian politician who has served as ...

ordered that the

Moscow Military Music College The Valery Khalilov Moscow Suvorov Military Music College is one of the leading military music institutions in Russia. It is a separate branch of the Suvorov Military Schools in Russia, and the oldest of them all (opened 1937). History On Augu ...

be given the honorific ''Valery Khalilov''. On 28 December, French satirical weekly magazine ''

Charlie Hebdo ''Charlie Hebdo'' (; meaning ''Charlie Weekly'') is a French satirical weekly magazine, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. Stridently non-conformist in tone, the publication has been described as anti-racist, sceptical, secular ...

'' published several cartoons mocking the tragedy. In response, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said: "If such, I dare say, 'artistry' is the real manifestation of 'Western values', then those who hold and support them are doomed".Charlie Hebdo Cover: Russia Angered By Cartoon Of Tu-154 Plane Crash
. ''

International Business Times The ''International Business Times'' is an American online news publication that publishes five national editions in four languages. The publication, sometimes called ''IBTimes'' or ''IBT'', offers news, opinion and editorial commentary on busi ...

.'' 28 December 2016.

References