Confusion with instrument readings could have caused the crash of the An-24 Angara

During the investigation into the crash of the An-24 of Angara Airlines near Tynda, it was previously established that this could have happened due to the fact that the pilots confused the altitude at which the plane was flying, follows from a letter from the head of the Federal Air Transport Agency Dmitry Yadrov to the heads of civil aviation organizations (Izvestia reviewed the document).

To get on the stop list: Angara may have its maintenance certificate revoked

The fate of the airline, whose plane crashed on July 24, will be decided by the Federal Air Transport Agency.

The document says: when approaching Tynda and descending, the AN-24 crew set pressure on the barometric altimeters according to QNH (international rules using the zero mark at sea level). However, when passing the checkpoint, the crew reported to the dispatcher about the altitude of 1100 m, which corresponds to the QFE (Soviet rules for measuring altitude from runway level at the airfield). That is, the pilots thought they were flying much higher than they actually were.

At the same time, heavy rain and clouds at altitudes of 225-600 m did not allow the crew to visually observe the ground during landing. And the dispatchers could not give the exact altitude data, since there was no mark from the aircraft on the radar screen.

At an altitude of 150 m relative to the airfield (765 m relative to sea level), the plane hit the crowns of trees on a hill, collapsed and burned down, according to a letter from the Federal Air Transport Agency.

"Preliminary information about the circumstances of the accident involving the AN-24RV RA-47315 aircraft allows us to classify it as an event in the category of "Collision with the ground in controlled flight" (CFIT)," the document says.

The Federal Air Transport Agency, in response to a request from Izvestia, reported that the letter "contains information on the preliminary results of the investigation of the An-24 plane crash, established at the current time, which will be clarified and supplemented during further investigation." The ministry stressed that "it is premature to talk about the cause of the disaster now," and "information on flight safety has been released only for the purpose of carrying out corrective measures or actions aimed at improving flight safety."