72 hours after the flydubai Boeing 737 crash in Russia killing all 55 passengers and 7 crew members, has left a mystery. The video of the crash shows the Boeing 737 dropping "like a stone" at high speed.
Weather conditions were bad in Rostov-on-Don, with poor visibility and strong gusting winds. After a first attempt missed landing, why was the plane not diverted to another airport? According to the Russian Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) whom we contacted by telephone, air traffic control suggested this to the flight crew, but the pilot, for some still unknown reason, continued to fly around the airport for a further two hours and made a second attempt.
Could it have been lack of fuel that was the cause of the crash? According to MAK, this is unlikely. With fuel being cheaper in the United Arab Emirates than in Russia, the aircraft was refuelled with kerosene before taking off from Dubai in order to make the round trip without having to refuel in Rostov-on-Don. At the time of the crash therefore, the aircraft still had a reserve of more than two hours’ supply on board.
Only analysis of the two black boxes will shed light on the accident. They have been recovered, although badly damaged, especially the cockpit voice recorder (CVR). The Russian Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) plans to release a preliminary crash report on this within a month.
