The Russian plane Sukhoi SuperJet-100, making a demonstration tour of Asian countries, crashed in Indonesia on May 9, 2012 during the second demonstration flight that day. The wreckage of the liner was discovered the next morning on the almost steep slope of the Salak volcano. According to rescuers, their position indicates an attempt by the crew to climb sharply to avoid a collision with the mountain.
As you know, the newest Russian aircraft Sukhoi SuperJet-100 disappeared from the radar screens 20 minutes after the start of its second demonstration flight in Indonesia. After the liner crossed the mountain range, he got into a thunderstorm area. The crew requested a descent from the ground services in order to bypass the powerful rain cloud from below. Permission has been obtained. After 8 seconds after that, communication with the aircraft was interrupted. Subsequently, it turned out that for some unknown reason the liner deviated from the course and hit the slope of Mount Salak.
To date, the main possible cause of the death of the SSJ-100 is considered to be a crew error. Simulation of an emergency has shown the same. However, some experts believe that everything was done correctly. The plane had already rounded the mountain and was about to land. The crew requested a descent in order to better see the runway during landing in bad weather conditions. Indonesian experts also call the decision of the Russian pilots to decline quite logical. The reason that the plane suddenly turned 150 degrees, after which it crashed into a mountain, may be a computer failure.
Another version of the death of the plane - electronics could fail as a result of a lightning strike. The SSJ-100 is 85% assembled from foreign components, in particular, the navigation system was developed in France. Old Soviet aircraft were designed with such situations in mind. Current collectors were always installed on them, which, apparently, were not on the SSJ-100.
At the moment, both flight recorders have been found. The Indonesian side is investigating the disaster; Russian experts will take part in deciphering the "black boxes" as consultants. For this purpose, the best specialists were sent to Jakarta, who took part, in particular, in the investigation of the disasters in which Lev Kachinsky and the Lokomotiv team died. It is expected that the transcript of the flight recorder records will not take long, since the SSJ-100 was equipped with modern digital storage devices.
In any case, decoding the flight recorders will clarify the situation. In the meantime, Indonesia has suspended purchases of SSJ-100 pending clarification of the causes of the disaster.
