October 31 crash a321 over the Sinai Peninsula. Lost flight: what is known about the causes of the A321 crash a year later

Exactly one year ago, on October 31, 2015, there was the most massive air crash in Russia in terms of the number of victims. Then in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, the aircraft A321 Russian airline"Kogalymavia". There were 217 passengers on board, including 24 children, and seven crew members. They all died. The Russian authorities recognized the incident as a terrorist attack, but the international investigation has not yet been completed.

On October 31, the A321 aircraft of the Russian airline Kogalymavia was performing chartered flight from Sharm El Sheikh to Saint Petersburg. The liner took off at 5:50 am and after 23 minutes disappeared from the radar. On the same day, Egyptian government search teams found the wreckage of a wrecked aircraft near the city of Nekhel in the north of the Sinai Peninsula. All 224 people on board were killed, including 219 Russians, four citizens of Ukraine and one native of Belarus.

Causes of the A321 crash

The international investigation, led by the Egyptian aviation authorities, has not yet been completed. It is attended by representatives of Russia, France, Germany, Ireland and the United States.

Shortly after the crash, the Western media began to report that a terrorist attack could have occurred on board the A321, citing their sources in the special services and officials. From these publications it followed that the authorities of the United States and Great Britain considered the version of the terrorist attack the most probable. However, Moscow publicly distanced itself from her for a long time, calling the version of the terrorist attack premature and urging them to wait for the official results of the investigation. And only on November 6, it was decided to suspend air traffic with Egypt until the causes of the A321 crash were clarified and the Russians who were there were evacuated.

Officially, the terrorist act of the FSB took place over Sinai only two and a half weeks after the disaster, on November 17th. According to the agency, an improvised explosive device went off in flight. Vladimir Putin at a meeting of the Security Council to find the organizers of the crash "anywhere on the planet" and destroy them.

However, the Egyptian authorities, even after these statements, continued to insist that a technical malfunction was the most likely cause of the disaster. And only in February 2016, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi admitted that a terrorist attack had occurred on board the A321.

In September, the Kommersant newspaper, citing sources, reported that an international technical commission had established the exact location of the explosion on the plane. According to the publication, experts determined that the terrorists mined the compartment oversized baggage in the tail section of the plane, hiding an explosive device between baby carriages and wicker furniture carried by tourists.

Russia and the CIA believe that the explosion on board was organized by Wilayat Sinai (until 2014 - Ansar Beit al-Maqdis), a cell of the terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS) banned in Russia. The group claimed responsibility for the downing of the A321: On November 18, 2015, the Islamic State propaganda magazine Dabiq published a photo of an improvised explosive device made from a can of Schweppes soda. As stated in the article, it was this device that was powered on board the A321. In August 2016, the Egyptian military about the assassination of the leader of Wilayat Sinai, Abu Duaa al-Ansari, who is suspected of organizing a terrorist attack.

Scandalous case

Relatives of those killed in the disaster have repeatedly complained about the progress of the investigation and the process of paying compensation. In December, lawyer Igor Trunov, on behalf of 35 relatives, filed a complaint with the Basmanny Court against the inaction of the head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin. According to the lawyer, it was expressed in the fact that the UK ignored two appeals from relatives. In one of them, they asked to be informed of the number of the criminal case, to recognize them as victims and to acquaint them with the materials of the investigation. Another complaint concerned Ingosstrakh. The appeal alleged that the company fraudulently obtains statements from the relatives of the victims that limit their right to apply to the courts in order to obtain compensation. Ingosstrakh itself categorically denied these accusations. And the lawsuit against Bastrykin was rejected.

Consequences

After the crash of the Kogalymavia plane, Russia suspended flights with Egypt, and tour operators were banned from working in this direction. All year they waited for the resumption of communication with the country, which for many years was one of the main resort destinations for Russians. According to the latest data, this can happen no earlier than December-January.

To resume flights, the Egyptian side must fulfill a number of airport security requirements (a complete list has not been officially published). During the year, Russia repeatedly sent its specialists to Egypt for checks at the airports of Cairo, Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada, but every time there were violations. According to the sources of the Al-Watan newspaper quoted by TASS, "a number of Russian structures refuse to discuss the issue of resuming air traffic with Egypt until the results of the official investigation appear."

With the closure of air traffic, Egypt suffered significant losses. From the collapse of tourism - one of the key industries for the country (more than 11% of GDP until November 2015) - the budget of Egypt, according to Reuters, lost more than three billion dollars.

The crash of the Russian Airbus and the subsequent cessation of flights to the Arab Republic led to problems for Kogalymavia itself and its associated tour operator Brisco, which was the customer of flight 9268. Since the spring of 2015, the case of declaring the carrier bankrupt has been dragging on, the next meeting will be held on November 10. In March, the Federal Air Transport Agency limited the operator's certificate to Kogalymavia and deprived it of permits for 13 international destinations.

The tour operator Brisco, the organizer of the flight, suspended work on August 2 until it pays off debts to customers and agencies. As reported on the Brisco website, after the closure of flights to Egypt and Turkey, the company suffered "colossal financial and economic losses."

Exactly two years ago, on October 31, 2015, the most massive dead plane crash throughout the history of Russia. On this day Airbus airliner A321-231 of the Russian airline took off from the Egyptian Sharm el-Sheikh and headed for St. Petersburg. The crew of the liner performed a charter flight and carried Russian tourists home after rest.

The plane climbed steadily along the Gulf of Aqaba and was soon to cross the Sinai Peninsula to enter European airspace. However, at the 23rd minute of the flight, the connection of ground services with the aircraft was interrupted. It soon became clear that the Airbus A321-231 crashed to the ground in the central part of the Sinai Peninsula and completely collapsed. The wreckage of the aircraft was scattered over 13 km. All 224 people on board the aircraft were killed.

At the time of the death of the airliner, there were seven crew members, as well as 217 passengers. Of these, four were Ukrainians, one Belarusian, and the rest were Russian citizens. Among them was the deputy head of Pskov and a deputy of the local legislative assembly. According to the Federal Air Transport Agency, the oldest passenger was 77 years old, and

the smallest victim of the tragedy was 10-month-old.

Shortly before the tragic incident, her mother Tatyana published a photo of the child on the page in social network"In contact with". The picture shows the girl standing on the window sill of the airport window with her back to the viewer. She looks at the planes on the ground. Under the picture she signed: "The most important passenger."

This photograph was later replicated by many Russian and world media and became a symbol of the Sinai catastrophe. Diana's mother and father also died in the crash of the liner.

Expressed condolences to the victims Russian President, as well as the leaders of many countries in Europe and the world. The day after the crash of the liner, mourning was declared in Russia. However, the French published three cartoons on the topic of the disaster, which caused a negative reaction from the Russian Federation and. In response, the French Foreign Ministry said that "journalists in France freely express their opinion", while "it does not always coincide with the official position of the French authorities."

"There were no questions about the car"

Shortly after the incident, various versions of what had happened began to be put forward. Almost immediately, the hypothesis was dismissed, according to which the plane crashed due to pilot error. The crashed Airbus was flown by experienced pilots, and the crew commander, 48-year-old Valery Nemov, flew over 12,000 hours, of which more than 3,860 were on the Airbus A321.

However, the details of the operation of the aircraft soon became known, and it turned out that it was far from new.

It was released in the spring of 1997 and made its first flight on May 9th. After that, the aircraft was handed over to the American company International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), which by May 27 leased it to the Lebanese airline Middle East Airlines (MEA), which had it for six years. On June 2, 2003, already under the tail number TC-OAE, the liner was leased to the Turkish airline Onur Air. This structure later sub-leased the liner to Saudi Saudi Arabian Airlines, and from July 30 to September 29, 2010 - to Syrian Cham Wings Airlines. By the spring of 2012, the TC-OAE board returned to ILFC, and by March 30, 2012, it was leased to the Russian Kogalymavia.

On April 30 of the same 2012, the Dutch airline AerCap bought it from ILFC, which re-delivered this airliner to the Russian Kogalymavia. The Russian airline, in turn, has been operating under the Metrojet trademark since May 1, 2012.

During the long service of the aircraft, an unpleasant incident from the point of view of safety occurred to him. On November 16, 2001, he was on passenger flight ME 306 on the route Beirut - Cairo, and when landing at the airport in the Egyptian capital, the pilots raised his nose too high, as a result of which the tail dropped so low that it hit the ground. None of the 88 people on board the aircraft (81 passengers and 7 crew members) were injured then, and the liner itself returned to passenger routes after undergoing repairs. This information was also confirmed by representatives of Kogalymavia, who assured that the aircraft passed all the necessary checks and technical tests on time.

On the eve of departure, the ill-fated flight passed Maintenance, and the receiving crew had no questions about the car.

Interrupted message

An investigation into the causes of the tragedy was immediately launched by several large structures of the countries of the world, since Egypt is a very popular tourist destination citizens of many states. The investigation was carried out by the Ministry civil aviation Egypt, Russian, Bureau for Investigation and Analysis of Civil Aviation Safety of France, German federal bureau Air Accident Investigation, the Air Accident Investigation Division of Ireland, and the US National Transportation Safety Board.

At the same time, according to the norms of international law, the Egyptian investigators carried out the general leadership, since the incident occurred in airspace this country. Already on the first of November, the "black boxes" found earlier from the deceased liner were deciphered. In the meantime, he opened criminal cases under articles 263 and 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Violation of the rules for the safety of traffic and operation of railway, air, sea and inland water transport and underground" and "Production, storage, transportation or sale of goods and products, performance of work or provision of services that do not meet safety requirements").

The United Kingdom and German airlines also interrupted flights with the Egyptian state, while France, the Netherlands and Belgium warned their citizens about the undesirability of flying to Sharm el-Sheikh. In addition, she announced the cancellation of night flights to Sharm el-Sheikh.

Customers not installed

Meanwhile, the victims of the disaster filed a class-action lawsuit against the tour operator, the Kogalymavia airline and insurance companies for a total amount of about €1.4 billion. This is the first example of a class-action lawsuit for such a serious amount in Russian history.

And although the involvement of Kogalymavia employees in the incident over Sinai is not confirmed by the facts, in the spring of 2016 she banned domestic and international flights of this airline.

According to the most frequently voiced version, the Sinai division of the terrorist "" is behind the attack (both organizations are banned in Russia). Its members claimed responsibility for this crime shortly after the incident.

However, there are other points of view. A number of experts believe that the pro-Catarian organization Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (a cell of IS banned in Russia) could be behind the attack. The United States also announced its trace in the tragedy.

Be that as it may, after the death of the plane, Russian aviation began to intensify its air strikes on the objects of various Islamist organizations in Syria. For the first time, Russian strategic aviation was involved in raids on IS targets and other extremists.

However, the names of the specific perpetrators of the attack have not yet been established.

And on October 28, 2017, a monument to the victims of the disaster was unveiled at the Serafimovsky cemetery in St. Petersburg. In addition, among the people of St. Petersburg there is an idea to erect a monument to 10-month-old Darina Gromova, who has already promised to make a well-known sculptor free of charge.

On October 31, 2015, the Russian Airbus A321 aircraft of the Kogalymavia airline (Metrojet), operating flight 9268 Sharm el-Sheikh - St. Petersburg,.

On behalf of the President, the Russian government in connection with the disaster, headed by the Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov. The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) was under the leadership of the executive director of the committee, Viktor Sorochenko.

Cairo immediately after the disaster about the opportunity to take part in the investigation of the tragedy. A special commission of inquiry was created, in it: Russia, Egypt, France (the state of the aircraft developer), Germany (the state of the liner manufacturer) and Ireland (the state of registration). Ayman al-Muqaddam was appointed head of the commission to investigate the disaster.

On November 1, 2015, Egyptian Attorney General Nabil Ahmed Sadeq involved Russian specialists in the investigation into the causes of the crash with the Russian aircraft in the Sinai Peninsula.

A group of investigators and forensic experts from the central office of the Investigative Committee of Russia, in agreement with the competent authorities and together with representatives of the Republic of Egypt, in accordance with the norms of national and international law, participated in the inspection of the crash site in Egypt.

November 17, 2015 the head of the FSB of the Russian Federation Alexander Bortnikov during a meeting in the Kremlin on the results of the investigation into the causes of the crash Russian aircraft that, as a result of the examination of personal belongings, luggage and parts of a plane that crashed in Egypt, traces of a foreign-made explosive were found. He .

In turn, the Egyptian authorities urged not to rush to conclusions. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri said that as part of a criminal investigation.

In March 2016, the International Commission for the Investigation of the Crash of the Russian Aircraft A321 that it received an official report from the Investigative Committee of Russia and handed it over to the Egyptian Prosecutor General's Office to complete legal procedures. The commission itself, despite the transfer of the case to the investigating authorities of the state security of the country, continued the technical examination of the wreckage of the liner.

In mid-April, Egypt's Attorney General Nabil Sadeq announced that the case of the Russian plane crash was transferred to the country's High Prosecutor's Office for State Security. The decision of the head of the supervisory agency, noted in the text of the statement, was made on the basis of data from the report of the Investigative Committee of Russia, "which indicates the suspicion of a criminal trace."

In June, CIA Director John Brennan, speaking in the US Senate, that US intelligence has evidence of involvement in the explosion on the Russian passenger plane A321 of the Egyptian group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which swore allegiance to the terrorist movement "Islamic State" banned in many countries (an organization banned in the Russian Federation), and on August 4, the Egyptian Ministry of Defense announced the liquidation of the leader of this terrorist group.

At the insistence of the Investigative Committee of Russia, an international commission of inquiry aviation accident. As a result of the work carried out, the fact of the impact of high-energy elements on the aircraft skin in the "inside-out" direction and "explosive decompression" in flight was established.

In October 2016, a commission of inquiry formed by the Egyptian Attorney General's Office sent twelve of the wreckage to the Alloys Science Laboratory for detailed examination.

Work to determine the causes of the crash. Until now, the parties have no understanding of what happened to the plane, how the explosive device got on board the plane, who carried it. Also, there are no identified suspects and their accomplices from among the employees of the airport.

On the morning of October 31, 2015, it became known that a plane of the Russian airline Kogalymavia, en route from Egyptian Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, disappeared over the Sinai Peninsula. There were 224 people on board. At first, the wording was cautious - “does not get in touch”, “disappeared from the radar screens”, - no one wanted to believe that this was a plane crash, which was destined to become the worst in the history of domestic aviation.

On the anniversary of the death of the A321 liner over the Sinai Peninsula, Izvestia recalls everything that is known about the disaster to date, and pay tribute to the victims of the crash.

The death of A321: the beginning

On the same day, October 31, 2015, fragments of a fallen liner were found in the desert - when they fell to the ground, they were scattered within a radius of 40 km.

After the first reports about the death of the aircraft arrive in the media, the rescuers are forced to turn off the passengers' phones that survived the impact on the ground - these are the relatives of the passengers on board who are still trying to get through to their loved ones.

Of the 217 passengers and seven crew members, no one survived - in such a terrible disaster, this was impossible.

Darina Gromova

However, the true symbol of the tragedy was Darina Gromova, who died in a plane crash, whose photograph quickly spread around all the world's media. She was 10 months old.

She became the smallest victim of the terrorist attack, but far from the only child on board the crashed plane: in total, according to the Federal Air Transport Agency, there were 25 children and 192 more adult passengers on board the plane. Most of them were residents of the northwestern part of Russia.

The aircraft commander was 48-year-old Valery Nemov, who by that time had flown more than 12 thousand hours, and almost 4 thousand of them were on Airbus A321 aircraft. The co-pilot was 45-year-old Sergei Trukhachev, whose flight time was 5641 hours. Flight attendants Valentina Martsevich, Andrei Belomestnov, Irina Olaru, Alexei Filimonov worked in the cabin.

terrorist attack

As soon as the death of the liner becomes obvious, journalists and experts express the first versions of what happened. First, the most common ones are heard - piloting error, technical malfunction of the aircraft. It becomes known that a few years before the incident, the tail of the plane was damaged during landing in Cairo - after that the plane was repaired, but information quickly spreads through the media.

Official representatives of the airline issued a statement that the aircraft was fully operational. For the first time, they voiced the version that it took outside influence to destroy it. She does not receive special support - it is difficult to believe in this and, probably, too scary.

But on November 16, the head of the FSB, Vladimir Bortnikov, officially confirms the version of a bomb planted on board the plane. This information is also confirmed by British intelligence data. A few days before, on November 6, flights by Russian and some of the world's airlines to Egypt are completely suspended.

Location 31A

As early as November 7, it became known that when decoding the flight recorders, an incomprehensible noise was heard in the last seconds of the recording. Prior to this, the negotiations of the pilots are going on as usual. After - the plane begins to sharply lose the altitude gained in half an hour since takeoff.

On November 17, immediately after the FSB confirms the version of the terrorist attack, Russia turns to the world community with a request to assist in identifying the terrorists involved in the destruction of the plane. A reward of $50 million was promised for information that could help detain the criminals. Later, information appears about the detention of two employees of the Sharm el-Sheikh airport. They are suspected of helping to carry the bomb on board the plane. At the same time, the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Minister of Civil Aviation of Egypt deny this information.

Russia, Egypt, France, Germany, Ireland, the United States, as well as representatives of Airbus Industries are participating in the investigation into the causes of the disaster.

On November 18, Dabik magazine, which claims to be the official information body of the ISIS terrorist group banned in Russia, publishes an article that allegedly describes the process of creating a device placed on board an aircraft - according to the publication, it was made using a soda can.

Egypt is setting up its own special commission to investigate the plane crash. In December 2015, she announces the completion of the preparation of a preliminary report, which is sent to all participants in the investigation. It excludes the possibility of unauthorized access to the aircraft.

In February 2016, President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi claims that a terrorist attack was the cause of the disaster - Egypt officially admits this fact for the first time.

At the beginning of September of this year, the commission completes the laying out of the fragments of the crashed aircraft - as a result, it is possible to determine the point from which the destruction of the aircraft began. According to the examination, the explosion occurred in the area of the 30-31st rows. Presumably, the point of explosion was the place 31A. The power of the explosive device was 1 kg of TNT.

The investigation of the disaster has not yet been completed - the international commission of investigation continues its work, in addition, the Main Directorate for the Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation continues to investigate, this was reported on Monday, October 31, in the press service of the department.

Consequences

Shortly after the crash, security checks at Egyptian airports followed, revealing problems with air travel security. The Russian side stated that flights would not be restored until all the shortcomings were eliminated, while it is not known exactly what shortcomings are in question. Egypt, in response, declared its readiness to fulfill the requirements of the Ministry of Transport, but the country's authorities noted that this would take time.

The possible resumption of flights to Egypt has subsequently been reported several times, but so far none of them has been confirmed. According to experts, air traffic will not be restored until spring 2017.

Flight 9268: Garden of Memory

In September of this year, a competition for the design of a monument in memory of the dead ended in St. Petersburg. They became the project "Garden of Memory" - at the request of the families of the victims, the image of the aircraft and other direct reminders of the disaster will not be used in the creation of the memorial. Instead, it is planned to plant 224 trees in the garden - according to the number of those killed in the disaster. The memorial was laid on October 30, 2016 on Rumbolovskaya Hill in Vsevolozhsk, Leningrad Region.

The victims of the disaster are remembered not only in Russia: on October 30, a funeral procession was held in Egypt in memory of the tragedy. Residents of Sharm el-Sheikh, Minister of Civil Aviation of the country Sherif Fahti, Russian Ambassador to Cairo Sergey Kirpichenko, deputies of the Egyptian Parliament laid flowers to the placard with the names of all those who, on the morning of October 31, 2015, boarded flight 9268 from Sharm El Sheikh to Petersburg.

“On behalf of the entire political leadership of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the government of the country, let me express my sincere condolences to the families of the victims and honor their memory. We are extremely sorry for what happened and mourn. Sharm el-Sheikh and the whole of Egypt will never forget the victims of this flight,” said Sherif Fathi, head of the country's aviation ministry.

Commemorative events will also be held in 13 regions of Russia, the inhabitants of which died in the crash of the liner. Memorial services will be held in churches for the dead, and at the Holy Trinity Izmailovsky Cathedral in St. Petersburg (147 out of 224 victims of the disaster lived here) a worship cross will be lit.

The horrific A321 crash over the Sinai Peninsula, which occurred in the fall of 2015, still excites the world community. A terrible tragedy befell an air transport carrying 224 passengers belonging to an airline called Kogalymavia.

The cause of the plane crash, which took the lives of everyone on board, according to one version, was marked as a terrorist attack. Let's try to remember how the investigation took place, as well as what facts the experts managed to confirm.

Air Transport, airline owned"Kogalymavia", following to St. Petersburg from Sharm el-Sheikh, suffered terrible crash, having been in the air for only 20 minutes . The Kogalymavia disaster occurred near the Sinai Peninsula. Most of the passengers were citizens of the Russian Federation.

Deviations from the normal movement became noticeable even at an altitude of 9411 meters. At that time, the liner kept a speed of 755 km / h. The plane crashed to the ground at 6:14 local time from a height of 8512 meters at a speed of 115 km/h. As a result of the impact, the aircraft was completely destroyed.

The remains of the airliner and the bodies of the people on board were found in the center of the peninsula between El Kanthala and El Laxima. The crash occurred 50 km from the city of Nekhel.

The wreckage was scattered over an area of about 30 km.

Also on board the air transport were three citizens of Ukraine and one Belarusian. As previously noted, no one managed to survive the terrible tragedy, so the plane crash over Sinai was noted as the largest one that takes place in Russian and Soviet aviation.

As soon as it became known about the tragedy, the Russian investigative committee immediately opened 2 criminal cases on the fact of the tragedy. Representatives of the investigative committee, conducting an initial investigation, noted 2 versions that could cause the crash of the airbus:

technical malfunction of the liner;
wrong actions taken by the crew.

Cause of the tragedy

Responsibility for the tragic incident was almost immediately claimed by militants belonging to the terrorist organization of the Islamic State. However, this reason was considered by both representatives of Rosaviatsia and the Ministry of Transport of Russia as unreliable.

The President of Russia commented on the crash 55 hours later, offering sincere condolences to the families of the victims and noting that the investigation into the crash would continue in full. The involvement of a terrorist organization was noted in the statement of Alexander Bortnikov, who served as head of the FSB.

Bortnikov noted that, quite possibly, the cause of the crash was the explosion of a bomb that the terrorists quietly carried on board. Soon, one of the representatives of the Russian Ministry came up with a new version regarding the organization of the terrorist attack. The report noted that the militants could have detonated the bomb on board because of revenge on the Russian side, which was actively involved in the fight against terrorist organizations.

About a month after the crash, ISIS representatives published photographs of the bomb used to blow up the airbus in one of the circulation publications. The militants independently created a subversive mechanism from a tin can, equipping it with a metal cylinder and a remote control.

Egyptian military units were able to detain one of the ISIS leaders in the summer of 2016. Around the same time, another militant leader in Syria was eliminated. And the head of the terrorist group Al-Adnani, according to representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defense, was eliminated during an airstrike.

It is worth noting that the Pentagon completely denies the involvement of the Russian side in the elimination of the terrorist commander.

Investigative findings

The plane crash over Sinai alarmed the entire world community, so representatives of many countries took part in the investigation of the causes of the crash:

Russian Federation;
Egypt;
France;
Ireland;
Germany.

According to the rules of the investigation, approved by the International Civil Aviation Association, the Egyptian side was to be the leader in this matter. The version about the involvement of terrorists in the crash was recognized by the current president of Egypt only at the beginning of 2016. A full report on the investigation was published by representatives of the Ministry 2 months after the speech of the President of Egypt.

The report noted that during the investigation it was even possible to mark the place where the explosive device was planted. To clarify this issue, the expert commission had to analyze all the collected fragments of the destroyed airbus. The fragments were analyzed in a special spare hangar on the territory of the Cairo air complex.

At the end of the study, experts were able to confirm that the bomb was planted by militants in the tail of the airbus, more precisely, in the compartment used to transport oversized cargo. As soon as the terrorists activated the explosive device, powerful explosion tore off the tail section of the aircraft, which caused an uncontrolled dive.

According to data published in a Reuters source, several people were detained who were suspected of involvement in the tragedy. In particular, we are talking about 2 police officers, a mechanic and a luggage compartment loader. The agency also added that the brother of the mechanic suspected of the attack arrived in Syria about 12 months before the tragedy to join the terrorist group.

Interesting information about the ill-fated flight

Airbus A321-231, which crashed, was number 663. It left the factory in 1997, and in the same period went on its first flight. First, the airliner received a temporary DAVZK number.

After successful tests, the aircraft was purchased by the International Leasing Finance Corporation (ILFC). The airline MEA received it on lease. The liner had 149 passenger seats, of which 31 were in business class and 118 in economy class. The aircraft was operated for 6 years before being transferred back to ILFC.

It is interesting that during this time the airliner became direct participant one of the incidents that also occurred in Egypt. November 16, 2001 was made dangerous landing in the city of Cairo. Due to the fault of the pilots, the plane raised its nose so high that the tail section hit the runway hard.
There were no casualties as a result of the incident. None of the flight passengers (81 people) and 7 crew members needed medical care. Shortly after the forced repair, the ship returned to service again to carry out passenger flights.

Further history of the crashed plane

In 2003, the same airliner under the number TC-OAE was leased to the carrier Onur Air (Turkey). Moreover, not only the on-board combination was subjected to changes, but also the interior. In the service of Onur Air, the aircraft began to accommodate 220 economy class seats; business lounge, it was decided to remove.

Until 2012, the aircraft operated directly from Onur Air, the Saudi Arabian Airlines and the Syrian carrier Cham Wings Airlines (the latter used the aircraft under a sublease agreement with Onur Air). In the spring of 2012, the ship returned to ILFC for the last time.

The vessel passed to the carrier Kogalymavia on March 30. The aircraft number has been changed to EI-ETJ. The Russian carrier, like previous partners of ILFC, also entered into a leasing agreement. Exactly one month later, the aircraft was completely bought out by the Dutch company AerCap and re-delivered to Kogalymavia, which at that time already bore the name Metrojet.

Despite such a long history of operation by various carriers, the aircraft was fully maintained in good condition. The liner was equipped with two powerful V2533-A5 engines developed by International Aero Engines. The last operating company of Metrojet (Kogalymavia) provided evidence that the frequency and quality of all technical checks were strictly observed.

According to the documentation, the last technical inspection before the disaster took place on October 26, 2015. Scheduled maintenance was performed as scheduled and is dated March 18, 2014. The ship's safety level corresponded to a coefficient of 0.67 (maximum 2).

For all 18.5 years of active operation, the aircraft made 21,590 takeoff and landing cycles. The total flight time was 57,413 hours and 11 minutes. Which corresponds to 48% of the total resource.

Who was on the plane

There were 224 people on board. but. Among the dead were a total of 218 citizens of Russia, 4 of Ukraine and 2 of Belarus.

The aircraft was flown by two pilots:

Aircraft commander V.Yu. Nemov (48 years old). Number of hours in flight: more than 12,000.
Co-pilot S.S. Trukhachev (45 years old). Flight experience: 5 641 hours.

Five flight attendants worked with the passengers of the flight. Rosaviatsia provided data, according to which 192 adults and 25 children were on board. The oldest passenger was 77 years old, and the youngest was only 10 months old at the time of the tragedy.

How did the authorities of the countries react to the tragedy?

Condolences were publicly expressed by the heads of a large number of countries:

Germany;
Egypt;
Bulgaria;
Latvia;
Lithuania;
the Netherlands;
Ukraine, etc.

Even Pope Francis was among the officials. There was simply no one indifferent to this tragedy and the victims in the world, despite the ambiguous political and economic relations.

However, one incident did occur. Although France officially expressed condolences and support, the infamous Charlie Hebdo magazine immediately published 3 cartoons based on the plane crash. The Russian government and the public were outraged. Official Paris spoke out in support of journalists, saying that the magazine has the right to "express its own opinion about everything without restrictions," even if it contradicts the position of the government.