Last words of pilot of Russian plane that crashed in Black Sea

"The flaps...! Captain, we are falling" - the last words of the co-pilot of the Russian Tu-154 plane that crashed in the Black Sea may reveal the cause of the accident.

A Russian Tu-154. Photo: Wikipedia.

The pilots of the Russian Tu-154 military aircraft that crashed in the Black Sea on December 25 mentioned a problem with the plane's flaps in their final conversation before the incident, Sputnik reported yesterday, citing a source from the accident investigation committee.

"The normal conversation between the two pilots was suddenly interrupted when the first officer suddenly shouted 'flaps....! Captain, we are falling'," the representative of the investigation committee affirmed.

Viktor Zabolotsky, a veteran pilot and vice president of Russia's Amateur Aviation Federation, said the flaperon failure could have caused the plane to lose control.

"If one flap fails, the lift on both wings will be unbalanced, and the plane will tilt. If the flaps are not working properly, the plane will stall and it will be very difficult for the pilot to control," Zabolotsky said.

An expert from the newly established crisis unit in Sochi, near the crash site, said that if the flaps were not working properly, the plane would not have gained enough speed to climb and would have fallen.

A Russian Tu-154 plane carrying 92 people crashed into the Black Sea on December 25 shortly after taking off from the airport in Sochi city. No one on board survived./.

According to VNE