BAD WEATHER WAS CAUSE OF A-320 PLANE’S CRASH, NAU CHAIRMAN SAYS
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 20, NOYAN TAPAN. The bad weather was the cause of
the crash of A-320 plane during a Yerevan-Sochi flight in May of
this year. Dmitry Adbashian, Chairman of the National Aviation Union
(NAU), expressed this opinion during the October 20 meeting with
reporters. According to him, the weather deteriorated near Sochi
Airport and the plane was caught in a "rising air flow" which caused
the crash. D. Adbashian reminded that Sochi Airport had no right to
receive planes of this type – due to the absence of the appropriate
devices, particularly the devices regsitering meteorological conditions
beforehand. He did not subscribe to the opinion that pilot Vladimir
Poghosian expressed during the October 19 press conference that an
explosion in A-320 plane was the cause of the crash. In D. Adbashin’s
words, if there had been a quarrel among plane passengers, the pilot
would have done everything possible to land the plane as quickly as
possible. Whereas, after an instruction of the Sochi ground controller,
the pilot "very quietly" attempted to make a second circle.