AEROBUS CONSORTIUM WILL HELP INVESTIGATE SOCHI AIR ACCIDENT
ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 3 2006
PARIS, May 3 (Itar-Tass) – Experts of the Bureau for the Investigations
of Air Accidents of the Chief Civil Aviation Board of France will
render all the necessary assistance to Russia and Armenia in their
effort to investigate the reasons of the tragic crash of an A-320
airliner near Sochi, Anne Galabert, an official of the Consortium
Press Service informed Itar-Tass on Wednesday from the company’s HQ
in Toulouse. Our company will dispatch to the disaster spot a 6-man
team of experts to render all the necessary technical assistance,
she stated.
“The Airbus Consortium never investigates the reasons and circumstances
of air accidents. This is within the competence of the Bureau for the
Investigation of Air Accidents, which was set up for these purposes,”
Galabert explained. “We are always ready to give a helping hand and
to render technical assistance, to meet the Armenian and Russian
authorities halfway, and to answer all the questions they wish
to know. This is precisely why a team of our experts is going to
Sochi,” she added. The team of specialists of the Aerobus Consortium,
where the fateful A-320 liner was built, will be included in the
international commission that is to carry out the inquest. “Aerobus
is ready to provide information, linked with the disaster,” Press
Service officials noted. “However, the company does not deem it right
to discuss the reasons of the accident, since it is the duty of the
aviation authorities concerned to investigate the case,” they added.
The two-engine narrow-fuselage A-320 liner is designed to carry 150
passengers in the typical two-class variation. This type of airbuses,
which were launched into service in 1988, have won the reputation
of comfortable and dependable airliners. Today, they number 2,750 on
the international airlines and are being used by 175 air companies.
The airliner, which crashed near Sochi, had effected 14,400 flights
since 1995 with a total duration of more than 28,200 flight hours.

ARMENIA DECLARES MAY 5, MAY 6 DAYS OF MOURNING
ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 3 2006
YEREVAN, May 3 (Itar-Tass) – Armenia has declared May 5 and May 6 a
national day of mourning to commemorate those were killed in the air
crash near Sochi.
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan signed a decree to this effect
on Wednesday, the presidential press service reported.
Twenty-eight Russian citizens were aboard the crashed Airbus belonging
to the air company Armavia. The list of passengers placed in the hall
of the Yerevan international airport Zvartnots showed it.
These are mainly people of Armenian origin.
Well-known aviator, former director general of the Armenian Airlines
Vyacheslav Yaralov, chief of the hall for official delegations of
the Yerevan airport Albert Azaryan, Aram Petrosyan, the son of
Lieutenant-General Karlos Petrosyan, the former director of the
Armenian governmental security service, are among those killed.
Rescuers have found 16 bodies of those killed as a result of the crash
of the airplane A-320 in the Black Sea so far, Deputy Emergencies
Minister Yevgeny Serebrennikov told Itar-Tass.
He noted, “An active stage of the search operation in which more than
ten vessels are involved is underway at the incident site.” More than
40 specialists, including divers, are working in the catastrophe area.
The airplane was carrying 113 people, including the crew. Sixty-three
men, 36 women, six children, including a newborn and eight crewmembers
were aboard the airplane, the information department of the Emergencies
Ministry told Itar-Tass.
The airplane A-320 was en route Yerevan-Sochi. During another attempt
at an emergency landing the airplane disappeared from the radars and
crashed in the sea at the depth of 300 meters, five kilometres off
the shore where the Adler airport is situated.

ARMENIA DM FLIES TO PLANE CRASH SITE
ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 3 2006
YEREVAN, May 3 (Itar-Tass) – On the instructions of the Armenian
president Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisian who also chairs the
intergovernmental committee for Russian-Armenian economic cooperation
flied to Sochi on Wednesday to coordinate the efforts for investigating
the causes and the circumstances of the air crash of an airplane
Airbus belonging to the Armenian air company, it was stated at the
end of a meeting with Armenian President Robert Kocharian.
“Chief of the main civil aviation department in the Armenian government
Artyom Movsesian reported about the details of the tragedy,” the
Armenian presidential press service told Itar-Tass.
A committee has been set up for the transportation and the funeral of
the crash victims. Minister of Territorial Management Ovik Abramian
heads the committee.
The Armenian general prosecutor reported that criminal proceedings
were instituted over the crash.

PLANE THAT CRASHED IN THE BLACK SEA WAS IN GOOD TECHNICAL CONDITION
Focus News, Bulgaria
May 3 2006
Yerevan. The plane of the Armenian air company which crashed in the
Black Sea was in good technical condition, RIA Novosti informs citing
statement of the head of Chief Civil Aviation Department of Armenia
Artem Movsisyan.
According to him the plane Airbus A 320, which is owned by Armavia air
company, had undergone full repair and technical check-up in April this
year and shortly before take-off the expert company Sabina Technics
had given positive assessment of the plane’s technical condition.

EXPERIENCED CREW PILOTED CRASHED PLANE – AIR COMPANY OFFICIAL
ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 3 2006
YEREVAN, May 3 (Itar-Tass) – The passenger plane of the Armenian air
company Armavia that crashed into the Black Sea was in an excellent
technical condition, cleared for flights and piloted by an experienced
crew, the company’s deputy commercial director Andrei Agadzhanov said.
The plane had aboard 105 passengers and eight crew members as it was en
route from the Armenian capital Yerevan to Russia’s sea resort Sochi.
Agadzhanov told ITAR-TASS on Wednesday that the crew initially decided
to return to Yerevan because of bad weather conditions, but an air
traffic controller of the Sochi-Adler airport told it that the weather
improved over Adler.
It repeatedly deteriorated when the plane was close to the airport,
forcing the crew to fly the second circle, after which the plane
disappeared from radar screens.
A special flight will bring from Yerevan to Sochi relatives of
the crash victims, who include the former director-general of the
Armavia company, Vyacheslav Yaralov, who was flying to the funeral
of his mother-in-law.
The air accident has not affected the operation of the Armenia airport.
Armavia is continuing most of its flight services, the company’s
official told ITAR-TASS.
However, a flight to Amsterdam was cancelled.
The situation at the airport is calm.

AIR DISASTER INVOLVING ARMENIAN PLANE SHAKES ARMENIA
ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 3 2006
YEREVAN, May 3 (Itar-Tass) –Armenia has been shocked to hear the
news about the air disaster involving an airbus A-320 owned by the
Armavia Armenian company.
Few people in Armenia are in the habit of listening to news on radio or
television early in the morning; therefore, many people knew nothing
about the tragedy early on Wednesday morning yet.
There were 113 people on board, including twenty-eight Russian
citizens, when the plane that performed a regular flight from Yerevan
to Sochi on the Russian Black Sea coast crashed into the Black Sea
off Adler airport.
The plane took off at 1.47 a.m. local time (0.47 a.m. Moscow time).
An air traffic controller warned the crew about bad weather in
Sochi, and the crew decided to return to the home airport, said
representatives of the Armavia company. However, a new weather forecast
radioed on board said that weather conditions were improving, and
the plane continued the flight. When the plane was approaching Adler
airport weather conditions sharply worsened, and the pilots had to
a make a second landing approach. Then, the plane disappeared from
radar screens.
Deputy Commerce director of the Armavia company Andrei Agadzhanov
said that the plane was in perfect technical condition. First deputy
director of the Armavia company Ashkharbask Kalantara said that the
plane had undergone a pre-flight check made by the Yerevan personnel
of the Sabena technical Belgian aircraft technical service company.
The air disaster was a great shock to Armenia. People say they
experienced a shock similar to the one caused by an air disaster
in July, 1975 when a Yak- 40 plane crashed on the way from Yerevan
to Batumi.
Meanwhile, relatives of the victims killed in the plane crash have
been coming to Yerevan airport pending a special flight that will
take them to the area of the plane crash off the Russian coast. A
special commission of the Armavia Company and the Head Civil Aviation
Department under the Armenian government flew to Adler to inspect
the area of the plane crash.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ASEFI SENDS CONDOLENCES OVER ARMENIAN PLANE CRASH
Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran
May 3 2006
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi here Wednesday expressed
condolences to the government, people and families of victims of an
Armenian plane crash in the Black Sea.
According to reports, an Armenian Airbus A-320 carrying 113 passengers
and crew crashed in the Black Sea near the south Russian seaside
resort of Sochi in heavy rain on Wednesday killing all on board.
The plane took off from the Armenian capital Yerevan and had been on
flying for about an hour when it crashed. Most of the casualties were
Armenian nationals.
A spokesman for the Russian Emergencies Ministry said rescue workers
had found baggages, life jackets, body parts, shattered plane parts
and patches of oil floating on the surface of the sea at the crash
site. At least 16 bodies had been found by 04:25 GMT.
Asefi expressed the Iranian government’s and nation’s deepest sympathy
with the Armenian people, government and bereaved relatives of victims.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RUSSIAN EMERGENCY OFFICIALS: 112 PASSENGERS ON CRASHED ARMENIAN AIRLINE ARE DEAD
Pravda, Russia
May 3 2006
An Armenian passenger jet crashed in bad weather early Wednesday off
the Black Sea coast shortly before it was to land in the Russian city
of Sochi, killing at least 112 people, emergency officials said.
Armenian airline officials said they believed the crash was due to
the stormy weather.
The Airbus A-320, which belonged to the Armenian airline Armavia,
disappeared from radar screens just under 6 kilometers (3.7 miles)
from the shore and crashed after making a turn and heading toward the
Adler airport near Sochi, Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman
Viktor Beltsov said. Rescue officials in the ministry’s southern
regional branch said the 112 people aboard the plane, including five
children, were killed.
Beltsov had said earlier that according to preliminary information,
there were 113 people aboard. Armavia deputy commercial deputy Andrei
Agadzhanov said in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, that the plane
was carrying 105 passengers and eight crew. There was no immediate
explanation for the varying numbers.
Wreckage from the plane was found not far from the shoreline, Beltsov
said, and salvage workers said the fuselage was found at a depth of 450
meters (1,485 feet). Search and rescue teams have pulled 11 bodies from
the water, Beltsov said. Boats and divers were involved in the search.
The plane disappeared from radar screens at about 2:15 a.m. (2215 GMT
Tuesday) during a flight from Yerevan to Sochi, a resort city on the
Black Sea in southern Russia, Beltsov said.
He said that the plane went down while trying to make a repeat attempt
at an emergency landing. However, the Interfax news agency quoted
the Russian air control agency as saying that the plane’s crew had
not declared any emergency.
Agadzhanov said that the crew had communicated with Sochi ground
controllers while the plane was flying over the Georgian capital,
Tbilisi. The ground controllers said there were poor weather conditions
but the plane could still land, the representative said.
Just before the landing, however, the ground controllers told the crew
to make another circle in the air before approaching the airport. Then
the plane crashed, reports the AP.

ARMENIAN CIVIL AVIATION AGENCY GIVES DETAILS OF A-320 AIRBUS CRASH NEAR SOCHI
Regnum, Russia
May 3 2006
105 passengers and 8 crew members, including 77 Armenian citizens and
28 Russian citizens, were aboard the A-320 plane belonging to Armavia
that crashed in the Black Sea, Head of the Armenian Civil Aviation
Department Artyom Movsisyan has announce while speaking on May 3 after
an extraordinary session with the Armenian president on the crash.
Movsisyan is quoted as saying by a REGNUM correspondent that the airbus
departed from Yerevan at 01:47 a.m. local time. Because of bad weather
conditions the captain decided to fly back to Zvartnots Airport
in Yerevan, however air traffic control of Adler Airport through
Georgian colleagues conveyed information that weather conditions
permitted landing. The airbus tried to land again, but because of low
visibility the captain decided to start a missed approach procedure. At
03:35 a.m. Yerevan time the aircraft disappeared from radar screens,
some time later alarm was announced.
Russian navy and coastal guard found out that the crash occurred in
a 5 km distance from Sochi coast, the information was submitted to
the Armenian authorities.
As Movsisyan said, the airbus (hull No 32009, 1995) was subjected
to renewal and examination. The plane was insured. Right before
departure from Yerevan experts from Sabina Technics Company gave a
positive conclusion about technical conditions of the airbus.
According to Movsisyan, the plane was filled up with 10 tons of fuel,
and for a flight to Sochi only 3.5 tons were enough. At present
moment, the Armenian Civil Aviation Department and Armavia have
established operative headquarters to investigate details of the
crash. As Movsisyan noted, the investigation will be carried out by
Russian agencies in charge.

POSSIBLE VISIT OF OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS TO NK CONFLICT REGION TO BE DEFINED AFTER MOSCOW CONSULTATIONS
Author: E.Huseynov
TREND Info, Azerbaijan
May 3 2006
An issue on the forthcoming tour of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs
to the region will be defined after the completion of the Moscow
consultations, a group on Nagorno-Karabakh at the Russian Foreign
Ministry told Trend.
The consultations by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, US Ambassador
Steven Mann, Russian Ambassador Yuriy Merzlyakov, and Bernard Fassier
and special envoy of the OSCE chairman-in-office, Andjey Casprzyk
started at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow on Tuesday morning
(2 May).
Next steps by the co-chairs will be known as a result of consultations
due on 3 May, a group on Nagorno-Karabakh added.