On July 28, head of the Armenian Civil Aviation general department Artsyom Movsesyan announced:
“The information of the International Aviation Committee (IAC) corresponds to the information of the sound recordings of the crashed A-320 plane.”
Although the civil aviation general department has agreed with the IAC preliminary conclusion regarding the human factor being the reason for the crash, however, A. Movsesyan says that “they still have to check to see” what the main reason was.
“The total image, the succession of events and the depictions are all close to reality. But what remains unclear is why the situation turned from normal to emergent. Did that have something to do with the pilot’s health, or the nervousness of the dispatcher, or it was due to the pilot’s loss of direction? This remains a mystery,” said head of the civil aviation general department.
“The aviation committee hasn’t signed the final document because they haven’t revealed the fact that the plane was out of control during the last 20 seconds. According to the IAC, the plane lost its course of direction and some lights had shown the pilots that the plane was in an emergency situation,” says A. Movsesyan.
He mentioned the fact that during the plane modeling, it was unclear as to why the pilots hadn’t used the technical equipment on the plane. According to Movsesyan, the pilots weren’t talking to one another at the time and were sending messages to the dispatchers.
The Armenian side will present its observations about the preliminary conclusion to the IAC within 60 days. According to head of the civil aviation general department, the Armenian side has been “legitimate during the investigation, has followed the principles and currently demands legitimacy too.”
As for the Russian journalists’ accusations that the “crew is to blame” for the plane crash, A. Movsesyan says that president of the IAC Tatyana Anodina told him during a phone conversation on July 27 that the IAC administration doesn’t have the right to decide who is to blame and hasn’t even done anything like that. In regard to the denial of “Armavia” regarding the conclusion, head of the civil aviation general department said that they made an exception for the “Armavia” pilots to take part in the investigation.
“This is the first time that the pilots of the crashed plane are allowed to take part in the investigation,” said A. Movsesyan.