July 27, 2006 - 16:14 AMT
A-320 Commander Could Not Direct Plane into Sea
The conclusion of the Inter-State Aviation Committee on A-320 airplane crash is not conforming with reality, President of the National Aviation Association (NAA) of Armenia Dmitry Atbashyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. «I do not agree with the conclusion. No one from the air crew believes Grigor Grigoryan, having flied on various planes, would direct the liner into the sea. He could not be mistaken, his qualification as a pilot is rather high. It is laughable to say he lost the attitude position. No pilot believes the conclusion of the Inter-State Aviation Committee: it is counted for stupid passengers,» Atbashyan noted.

He underscored, «Pilots are not suicides. Not worth a pin is a plane, which crashes resulting from a pilot's mistake. A-320 has no automatic pilot - it is an ignorant wording. There is an automatic system of steadiness, which are integrated in the control system. And no matter how much you turn it off, it will not turn off fully. It keeps working irrespective of the pilot's wish,» the NAA President said.

Dmitry Atbashyan is sure that the Inter-State Aviation Committee conclusion is aimed at not damaging the image of Sochi, which aspires for hosting the Winter Olympic games. In his words Adler airport falls short of Russian federal aviation rules. «The regulations say that flights are prohibited in dangerous meteorological conditions. 6 types are considered dangerous. I will mention only two, present on that day: storm rainfall and wind shear. There was no equipment at Sochi airport to determine the availability of dangerous meteorological phenomena at the trajectory of approach operation. An airport does not have the right to receive Airbus liners without having corresponding devices. Those, who allowed flights of those planes to Sochi, should be responsible for the crash of the Armenian liner,» Atbashyan said. He also remarked that everything, what happened to the plane is an illustration of the aerodynamics textbooks, which describe the plane movement during the so-called phenomenon of grab.