Control Is Lost, Cannot Execute: Azerbaijan Flight Pilot's Last Words To Air Traffic Control

Azerbaijan: Last moment conversation between the pilot of Azerbaijan flight which crashed with 62 onboard in Kazakhstan and Air Traffic Control (ATC) reveals chilling details as to what happened when the plane struggled to continue its journey.

According to reports, the pilot informed ATC at around 8:12 am about the GPS failure and requested help for directions to return to the airport from where it took off in Baku.

A few minutes after that, at around 8:16, the pilot informed Air Traffic Control about a possible bird hit in the cockpit. The ATC responded to the pilot saying that they understood the message and asked what help he needed.

Reports say that the pilot initially wanted to return to the Baku airport from where it took off but changed the direction towards Mineralnye Vody airport in Russia.

When the Air Traffic Control asked the pilot to perform the ‘Left Orbit’, he responded with a concerning reply that he cannot execute it, the control is lost.

By 8:21 am, the crew informed the ATC that it had lost total control of the flight following which the plane went off the radar for about 37 minutes. However, the flight reappeared near Aktau, Kazakhstan, when it crashed.

30 dead, 28 survives Azerbaijan flight      

An Azerbaijani airliner has crashed in the Kazakhstani city of Aktau with Kazakhstan's Emergency Ministry now saying that at least 28 people survived the crash, which could mean that over 30 people are likely dead. Four bodies have been recovered.

The ministry confirmed in a Telegram statement Wednesday that 67 people, including five crew, were on board the plane. It added that 28 of them survived the crash and have been hospitalized. Russian news agency Interfax cited the ministry as saying that there may be more survivors.

The Embraer 190 aircraft made an emergency landing 3 km from the city, Azerbaijan Airlines said earlier.

Kazakhstan's Emergency Ministry initially said 25 people survived the crash, later revising that number to 27 and then to 28 as the search and rescue operation continued at the site of the crash, bringing the supposed death toll down.

The plane was originally scheduled to travel from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus.

A spokesperson for Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency said that preliminary information showed that the pilot had chosen to divert to Aktau after a bird strike on the aircraft led to “an emergency situation on board”.

Mobile phone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball. Other footage showed part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings and the rest of the aircraft, lying upside in the grass. The footage corresponded to the plane's colors and its registration number.

Flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24.com showed the aircraft making what appeared to be a figure-right once nearing the airport in Aktau, its altitude moving up and down substantially over the last minutes of the flight before impacting the ground.

FlightRadar24 separately said in an online post that the aircraft had faced “strong GPS jamming” which “made the aircraft transmit bad ADS-B data”, referring to the information that allows flight-tracking websites to follow planes in flight. Russia has been blamed in the past for jamming GPS transmissions in the wider region.

Embraer did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Wednesday morning. In a statement, Azerbaijan Airlines said it would keep members of the public updated and changed its social media banners to solid black.

With inputs from PTI