Investigation suggests ATC and crew had aircraft in wrong position

Published: 11/6/2000

According to reports the cause of the crash of the Russian Air Force Il-18 carrying mail and armed forces families at Batumi in Georgia, appears to be due to a breakdown of communication between ground control and the aircraft in poor weather conditions resulting in the aircraft taking the wrong approach to the airport, which is surrounded by mountains.

The conclusion has been reached without the assistance of the cockpit voice recorder, which was destroyed in the crash. The assessment was made from other recording devices on board and tapes of the conversations between the aircraft and the ground control as it approached the airport. The preliminary findings suggest that neither the crew or air traffic control had an accurate position for the aircraft as it made its approach, leading it to collide with a mountainside away from the normal approach to the airport.

Sergey Ivanov, the Minister of Defence, said that so far only 20 of those killed in the crash have been identified.

Article ID: 2181