Summary
- Flight recorders from the crashed Embraer Legacy 600 in Russia have been retrieved.
- The head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was among the ten occupants who tragically perished in the crash.
- The investigation by the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency is underway, and the flight recorders will be analyzed to uncover key flight parameters.
Flight recorders have been retrieved from the Embraer Legacy 600 that crashed in Tver in Russia on August 23rd. The head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is stated to be one of the victims who perished in the crash. The Legacy 600 was en route to St. Petersburg from Moscow on Wednesday afternoon when the incident occurred. None of the ten occupants of the aircraft survived the crash.
The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency is investigating the incident. According to FlightGlobal, Russian investigators received a breakthrough in the form of the flight recorders that have been retrieved from the site. Flight recorders are expected to reveal critical information into the last moments of the flight, including critical flight parameters such as speed, altitude, and heading.
The crash of Embraer Legacy 600
A Russian private jet, an Embraer Legacy 600, registration RA-02795, crashed near the region of Trev after taking off from Moscow. The aircraft crashed approximately 160 miles north of Moscow, near the village of Kuzhemkino Tver. All seven passengers and three crew members died in the crash. The head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and his commander, Dmitry Utkin, were aboard the doomed jet. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, staged a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military leadership in June.
According to Flight tracking services, the aircraft lost the transponder signal shortly after taking off from Moscow. After the initial climb, the aircraft leveled off at 28,000 ft (x m). The aircraft continued level flight for approximately ten minutes. Even though the aircraft did not transmit position information, other data like altitude, speed, vertical rate, and autopilot settings were broadcast.
During the final seconds of the flight, the aircraft transmitted a sudden and steep drop in altitude. The uncontrollable vertical descent resulted in the aircraft plummeting to the ground within seconds. The crash site is in a remote area with no airfield suitable for landing.
First responders arrived at the crash site within minutes of the crash, and the formal investigation by Russian authorities began shortly after. The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency said in a statement,
An investigation has been launched into the crash of the Embraer aircraft, which occurred tonight in the Tver region. According to the list of passengers, among them is the name and surname of Yevgeny Prigozhin.
A Wagner Group-affiliated Telegram channel also confirmed that the head of the company was indeed onboard the perished aircraft. Photos from the crash site show the aircraft tail number that matches with the Wagner-group-owned jet. Moreover, Russia’s civil aviation authority also stated that both Prigozhin and Utkin were aboard the plane when it crashed.
Interested in the latest news? Check out our complete news section here.
What's next?
The flight recorders retrieved from the crash site will be sent for decoding and data analysis. It is going to be a matter of time before the critical information is obtained and results from the investigation are revealed to the public.
What are your thoughts about the update on the investigation of the Russian business jet? Tell us in the comments section.
Source: FlightGlobal