The decoding of the flight recorders of the An-26 military aircraft that recently crashed near Chuhuiv (Kharkiv region) allowed investigators to fully recreate the aircraft’s final flight and establish the contents of the conversations among its crewmembers and between the crewmembers and flight controllers.
Oleg Uruskyi, the head of the government commission investigating the cause of the crash, announced this after hearing the reports of the heads of the commission’s aviation, flight, and technical sub-commissions, the CFTS portal reports, citing the Interfax Ukraine news agency.
"The technical reason for the abnormal operation of the left engine and the triggering of the pressure-drop sensor in the torque meter has been established. This happened as a result of the failure of one of the engine control system units," Uruskyi said.
He also said that the investigation uncovered gross violations during both performance of flight missions and organization of flights in general.
The government commission is continuing the investigation.
According to Uruskyi, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense should complete its own internal investigation on 12 October. After that, the materials of the investigation will be sent to military enlistment offices. Payment of compensation to the families of the victims is expected to begin approximately after October 15.
As the CFTS portal reported earlier, the An-26 military transport aircraft crashed and burst into flames during a landing approach 2 kilometers from a military airfield near Chuhuiv on 25 September. On board the aircraft were 27 people, including 7 crewmembers and 20 cadets from the Kharkiv Air Force University. The flight recorders of the An-26 aircraft were recovered on 28 September.
