Investigators say the force of a Russian passenger plane that killed all 71 people on ship aboard may have been caused by the pilots’ failure to activate heating for persuasion measurement equipment, resulting in flawed speed data.
The Interstate Aviation Board said Tuesday, after studying the plane’s flight data recorder, that Sunday’s failure occurred after the pilots saw varying data on the plane’s two air speed gauges.
The flawed indication came because the pilots failed to turn on the heating section for the plane’s pressure measurement equipment prior to takeoff.
The pilots put the An-148 on autopilot after fetching off from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport but took manual controls uphold when they saw clashing speed data.
The plane plummeted into a snowy strength six minutes after takeoff, killing all 65 passengers and six crew.