A fourth version of the Bek Air plane crash near Almaty has appeared, VRK News reports.
At a press conference in Almaty Yerik Saparov, director of Bek Air's flight service, said that a possible cause of the air disaster may be so-called wake turbulence.
“Wake turbulence could have been one of the causes. Wake turbulence is always present. It is the trail of the preceding aircraft. The greater the wingspan and mass of an aircraft, the greater its wake turbulence and the effect of that wake on the next aircraft,” he said.
He said that a minute before the Almaty–Nur-Sultan flight took off, another aircraft weighing 90 tonnes had departed. The crashed Fokker 100 itself weighs about 40 tonnes. But, he said, this does not violate the rules. An aircraft of that weight could take off a minute after another aircraft.
“Obviously, after the disaster the interval should be increased to 2–3 minutes,” Bek Air said.
Recall that on 27 December a Bek Air plane with 93 passengers that took off from Almaty for Nur-Sultan vanished from radar and, in an emergency landing, crashed into a privately built house near the runway of Almaty airport. There were 93 passengers and five crew members on board. As a result of the crash 12 people died and 49 were injured.
The lists of passengers and the dead have been published here.
In Kazakhstan 28 December was declared a day of national mourning.
By order of the President of Kazakhstan a government commission was set up headed by Prime Minister Askar Mamin.
