A Russian plane crashed over Sinai. “It remains only to love them and miss them”: relatives of the victims about the disaster over Sinai From what height the plane fell over Sinai

A motley crowd of tourists, a vibrant underwater world that attracts divers from all over the world - all this attracts travelers. The Russians were eager to go there, as if they were going to a second dacha: at least a week to rest from work and fry in the sun. Whole families flew until the plane crash in Egypt on October 31, 2015 forced the whole country to shudder.

Tragic incident

Tourist group of the company "Brisco" was returning on a charter flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. Despite the early morning (departure at 5.50 local time), the passengers were in a great mood. They posted pictures of a successful holiday on social networks. It was Saturday, and on Monday, many had to plunge into someone waiting for work, someone - study.

Airliner Airbus A321-231 EI-ETJ, which arrived from Samara, took on board 217 passengers. By 12 noon, they and the seven crew members were to be in the northern capital, where many were expected at the airport by relatives and friends. Having gained a predetermined altitude of 9400 meters in 23 minutes, at a speed of 520 km / h, the aircraft suddenly disappeared from the radar. At 6:15 a.m. (7:15 a.m. Moscow time), the plane crashed near the Sinai Peninsula near El Arish Airport, the hottest point in Egypt, where al-Qaeda Islamists opposed government forces.

Versions of the tragedy

Those meeting flight 9268 at Pulkovo Airport were anxiously watching the board, which displayed the information: "Arrival delayed." And by evening, the whole country already knew that the wreckage of the aircraft that had disappeared from the radar had been discovered by the Egyptian authorities. Scattered over a distance of 13 kilometers, with a detached tail, they were shown on television, which caused many versions of experts about the possible causes of the disaster. Three were considered the most reliable:

• Technical problems associated with either engine failure or metal fatigue. In the tail section, traces of plating repair were found after an aircraft touched the asphalt when landing at Cairo airport in 2001. The resulting microcrack could cause the destruction of the aircraft with a climb.
• The plane crash in Egypt is the crew's mistakes.
• Terrorist act.

At the site of the tragedy, an IAC commission headed by Egyptian representative Ayman al-Mukkadam began to work. It included representatives of Russia, France, Germany, the USA and Ireland. After studying the evidence and deciphering, the first two versions were declared invalid.

Aircraft

The A321 crash over the Sinai Peninsula was the largest in the history of Egypt and modern Russia. The airbus belonged to the Kogalymavia company, which was subjected to a thorough check. It was found that after the accident in 2001, the repair of the aircraft was carried out in France at the manufacturing plant, after which all the necessary tests were carried out. For 18 years of operation, the liner flew less than 50% of its resource (57428 hours) and was in good condition. This is evidenced by weekly technical checks, the last of which was carried out on 10/26/2015. The flight recorders did not detect a malfunction in the systems. Until the 23rd minute, the flight went quite normally.

Crew

The forty-eight-year-old crew commander Valery Nemov is a graduate of the SVAAULSh (Stavropol Military School). He is one of the few who in the difficult 90s retrained to fly Airbuses since 2008, having 12,000 flight hours, which testifies to his colossal experience. The co-pilot also came from military aviation, being a veteran of the Chechen campaign. After retiring, Sergei Trukhachev retrained on the A321, having been trained in the Czech Republic. I flew them for over 2 years. The total flight time was 6 thousand hours. Both pilots were in good standing with their airline. Nemov was even prematurely called back from vacation to be sent on the infamous Flight 9268.

Official version

Two weeks after the tragedy, the version of the terrorist attack was officially voiced by the head of the FSB during a meeting with the President of the Russian Federation. In support of his words, he cited the following evidence:

1. American satellites recorded a thermal flash over Sinai during the crash, which indicates an explosion on board the aircraft.
2. A fragment of the fuselage has a hole with a diameter of about one meter. Its edges are curved outward. This indicates that the source of the explosion was inside.
3. When deciphering the recorder, fixing the negotiations, before interrupting the recording, extraneous noise is heard, the nature of which can be attributed to a blast wave.
4. The plane crash in Egypt caused a great public outcry. After a while, they not only recognized responsibility for the terrorist attack, but also posted a photo of an improvised explosive device (IED) on the pages of Dabig magazine.
5. Some of the victims were found to have injuries indicating death from the consequences of the explosion (burns, tissue ruptures).
6. In fragments of fragments, luggage and on the body of the victims, traces of explosives were found - molecules of TNT.

The power of the explosion was estimated at 1 kilogram. The alleged location of the IED is the tail section of the aircraft. For the blast wave moved forward, but the fracture of the fuselage prevented its further advancement.

Plane crash in Egypt: who is to blame?

After the appearance of the Russian version, it became known that 17 employees were detained at the Egyptian airport. The main question was one: "How did the IEDs get on board the liner?" The FSB began to study the biographies of 34 passengers (11 men and 23 women) who had TNT molecules on their bodies. But official Egypt soon declared that there was no evidence for an unequivocal assertion of a terrorist attack on board the aircraft. None of the employees were actually arrested. The Russian authorities have announced a $50 million reward for any information about the terrorists.

Only in February 2016 did the President of Egypt officially acknowledge the attack. It was found that the bomb was made from plastite used to create live ammunition. It is powered by clockwork. The plane crash in Egypt on October 31, 2015 showed that the security system at the airport does not meet international standards. The IED could have gotten on board with the food company through employees with access to the runway, as well as through hand luggage during baggage checks. The latest data is that it was in the cabin in the immediate vicinity of place 31A. All these facts led to the ban on the sale of holiday tours in Egypt.

Flight passengers

EI-ETJ - the last digits of the Airbus number. According to them, the aviators called the board among themselves "Juliet", affectionately - "Julia". On that tragic morning, she broke three aviation marriages and killed a young steward who replaced a colleague who quit due to a bad dream. She also claimed the lives of 217 passengers, 25 of whom were children. Those killed in a plane crash in Egypt are entire families, dozens of ruined love stories, babies who are never destined to become adults. Ten-month-old Darina Gromova flew on this flight with her parents. Her mother posted a photo of her on a social network before the flight. The girl is standing at the airport facing the runway, and at the bottom is the signature: “Main Passenger”. This picture has become a symbol of a tragic flight from which no one managed to return.

Almost all passengers are Russians, 4 people are citizens of Ukraine, 1 - Belarus. The majority are residents of St. Petersburg, although there are also representatives of other regions: Pskov, Novgorod, Ulyanovsk. Those who died in a plane crash in Egypt are people of various professions. Even while relatives were engaged in the identification of bodies, caring people formed a collective portrait of passengers, bit by bit collecting information about them. A wonderful gallery was created, where there were many good words about each.

Almost a year later

On July 31, Moscow and St. Petersburg held a rally in memory of those killed over Sinai. Nine months have passed: many relatives received compensation, identified and buried their loved ones, but the pain did not subside. On August 5, 2016, it was reported that forty-five militants led by Abu Dua al-Ansari, who was responsible for the plane crash in Egypt, were killed during a military operation near El Arish. I really want to believe that this will never happen again!

Exactly two years ago, on October 31, 2015, the most massive air crash in terms of the number of deaths occurred in the entire history of Russia. On this day, the Airbus A321-231 airliner of the Russian airline took off from the Egyptian Sharm el-Sheikh and headed for St. Petersburg. The crew of the liner operated a charter flight and drove Russian tourists home after the rest.

The plane climbed steadily along the Gulf of Aqaba and was soon to cross the Sinai Peninsula to enter European airspace. However, at the 23rd minute of the flight, the connection of ground services with the aircraft was interrupted. It soon became clear that the Airbus A321-231 crashed to the ground in the central part of the Sinai Peninsula and completely collapsed. The wreckage of the aircraft was scattered over 13 km. All 224 people on board the aircraft were killed.

At the time of the death of the airliner, there were seven crew members, as well as 217 passengers. Of these, four were Ukrainians, one Belarusian, and the rest were Russian citizens. Among them was the deputy head of Pskov and a deputy of the local legislative assembly. According to the Federal Air Transport Agency, the oldest passenger was 77 years old, and

the smallest victim of the tragedy was 10-month-old.

Shortly before the tragic incident, her mother Tatyana published a photo of the child on the page on the social network VKontakte. The picture shows the girl standing on the window sill of the airport window with her back to the viewer. She looks at the planes on the ground. Under the picture she signed: "The most important passenger."

This photograph was later replicated by many Russian and world media and became a symbol of the Sinai catastrophe. Diana's mother and father also died in the crash of the liner.

Condolences to the victims were expressed by the Russian president, as well as the leaders of many countries in Europe and the world. The day after the crash of the liner, mourning was declared in Russia. However, the French published three cartoons on the topic of the disaster, which caused a negative reaction from the Russian Federation and. In response, the French Foreign Ministry said that "journalists in France freely express their opinion", while "it does not always coincide with the official position of the French authorities."

"There were no questions about the car"

Shortly after the incident, various versions of what had happened began to be put forward. Almost immediately, the hypothesis was dismissed, according to which the plane crashed due to pilot error. The crashed Airbus was flown by experienced pilots, and the crew commander, 48-year-old Valery Nemov, flew over 12,000 hours, of which more than 3,860 were on the Airbus A321.

However, the details of the operation of the aircraft soon became known, and it turned out that it was far from new.

It was released in the spring of 1997 and made its first flight on May 9th. After that, the aircraft was handed over to the American company International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), which by May 27 leased it to the Lebanese airline Middle East Airlines (MEA), which had it for six years. On June 2, 2003, already under the tail number TC-OAE, the liner was leased to the Turkish airline Onur Air. This structure later sub-leased the liner to Saudi Saudi Arabian Airlines, and from July 30 to September 29, 2010 - to the Syrian Cham Wings Airlines. By the spring of 2012, the TC-OAE board returned to ILFC, and by March 30, 2012, it was leased to the Russian Kogalymavia.

On April 30 of the same 2012, the Dutch airline AerCap bought it from ILFC, which re-delivered this airliner to the Russian Kogalymavia. The Russian airline, in turn, has been operating under the Metrojet trademark since May 1, 2012.

During the long service of the aircraft, an unpleasant incident from the point of view of safety occurred to him. On November 16, 2001, he was on passenger flight ME 306 on the route Beirut - Cairo, and when landing at the airport in the Egyptian capital, the pilots raised his nose too high, as a result of which the tail dropped so low that it hit the ground. None of the 88 people on board the aircraft (81 passengers and 7 crew members) were injured then, and the liner itself returned to passenger routes after undergoing repairs. This information was confirmed by the representatives of Kogalymavia, assuring that the aircraft passed all the necessary checks and technical tests on time.

On the eve of departure, the ill-fated flight underwent maintenance, and the receiving crew had no questions about the car.

Interrupted message

An investigation into the causes of the tragedy was immediately launched by several large structures of the countries of the world, since Egypt is a very popular tourist destination among citizens of many states. The investigation began to be conducted by the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation, Russia, the French Civil Aviation Safety Investigation and Analysis Bureau, the German Federal Aviation Accident Investigation Bureau, the Irish Accident Investigation Division, and the US National Transportation Safety Board.

At the same time, according to the norms of international law, the Egyptian investigators carried out the general leadership, since the incident occurred in the airspace of this country. Already on the first of November, the "black boxes" found earlier from the deceased liner were deciphered. In the meantime, he opened criminal cases under articles 263 and 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Violation of the rules for the safety of traffic and operation of railway, air, sea and inland water transport and the subway” and “Production, storage, transportation or sale of goods and products, performance of work or provision services that do not meet security requirements”).

The United Kingdom and German airlines also interrupted flights with the Egyptian state, while France, the Netherlands and Belgium warned their citizens about the undesirability of flying to Sharm el-Sheikh. In addition, she announced the cancellation of night flights to Sharm el-Sheikh.

Customers not installed

Meanwhile, the victims of the disaster filed a class-action lawsuit against the tour operator, the Kogalymavia airline and insurance companies for a total amount of about €1.4 billion. This is the first example of a class-action lawsuit for such a serious amount in Russian history.

And although the involvement of Kogalymavia employees in the incident over Sinai is not confirmed by the facts, in the spring of 2016 she banned domestic and international flights of this airline.

According to the most frequently voiced version, the Sinai division of the terrorist "" is behind the attack (both organizations are banned in Russia). Its members claimed responsibility for this crime shortly after the incident.

However, there are other points of view. A number of experts believe that the pro-Catarian organization Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (a cell of IS banned in Russia) could be behind the attack. The United States also announced its trace in the tragedy.

Be that as it may, after the death of the plane, Russian aviation began to intensify its air strikes on the objects of various Islamist organizations in Syria. For the first time, Russian strategic aviation was involved in raids on IS targets and other extremists.

However, the names of the specific perpetrators of the attack have not yet been established.

And on October 28, 2017, a monument to the victims of the disaster was unveiled at the Serafimovsky cemetery in St. Petersburg. In addition, among the people of St. Petersburg there is an idea to erect a monument to 10-month-old Darina Gromova, who has already promised to make a well-known sculptor free of charge.

The death of the A-321 aircraft, which was operating flight 9268 from Egyptian Sharm el-Sheikh to Pulkovo with 217 passengers and seven crew members on board, became the largest aviation disaster in the history of Russia and the USSR. In the Soviet Union, the worst air accident occurred in the Uchkuduk region on July 10, 1985. Then, as a result of the fall of the Tu-154, flying from Karshi to Leningrad, 191 passengers and nine crew members were killed.

The death of flight 9268 of the Kogalymavia (Metrojet) company from the very beginning was accompanied not only by unverified information, but also by outright stuffing. In the first hours after the tragedy, Arab news agencies reported, referring to some rescuers operating at the crash site, that the A-321 fell apart when it fell into two large parts and moans and requests for help were even heard from the tail. A little later, some representatives of the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack on board the Russian aircraft. This statement was immediately picked up by foreign and some of the domestic media.

On the fateful day, the Airbus A-321 took off from the Egyptian airport at 6 hours 51 minutes Moscow time (3.51 GMT), but already at 7.14 (4.14) it did not get in touch with Larnaca airport, and a few seconds earlier the flight disappeared from radar screens.

As a result of the search and rescue operations that have begun, it has been established that the wreckage of the aircraft, scattered over an area of ​​16 to 20 square kilometers, has characteristic signs that the Airbus collapsed while still in the air. Recall that the wreckage of the Malaysian "Boeing-777", which followed the flight MH-17 and died over the south-east of Ukraine, was blown over an area of ​​​​more than 50 square kilometers. Already on November 1, the Federal Air Transport Agency and the Interstate Aviation Committee confirmed that the destruction of the A-321 occurred in the air.

At this moment, despite the fact that the flight recorders, also known as “black boxes”, have not only been found by rescuers, but are already being deciphered, data on the flight parameters of the A-321 Kogalymavia is available only from the FlightRadar24 Internet service.

At 7.12 (4.12) the aircraft was at an altitude of 10,200 meters (33,500 feet), continuing to climb in order to reach the flight level to Pulkovo Airport. The flight speed was approximately 750 kilometers per hour (just over 400 knots), and the vertical speed was unchanged. But exactly at 7.13 (4.13) the flight speed dropped to 170 kilometers per hour (a little over 20 knots) and, according to the calculations of the resource aviation-safety.net (the diagram was obtained as a result of processing FR24 data), the vertical speed began to equal 6000 feet per minute or 30.48 meters per second (a negative reading means the aircraft is descending). It was no longer a decline or a dive, but actually a fall. At this point, the A-321, having lost 5,000 feet, was at an altitude of about 8,600 meters (28,375 feet).

And then the strange begins. In a matter of seconds (from 07.13.00 to 07.13.22), the vertical speed of the liner rose to 4,000 feet per minute (20.3 m / s), then it dropped again to 6,000, but then rose sharply to 4,000 feet per minute. The plane went up. But not having had time to gain the lost hundreds of meters, the liner again began to fall at a vertical speed of 6500 feet per minute (33 m / s). And again the fall was replaced by a sharp climb. From 13/07/15 to 13/07/19 the vertical speed increased to 9000 feet per minute (45 m/s). The Airbus went into a sharp climb, which at 07.13.22 again ended in a fall, during which, most likely, the plane began to crumble.

To summarize, in fact, for 22 seconds the plane tried to stop the fall and go into climb, while breaking down each time. But then its vertical speed grew to such an extent that the car reached maximum angles of attack and, accordingly, prohibitive overloads. Further - the fall and destruction of the A-321.

Note that the given vertical speed indicators were obtained from the processing of data from the FlightRadar24 service and in reality could be lower.

The media circulated a message that the crew of the aircraft allegedly turned to air traffic controllers for help. According to some reports, he reported a certain malfunction, according to others, he requested permission to land. But both Egyptian and Russian authorities deny that such a conversation took place.

In the first hours after the tragedy, evidence appeared that the dead A-321 had problems with the engines, which the pilots repeatedly reported to their management. True, already on the evening of October 31, representatives of the carrier announced that there were no appeals, the airliner passed all routine maintenance in a timely manner.

The columnist for the Military Industrial Courier managed to communicate with employees and personnel of companies operating similar passenger liners, as well as representatives of Russian government agencies responsible for control in the aviation sector.

Most of the interlocutors unequivocally stated that they would not draw conclusions at least until the moment when the transcripts of the flight recorders were announced, but agreed to provide clarifications on the facts already available.

But a mechanical failure of the rudders or stabilizer could only lead to the plane crashing. Kit

According to aviation-safety.net, although there has been a drastic reduction in speed, it is unlikely that one of the IAE V2500's engines has had a problem or failed. In this case, the aircraft could not climb several times before crashing. According to one of the representatives of the airline - the operator of the A-321, this at least indicates that not only the power plants retained traction, but also the propulsion automatics worked.

We can say that for 22 seconds the autopilot of the liner tried to fend off what, according to one of the interlocutors, "it was almost impossible to fend off." But then, instead of stabilizing the liner, the automation, unable to cope, turned the plane into a sharp climb, which led to prohibitive overloads, reaching critical angles of attack, stalling (possibly a spin) and destruction of the structure.

The causes of the impact that led to the death of the Airbus can be both mechanical problems with the elevators or stabilizer, and the failure of the automation itself, it is also EDSU (electronic remote control system). It is possible that the pilots, faced with a malfunction in the control system, tried to hold the plane on their own, parrying the impact.

height in this case is unrealistic. And even a partial failure of the control system causes the occurrence of so-called self-oscillations, which are very similar to the above data on vertical speed.

True, almost all respondents questioned the option of EDSU failure, pointing out that this had not happened during the operation of the A-321, and the Airbus control system itself was very reliable and its most important elements were duplicated.

Representatives of the industry were rather skeptical about the possible defeat of the aircraft from anti-aircraft missile systems, as well as undermining the device placed on board by terrorists. A missile hit, as the example of the Malaysian Boeing 777 showed, would lead to instant destruction of the structure and the fall of the remains of the aircraft over a sufficiently large area, the same can be said about the use of IEDs.

The tragedy of Flight 9268 is still awaiting investigation. Until the data of the flight recorders are published, the wreckage is being collected. The laying out of the remains of the A-321 is ahead, but now not only experts of varying degrees of awareness, but even various officials are paying attention that the crashed airliner survived four owners and the car is already 18 years old - this does not belong in the fleets of Russian carriers, it is necessary to raise the domestic aviation industry .

A-321 is the largest aircraft of the A-320 family, which is considered the record holder in terms of the number of aircraft produced and operated. "Three hundred and twenty-first" is capable of carrying from 170 to 220 passengers over a distance of up to 5,600 kilometers. At the same time, the Superjet takes from 98 to 108 passengers with a range of just over three thousand kilometers (or 4500 in the Long Range version). Theoretically close performance to put into operation in 1994 "three hundred and twenty-first" should be the newest Russian MS-21, the first flight of which has not yet taken place. Tu-204/214, which are also capable of carrying over 200 passengers over a distance of six to seven thousand kilometers (depending on the model), are operated by only a few airlines (the largest fleet is in the Rossiya and Red Wings SLOs - 12 and 8 aircraft respectively).

Alas, one thing is already clear: the tragedy of flight 9268 will be used for all sorts of high-profile statements for a long time to come, and the rise of the domestic aviation industry requires painstaking, hard work.

On October 31, 2015, the Russian Airbus A321 aircraft of Kogalymavia (Metrojet) operating flight 9268 Sharm el-Sheikh - St. Petersburg,.

On behalf of the President, the Russian government in connection with the disaster, headed by the Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov. The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) was under the leadership of the executive director of the committee, Viktor Sorochenko.

Cairo immediately after the disaster about the opportunity to take part in the investigation of the tragedy. A special commission of inquiry was created, in it: Russia, Egypt, France (the state of the aircraft developer), Germany (the state of the liner manufacturer) and Ireland (the state of registration). Ayman al-Muqaddam was appointed head of the commission to investigate the disaster.

On November 1, 2015, Egyptian Attorney General Nabil Ahmed Sadeq involved Russian specialists in the investigation into the causes of the crash with the Russian aircraft in the Sinai Peninsula.

A group of investigators and forensic experts from the central office of the Investigative Committee of Russia, in agreement with the competent authorities and together with representatives of the Republic of Egypt, in accordance with the norms of national and international law, participated in the inspection of the crash site in Egypt.

On November 17, 2015, the head of the FSB of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bortnikov, during a meeting in the Kremlin on the results of the investigation into the causes of the crash of the Russian plane, that as a result of the study of personal belongings, luggage and parts of the plane that crashed in Egypt, traces of a foreign-made explosive were found. He .

In turn, the Egyptian authorities urged not to rush to conclusions. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri said that as part of a criminal investigation.

In March 2016, the International Commission for the Investigation of the Crash of the Russian Aircraft A321 that it received an official report from the Investigative Committee of Russia and handed it over to the Egyptian Prosecutor General's Office to complete legal procedures. The commission itself, despite the transfer of the case to the investigating authorities of the state security of the country, continued the technical examination of the wreckage of the liner.

In mid-April, Egypt's Attorney General Nabil Sadeq announced that the case of the Russian plane crash was transferred to the country's High Prosecutor's Office for State Security. The decision of the head of the supervisory agency, noted in the text of the statement, was made on the basis of data from the report of the Investigative Committee of Russia, "which indicates the suspicion of a criminal trace."

In June, CIA Director John Brennan, speaking in the US Senate, that American intelligence has information about the involvement in the explosion on the Russian passenger plane A321 of the Egyptian group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which swore allegiance to the terrorist movement "Islamic State" banned in many countries (an organization banned in the Russian Federation), and on August 4, the Egyptian Ministry of Defense announced the liquidation of the leader of this terrorist group.

At the insistence of the Investigative Committee of Russia, the International Commission for the Investigation of the Aviation Accident. As a result of the work carried out, the fact of the impact of high-energy elements on the aircraft skin in the "inside-out" direction and "explosive decompression" in flight was established.

In October 2016, a commission of inquiry formed by the Egyptian Attorney General's Office sent twelve of the wreckage to the Alloys Science Laboratory for detailed examination.

Work to determine the causes of the crash. Until now, the parties have no understanding of what happened to the plane, how the explosive device got on board the plane, who carried it. Also, there are no identified suspects and their accomplices from among the employees of the airport.

On the morning of October 31, 2015, it became known that a plane of the Russian airline Kogalymavia, en route from Egyptian Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, disappeared over the Sinai Peninsula. There were 224 people on board. At first, the wording was cautious - “does not get in touch”, “disappeared from the radar screens”, - no one wanted to believe that this was a plane crash, which was destined to become the worst in the history of domestic aviation.

On the anniversary of the death of the A321 liner over the Sinai Peninsula, Izvestia recalls everything that is known about the disaster to date, and pays tribute to the victims of the crash.

The death of A321: the beginning

On the same day, October 31, 2015, fragments of a fallen liner were found in the desert - when they fell to the ground, they were scattered within a radius of 40 km.

After the media receive the first reports of the death of the aircraft, the rescuers are forced to turn off the passengers' phones that survived the impact on the ground - these are the relatives of the passengers on board who are still trying to get through to their loved ones.

Of the 217 passengers and seven crew members, no one survived - in such a terrible disaster, this was impossible.

Darina Gromova

However, the true symbol of the tragedy was Darina Gromova, who died in a plane crash, whose photograph quickly spread around all the world's media. She was 10 months old.

She became the smallest victim of the terrorist attack, but far from the only child on board the crashed plane: in total, according to the Federal Air Transport Agency, there were 25 children and 192 adult passengers on board the plane. Most of them were residents of the northwestern part of Russia.

The aircraft commander was 48-year-old Valery Nemov, who by that time had flown more than 12 thousand hours, and almost 4 thousand of them were on Airbus A321 aircraft. The co-pilot was 45-year-old Sergei Trukhachev, whose flight time was 5641 hours. Flight attendants Valentina Martsevich, Andrei Belomestnov, Irina Olaru, Alexei Filimonov worked in the cabin.

terrorist attack

As soon as the death of the liner becomes obvious, journalists and experts express the first versions of what happened. First, the most common ones are heard - piloting error, technical malfunction of the aircraft. It becomes known that a few years before the incident, the tail of the plane was damaged during landing in Cairo - after that the plane was repaired, but information quickly spreads through the media.

Official representatives of the airline issued a statement that the aircraft was fully operational. For the first time, they voiced the version that it took outside influence to destroy it. She does not receive special support - it is difficult to believe in this and, probably, too scary.

But on November 16, the head of the FSB, Vladimir Bortnikov, officially confirms the version of a bomb planted on board the plane. This information is also confirmed by British intelligence data. A few days before, on November 6, flights by Russian and some of the world's airlines to Egypt are completely suspended.

Location 31A

As early as November 7, it became known that when decoding the flight recorders, an incomprehensible noise was heard in the last seconds of the recording. Prior to this, the negotiations of the pilots are going on as usual. After - the plane begins to sharply lose the altitude gained in half an hour since takeoff.

On November 17, immediately after the FSB confirms the version of the terrorist attack, Russia turns to the world community with a request to assist in identifying the terrorists involved in the destruction of the plane. A reward of $50 million was promised for information that could help detain the criminals. Later, information appears about the detention of two employees of the Sharm el-Sheikh airport. They are suspected of helping to carry the bomb on board the plane. At the same time, the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Minister of Civil Aviation of Egypt deny this information.

Russia, Egypt, France, Germany, Ireland, the United States, as well as representatives of Airbus Industries are participating in the investigation into the causes of the disaster.

On November 18, Dabik magazine, which claims to be the official information body of the ISIS terrorist group banned in Russia, publishes an article that allegedly describes the process of creating a device placed on board the aircraft - according to the publication, it was made using a soda can.

Egypt is setting up its own special commission to investigate the plane crash. In December 2015, she announces the completion of the preparation of a preliminary report, which is sent to all participants in the investigation. It excludes the possibility of unauthorized access to the aircraft.

In February 2016, President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi claims that a terrorist attack was the cause of the disaster - Egypt officially admits this fact for the first time.

At the beginning of September of this year, the commission completes the laying out of the fragments of the crashed aircraft - as a result, it is possible to determine the point from which the destruction of the aircraft began. According to the examination, the explosion occurred in the area of ​​the 30-31st rows. Presumably, the point of explosion was the place 31A. The power of the explosive device was 1 kg of TNT.

The investigation into the disaster has not yet been completed - the international commission of investigation continues its work, in addition, the Main Directorate for the Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation continues to investigate, this was reported on Monday, October 31, in the press service of the department.

Consequences

Shortly after the crash, security checks at Egyptian airports followed, revealing problems with air travel security. The Russian side stated that flights would not be resumed until all the shortcomings were eliminated, while it is not known exactly what shortcomings are in question. Egypt, in response, declared its readiness to fulfill the requirements of the Ministry of Transport, but the country's authorities noted that this would take time.

The possible resumption of flights to Egypt has subsequently been reported several times, but so far none of them has been confirmed. According to experts, air traffic will not be restored until spring 2017.

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Flight 9268: Garden of Memory

In September of this year, a competition for the design of a monument in memory of the dead ended in St. Petersburg. They became the project "Garden of Memory" - at the request of the families of the victims, the image of the aircraft and other direct reminders of the disaster will not be used in the creation of the memorial. Instead, it is planned to plant 224 trees in the garden - according to the number of those killed in the disaster. The memorial was laid on October 30, 2016 on Rumbolovskaya Hill in Vsevolozhsk, Leningrad Region.

The victims of the disaster are remembered not only in Russia: on October 30, a funeral procession was held in Egypt in memory of the tragedy. Residents of Sharm el-Sheikh, Minister of Civil Aviation of the country Sherif Fahti, Russian Ambassador to Cairo Sergey Kirpichenko, deputies of the Egyptian Parliament laid flowers to the placard with the names of all those who boarded the liner, which was operating flight 9268 from October 31, 2015. Sharm El Sheikh to Petersburg.

“On behalf of the entire political leadership of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the government of the country, let me express my sincere condolences to the families of the victims and honor their memory. We are extremely sorry for what happened and mourn. Sharm el-Sheikh and the whole of Egypt will never forget the victims of this flight,” said Sherif Fathi, head of the country's aviation ministry.

Commemorative events will also be held in 13 regions of Russia, the inhabitants of which died in the crash of the liner. Memorial services will be held in churches for the dead, and at the Holy Trinity Izmailovsky Cathedral in St. Petersburg (147 out of 224 victims of the disaster lived here) a worship cross will be lit.