Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences

In connection with the crash of a passenger plane belonging to Azerbaijan Airlines near Aktau city, Kazakhstan, Professor Li Lei, a member of the Executive Council of the Hong Kong Core Academy of China, has sent a condolence letter to the President of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Academician Isa Habibbeyli.

The letter states:

Dear President Isa Habibbeyli,

I was deeply saddened by the news of the accident of Azerbaijan Airlines in Kazakhstan. The people of Azerbaijan showed noble qualities in this plane crash by sacrificing their lives and putting others first. I express my respect for the crew of Azerbaijan. They are worthy heroes of Azerbaijan! Azerbaijan is a great country! The people of Azerbaijan are also great! I wish a speedy recovery to the injured and express my condolences to the relatives of the deceased.   

Professor Li Lei also included some excerpts from news reports published in the Chinese media on this matter in his letter. Below are examples from those reports for the readers’ attention.

Greetings to the great Azerbaijani crew!

On December 25th, a passenger plane belonging to Azerbaijan Airlines, flying from the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, to the capital of Chechnya, Grozny, crashed at Aktau Airport in western Kazakhstan. As a result of the crash, 38 passengers and crew members died, and 29 people were injured.

In general, passengers never survive plane crashes. But this time, Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane crashed and 29 people survived. This is an extremely rare occurrence in aviation history.

xxx

Among the deceased were Captain Igor Kshnyakin, co-pilot Aleksandr Kalyaninov, and senior flight attendant Hokuma Aliyeva. It is precisely because of their professionalism and dedication to save others in last moments that we had the opportunity to see the most precious and noble qualities of mankind again.

Let us remember these names - Igor Kshnyakin, Aleksandr Kalyaninov, Hokuma Aliyeva. These names will definitely twinkle forever in the starry sky of mankind.

xxx

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan shared a video on the “X” social network, in which the voice of senior flight attendant Hokuma Aliyeva can be heard. In the last moments of her life, she tried to calm the passengers, asking them to fasten their seatbelts and repeatedly saying: “Everything will be fine.” Facing death, her courage and composure brought great comfort to the passengers who were in extreme panic on board.

Some of the survivors express their gratitude to the flight attendants, noting that they gave clear instructions to avoid serious panic among passengers.

xxx

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan shared the audiorecording on the ‘X’ social network, stating: “People will never forget her voice”. The senior flight attendant was actually planning to transfer to the airline for her legal career. This was her last flight as a flight attendant, but she did not expect it to be the last flight of her life.

Hokuma was once asked in the senior flight attendant exam how she would calm passengers in case of an emergency. Her answer was: “Trust the crew, everything is under control and everything will be fine”. At the moment she faced the greatest challenge of her life, she proved the strength of this sentence through her actions.

xxx

Captain Igor Kshnyakin, with over 15,000 hours of flight experience, was extremely experienced. Out of those, 11,200 hours were flown as the captain. This captain, who once was a pilot of the Azerbaijan Air Force, had always behaved calmly and had excellent skills. In his decades of flight experience, he had overcome countless dangers. But this time, he could not, because he gave his life.

Co-pilot Aleksandr Kalyaninov, was a young and agile pilot. He coordinated with the captain to perform complex operations, extending the flight duration, and successfully flew the damaged plane over the Caspian Sea.

xxx

Asadov, the surviving flight attendant, said in an interview: “It’s a miracle that we survived. We survived thanks to the heroism of the captain and the co-pilot.”

This time, the plane made an emergency landing, and many people in Kazakhstan took a video. In the video they took, it can be seen that after a sudden stall in Aktau, the plane continued to glide up and down around the crash site for three laps and crashed.

xxx

There are news reports that the crew used the engine as the last means of control when the rudder surface failed. For over a hundred wave-like flights, the crew used increasing and decreasing engine thrust to change the plane’s speed and altitude. Although these unconventional technologies are extremely challenging, they were the crew’s only option to keep the plane in flight.

When the pilots realized that they could not control the elevator and it was impossible to make a standard landing, they consumed as much fuel as possible to reduce the plane’s weight. They knew that without the elevator for pitch control, a soft landing would be impossible. 

xxx

In the last 20 minutes of the flight, the pilot struggled to control the plane to ensure it could land at Aktau Airport on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea. Before landing, he circled a figure-eight pattern over the airport, tried to aim at the runway, ultimately saving the lives of many passengers.

Despite their best efforts, the plane disintegrated during an emergency landing near Aktau. Footage shows that the plane oscillated as it approached the ground, and then disintegrated in the impact. The tail part of the plane remained relatively intact, and the passengers in the second half of the cabin survived. Unfortunately, flames engulfed the cockpit and the front of the cabin, taking the lives of the crew members and many passengers.

xxx

It should be mentioned that the plane could have crashed into the residents’ houses in a village near the airport. The crew’s timely decision to circle the airport prevented further civilian casualties.

There are videos on the Internet showing the plane’s final moments from various angles.

The plane rapidly lost altitude, began to tilt to the right, and finally crashed into an open field. The nose of the plane plunged into the ground abruptly, resulting in a massive fire. However, the nose part acted as a significant buffer, leaving the wreckage of the rear fuselage relatively intact. This allowed many passengers in the rear cabin to survive.

If the crew had chosen to protect themselves, they could have taken other measures.

xxx

A similar story of heroism occurred on January 15, 2009, the miracle in the history of American Airlines - “The Miracle of the Hudson River”. At that time, American Airlines Flight 1549 had its both engines disabled due to a bird strike. Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger decisively chose to make an emergency landing on the Hudson River. With his extensive experience and calm judgment, he successfully brought all 155 passengers and crew members to safety without any loss of life. This incident is regarded as a classic example in aviation history. A Hollywood movie was made to depict the event. The film is called “Captain Sully”, starring Tom Hanks as the captain.

xxx

After the passenger plane was damaged, the pilot’s requests for an emergency landing were repeatedly denied, and none of the three nearby airports permitted the plane to land. Moreover, during the plane’s flight over the Caspian Sea, electronic interference was used to cut off the GPS and communication signals of the plane, with the intent of forcing the plane into the sea and destroying evidence. It was simply unexpected for them that the pilots were so skilled. Relying on their excellent skills and tenacity, they managed to land such a damaged plane, saving 29 people. At this point, Russia is apologizing not only because of material evidence but also due to human evidence that is difficult to deny.

xxx

A member of the Azerbaijani Parliament clarified: “This plane was shot down over Grozny, on Russian territory. This cannot be denied. The perpetrator must bear criminal responsibility and pay compensation.”

On Thursday, Azerbaijan declared a National Day of Mourning for the victims of the plane crash.

Currently, Azerbaijan Airlines has canceled its flights to Russia’s cities, Sochi, Volgograd, Ufa, Samara, Grozny, Mineralnye Vody, and Makhachkala.

Kazakhstan Airlines and Israel Airlines have also taken similar action.

We once again express our respect to these great crew members. The revelation of the stories of these heroes to all mankind is: even in the face of the deepest and most desperate darkness, the light of human nature can still guide us to find a way out and illuminate the future.

Best regards,

Professor Li Lei

Eurasian International Laboratory and Core Academy

Reyhan Majidli, Public Relations, Press and Information Department of the Presidium Administration of ANAS

© All rights reserved. When using news, it is necessary to refer to www.science.gov.az.