BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 6. The weather was foggy when an AZAL Embraer 190 passenger airplane flying the Baku-Grozny flight J2-8243 was approaching Grozny. It was not possible to land on the first attempt. Having made a circle, it tried to land at this airport for the second time. It failed to do so, and during takeoff, it received an external impact, as evidenced by the "black box" data. A few seconds afterward, it was struck again. The extraneous interference caused holes in the airplane's fuselage, and the passengers on board were injured, political analyst Elshad Hasanov told Trend.
According to him, after the plane could not make a second landing at the airport in Grozny due to unfavorable weather conditions, the captain decided to return to Baku.
“But the plane was shot down by a Pantsir-S1. Over Grozny, a foreign sound was recorded twice, with an interval of 24 seconds. Following the first extraneous sound, the 3rd hydraulic system failed 4 seconds after the first sound, the 1st hydraulic system 6 seconds later, and the 2nd hydraulic system 21 seconds later. At 05:13:32 the main control systems of the aircraft failed; at 05:21:42 the communications dispatcher informed Grozny about the “Cover” operation. The pilot of the aircraft was not informed about it,” he noted.
The political analyst believes that all this suggests that the plane was shot down by Russian air defense over Grozny airport.
“The Russian side, following this incident, wanted to cover up the trail. However, after the strong demand of President Ilham Aliyev, an international commission was established. The "black box" was deciphered in Brazil, the country producing the airplane. Russia, following Azerbaijan's request, agreed that the investigation should be conducted at the international level. Following the proceedings, it becomes even more obvious that our airplane was shot down exactly in the Russian airspace. The Russian side must officially apologize. The perpetrators must be punished. Azerbaijan must be compensated,” Hasanov said.