Specialists from the Center for the Investigation of Aviation Accidents (Cenipa) of the Brazilian Air Force have begun analyzing the black boxes of the Embraer 190 aircraft belonging to Azerbaijan Airlines, which crashed on December 25 in Aktau.
The press release states that the work on decoding the data extracted from the onboard recorders is being conducted in collaboration with experts from three countries involved in the tragedy, which claimed the lives of 38 people. The team includes three investigators from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Russia.
The analysis of the data from the "black boxes," which contain recordings of the pilots' voices and information about the aircraft's status throughout the flight, will be conducted "as soon as possible," the Brazilian Air Force announced.
The conclusions published in the final report will be forwarded to the authorities of Kazakhstan – the country leading the investigation into the disaster in accordance with the ICAO Convention.
The Embraer 190 aircraft, manufactured in Brazil, was en route from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Grozny in Russia.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that the airliner was fired upon from the ground while flying over Russia and was "rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare means."
Aliyev accused Russia of attempting to "suppress the issue" regarding the causes of the plane crash for several days, expressing that he was "distressed and surprised" by the explanations provided by Russian officials.
Reports indicate that the aircraft's crew was denied landing at two nearby Russian airports and was instead redirected over the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan, where it ultimately crashed near Aktau airport.
Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Aliyev for what he termed a "tragic incident" in Russian airspace but did not acknowledge that Moscow bore responsibility for it.
In "Rosaviatsiya," it was stated that during the approach for landing of the Azerbaijan Airlines flight, Russian air defense systems were repelling an attack by Ukrainian drones in the Grozny area.
Putin's apology to Aliyev came amid claims that the aircraft was shot down by Russian air defense systems attempting to fend off an assault by Ukrainian drones in the Grozny area. This was somewhat confirmed by the Kremlin.