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The Official’s Unofficial Official Opinion…

About last tuesday’s Fatal Rusline/RusAir Tupolov crash in Russia, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Sergei Ivanov, mentions that familiar phrase “obvious pilot error” while simultaneously promising he is not pre-emping the findings of the actual investigation. Officials have made spontaneous statements in the past, and lived to regret it, so that point remains to be seen.

The question of pilot error is questionable. The plane was flying in at too low an angle, (I may have read somewhere that the angle was what was directed by ATC but my source could be mistaken.)

Flying too low, the landing gear caught on electrical wires which caused an area blackout that included the local town and the airport runway lights. Is being unable to land on a runway without lights something that could be called pilot error? I suppose that remains to be seen, also.

So the cause is up for grabs: bad weather, technical malfunction or human error. What’s left? We do not know yet. We rely on the investigation to reveal the facts.

Irrespective of what caused this horrible tragedy, the decedents were fault-free. Rusline and RusAir are responsible for compensating the families who had entrusted the safekeeping of their loved ones into their care.

There is no amount of money that will bring back the loved ones, but compensation is due.

For 44 individuals, it was fatal; for 8, it was nearly fatal. I hate to sound too judgmental here, but a government official should probably not make sweeping generalizations about the causes of a tragic event without making it clear what is personal opinion and what is an official statement. Every supposition before the official report is released is guess work. All the conjecturing that will take place between now and when an investigation report is released is just that–conjecture. Some of it will be based on emotional responses; some of it will be based on varying perception of what may or may not be facts. For now, we can offer condolences to the families.

All we know for certain is that the crash that should not have happen, did, and people’s lives were cut short because of it.

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