Photo ©DamirKagarmanov JETPHOTOS

Loss Of Control After Maintenance

An Air Astana E190 suffered a loss of control event on a ferry flight back to Kazakhstan on Sunday 11th November.

The event occurred shortly after departing Alverca airport near Lisbon, where Embraer has a maintenance centre. The aircraft had been in Portugal for a C-Check maintenance visit.

After regaining control, the pilots landed the aircraft safely at Beja Air Base.



The tracking system used by Flight Radar 24 (below) could only capture altitudes above 5,000 feet and there is a lag in speed reporting.

They climbed as high as 20,000 feet, at one point dived about 10,000 feet in seconds, and saw speeds of 400 knots.



We can assume that a few things were either not reconnected, or were connected incorrectly after the “C Check.”

The C Check is undertaken every 20-24 months, or after a certain number of flight hours, and requires the majority of components to be inspected and, if needed, replaced.

In the FlightRadar24 traces we can see what the smart pilots do when trouble strikes: get away from the edges of the air until they work out what has gone wrong and can get things under control.




FlightRadar24 report: HERE



13th Nov 2018

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Two Days Later …

"We are expecting an emergency ditching or landing.
The aircraft is completely uncontrollable …"

Further information comes to light.

Please follow these links:

The Aviation Herald's detailed coverage is HERE

ATC Audio is in two files, Part One HERE, and Part Two HERE.

Military chase plane video of the landing is HERE.

FlightRadar24 has updated their report HERE




15th Nov 2018


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Tags: Emergency, Air Astana