MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC, MAK) airline safety watchdog concluded that Russia’s airlifter crashed in Siberia last month due to limited visibility caused by smoke and fire-ravaged turbulence in the taiga, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said in an interim report published by the watchdog Friday.
“According to crew member reports, the land could only be seen ‘underneath’ or not seen entirely, there were no reports of flight visibility,” the report stated, adding that search crews subsequently noted extreme smoke in the area of their operations.
In a separate statement commenting on the aircraft's continued downward path, the Emergencies Ministry clarified that a ground proximity warning system sounding off during low-elevation firefighting operations is “standard practice.”
