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Istanbul, Türkiye – Turkish and Libyan authorities are investigating in the accident of a private jet that killed Libyan army chief Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad and seven others near Ankara.
The investigation, coordinated by the Ankara General Prosecutor’s Office, is focusing on technical evidence, flight records, crew activity and aircraft maintenance, officials said. The BEA, the French civil aviation investigation office, announced that it would participate in the investigation.
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General al-Haddad had been received Tuesday in Ankara for talks with his Turkish counterpart, Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, and Defense Minister Yasar Guler.
According to authorities, the French-made Dassault Falcon 50 took off from Ankara’s Esenboga Airport at 2:17 p.m. Tuesday, bound for Libya, reported an electrical malfunction 16 minutes later and requested an emergency return.
Radar contact was lost shortly after at 2:41 p.m. (5:41 p.m. GMT) as the plane descended toward the runway.
Authorities said there was only a two-minute gap between the emergency alarm and the crash.
The many factors of the probe
The forensic examination of the bodies of General al-Haddad and his fellow soldiers was completed early Saturday and they were repatriated to Libya after a ceremony in their honor at an air base outside Ankara.
The site of Tuesday’s accident – near the village of Kesikkavak in Haymana district, about 70 km south of Ankara – was cordoned off by Turkish security forces. All wreckage, including the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, or “black boxes,” were secured and transported for analysis, authorities said.
As part of the investigation led by the prosecutorspecialists examine air traffic control recordings, radar data and images from airport security cameras.
Authorities have also requested logs of communication between pilots and the control tower and are reviewing crew rest periods, medical histories and records of meals or medications taken before the flight.
The aircraft’s most recent maintenance logs and inspection documentation are also examined to identify possible technical faults.
Fuel samples were taken from the wreckage and airport tanks to rule out contamination or incorrect use of fuel, while local weather data from the time of the accident was requested.
If evidence points to a structural failure or design flaw, investigators said, the investigation could be expanded to include manufacturers and maintenance contractors.
International rules and reporting schedule
Gursel Tokmakoglu, former head of Turkish Air Force intelligence, said the crash should be seen as an international matter, given the number of actors involved.
“The Libyan government chartered a plane from a foreign country. The plane was manufactured in another country. The pilots came from elsewhere. The passengers were Libyans and the accident happened in Turkey,” he said.
“If we also consider insurance companies and international aviation bodies, this is clearly a multinational incident.”
Earlier, Turkish Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu announced that the black boxes could be sent to another country for further analysis, raising questions about why the analysis could not be carried out in either Turkey or Libya.
Tokmakoglu said Turkey could either examine the black boxes at home or send them abroad for further analysis.
“The transfer of the recorders can help ensure greater transparency and a clearer understanding of what happened, especially in a case involving so many international stakeholders,” he said.
Tokmakoglu noted that, according to preliminary findings, the plane had transmitted the emergency “squawk” code 7700, which indicates an emergency requiring immediate attention, and that the crew had reported an electrical malfunction.
However, he added, it would be premature to assume that the electrical malfunction was the cause of the plane’s crash.
“In aviation, an electrical failure can trigger other problems,” he explained, comparing such a situation to “being admitted to intensive care for heart failure but later dying from a lung infection.”
Aviation industry analyst Guntay Simsek told Al Jazeera, citing his own sources, that there is so far no indication that the accident was caused by an external factor such as an explosion, adding that the technical investigation is still ongoing.
The investigation that starts immediately is part of general best practices after an accident, said aviation industry analyst Guntay Simsek, pointing to ICAO regulations that govern plane crash investigations, which require a preliminary report within 30 days and a final report within 12 months.
