An Azerbaijan Airlines flight between Baku’s Heydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD) and
Grozny Airport (GRZ) in the Chechnya region of Russia has crashed in Kazakhstan. The 11 year old Embraer E190 aircraft, registered as 4K-AZ65, was operating as flight J28243 to the Chechen capital before diverting hundreds of miles away to Aktau Airport (SCO) on the western coast of Kazakhstan where it crashed on approach to the airport.
According to FlightRadar24, the aircraft appeared to encounter significant GPS jamming and spoofing on its approach into Grozny before the diversion.
Flight #J28243 that crashed near Aktau Airport in Kazakhstan is an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer ERJ-190 with registration 4K-AZ65.#J28243 took off from Baku at 03:55 UTC time and was flying to Grozny. The aircraft was exposed to strong GPS jamming which made the aircraft… pic.twitter.com/rM1Q0jmMPt
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) December 25, 2024
Video of the crash shows the plane pitching wildly before leveling off and ultimately plunging to the ground. 38 fatalities have been reported with a further 29 injured. The flight was carrying 62 passengers and 5 crew.
🚨FLIGHT CRASH🚨
— Parikh Vedant (@ParikhVedant3) December 25, 2024
– Complete video of plane crash of Azerbaijan Airlines Flight no J28243 Embraer ERJ190 Reg No. 4K-AZ65 Flying from Baku(GYD) to Grozny(GRV) Crashed at Aktau, Kazakhstan#planecrash #Aktau #Azerbaijanairlines #KazakhstanPlaneCrash #Kazakistan #J28243 pic.twitter.com/bbGS7ckRwY
Russian officials reported that the crash was a result of a bird strike. However, aircraft don’t typically divert hundreds of miles after experiencing a bird strike. Instead, they typically divert to the nearest suitable airport.
Photos from the crash site appear to show puncture holes in the fuselage that appears to have occured in-flight. Airports along the plane’s original flight path had been closed due to Ukrainian drone activity in the area as well as low clouds. Some reports online are indicating that the plane may have been struck by Russian air defenses. Unfortunately, I doubt that we will get the full story of what happened here given the parties involved.
Regardless of the true reason for the crash, it is a sad Christmas Day for many families impacted by this tragedy.
Summary
An Azerbaijan Airlines flight between Baku and Grozny crashed during an attempted diversion to Aktau, Kazakhstan. The aircraft has some issue during flight, with Russia’s aviation watchdog reporting the plane suffered a bird strike. Photos and videos from the scene appear to show shrapnel holes in the fuselage, consistent with a strike from air defense systems.