The aviation expert pointed to the service life of the crashed An-24

The AN-24 passenger plane that crashed in the Amur region needed more thorough maintenance due to its proximity to the service life. On July 25, Andrey Patrakov, an aviation expert and founder of the flight safety service, told Izvestia.

"Well, first of all, aircraft must undergo scheduled maintenance, sometimes unscheduled, and specifically this AN-24 aircraft, which was close to its 50-year service life, it was almost 50 years old. Here, relatively speaking, age—related aircraft, even this is a stable expression, they require more attention," he said.

The expert stressed that for such aircraft, even inspection work is carried out using special tools. According to him, they monitor the aircraft's structure, cracks, and the condition of any elements whose operation may be critical. Patrakov noted that such work often involves visual inspection, but sometimes there is not enough vision for a more accurate examination of the size of the cracks.

In addition, the expert stressed that if the maintenance record indicates the use of tools that were not actually used during the work, this indicates a fake record, violation, absence of maintenance or its incorrectness.

"At a minimum, any discrepancy in the maintenance records is even potentially criminalized, because if a failure of equipment occurs due to this, for example, some crack was exceeded, and in flight it grew so that the element burst or broke, and because of this, a disaster occurred. then this is a criminal punishment," concluded Patrakov.

The usual inspection: The maintenance of Angara aircraft often took place only on paper

Shortly before the An-24 crash, Rostransnadzor suspended eight aircraft and four airline employees from flights.

The AN-24 crashed in the Amur region, 15 km from the city of Tynda on July 24. Communication with the aircraft was lost during the flight on the Khabarovsk – Blagoveshchensk – Tynda route. Later, his burning fuselage was found on the ground. All passengers and crew members were killed. Their bodies were recovered from the wreckage on July 25.

The governor of the Amur Region, Vasily Orlov, clarified that investigative actions are currently being carried out at the crash site. Later, the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation reported the discovery of flight recorders at the crash site.

In the Amur region, three days of mourning were declared in connection with the plane crash. On July 25, a memorial service for the victims of the plane crash was held in the Tynda church.

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