Previous Azerbaijan flight turned back days before E190 crash: Aliyev

Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, has claimed that another Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft had turned away from southern Russia over conflict-zone warnings 10 days before the crash of an Embraer 190. Speaking during a 6 January meeting with relatives from the E190 crew, and survivors of the 25 December crash, Aliyev said a “similar incident” had occurred near Grozny. “The [Azerbaijan Airlines] aircraft turned back halfway,” he says. “Why wasn’t the crew warned this time?” Aliyev did not elaborate on the flight involved. While the investigation has yet to reach conclusions over the E190 crash, there is evidence that the twinjet suffered damage from an external explosion during military activity in the vicinity of Grozny, its destination. The aircraft, with its flight controls apparently crippled, diverted to Aktau in Kazakhstan where it crashed while attempting to land. Aliyev has already expressed exasperation over the occurrence, and reiterated his frustration during the meeting, claiming that the hazardous airspace was closed only after the aircraft was “fired upon from the ground”. “If there was a threat to Russian airspace, the captain of the aircraft should have been immediately informed about it,” he says. Aliyev acknowledges that only preliminary information has emerged from the inquiry, and that he expects the investigation to provide full details on the circumstances – including the reasons the jet flew to Aktau rather than a closer airport.<br/>