On December 25, 2024, Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243, an Embraer ERJ-190 aircraft, crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, during an attempted emergency landing. The flight, carrying 62 passengers and five crew members, was enroute from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Russia, when it diverted to Aktau due to adverse weather conditions.
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that the aircraft attempted to land on Aktau Airport’s Runway 11 but struck the ground approximately 1.8 miles short of the runway. The impact caused the plane to burst into flames.
Occurrence aircraft 4K-AZ65, credit: Mehmet Mustafa Celik via Wikimedia Commons
Initial rescue efforts successfully saved 27 individuals, including two children, who were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment. It appears that 40 people had perished in the crash. Those onboard included 37 Azerbaijani, 16 Russian, six Kazakh, and three Kyrgyz citizens.
Footage from the crash site showed thick black smoke billowing from the wreckage and injured survivors emerging from a section of the fuselage that remained intact.
Trigger warning:
Early reports suggest that a bird strike may have prompted the pilot’s decision to attempt the emergency landing. The flight had reportedly experienced strong GPS jamming and spoofing, which disrupted its Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data transmissions during its journey.
Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan also extended their sympathies to the victims’ families.
This is certainly weird. I don’t mean to make light of this, and I pray for the families of those onboard, but I find the GPS and spoofing issues ironically related to what the terrorists did to planes in Die Hard 2 on Christmas Eve.
I hope they find out who was responsible and punish them.
Russian GPS jamming? What a gross country.
The flight was headed for Grozny, the capital city of Chechnya, Russia. There are a lot of conflicts in the local area including those in Chechnya and those between Azerbaijan and Armenia. I wonder if this is due to one of the conflicts.
GPS jamming doesn’t cause crashes. We flew before we had GPS and we can fly without it. It’s a great convenience but it doesn’t cause this type of crash when it is out.
I am wary of conspiracy theories. And I certainly do not agree with Putin’s politics. But these passengers are victims and do not deserve our ire. That said, I am reminded of MH17, which the Russians shot down, killing hundreds of innocent lives. And the Polish president’s plane that went down in fog en route to Russia, killing everyone on board. That one may be just coincidence and bad luck, but when you play games like with Yevgeny’s plane (just fell out of the sky, like an oligarch out of an open window), you can’t blame us for being a little skeptical here.
I absolutely don’t understand the GPS jamming part. Who would do that to a commercial plane? Why do it? This makes zero sense.
Christian, GOS jamming is not targeted. It’s a blanket technology. Now FOX is reporting a drone strike in Russia near where the plane crashed. So perhaps not bird after all.
Photos of parts of the intact fuselage show bullet holes shrapnel..
Photos going around showing projectile damage. Possible Russian anti-aircraft.
Bullets that strike the EJET flight control computers in the aft e-bay, could absolutely be explain why that airplane flew like that.
If all they had was thrust and rudder (like Sioux City) conceivably this is what it could look like.
Reporting now suggests Russia attempted to shoot this plane down. Ny earlier instincts and suspicion of another MH17 situation are likely. It’s a damn shame that there is no accountability for such murder of innocents anymore. May Putin’s days be numbered.