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Aviation watchdog provided no data on last conversation of crashing Boeing pilots

The Interstate Aviation Committee may provide preliminary information on FlyDubai’s Boeing 737-800 that crashed in Russia's Rostov-on-Don on March 19 in a week or two
At the crash site Maxim Grigoyev/TASS
At the crash site
© Maxim Grigoyev/TASS

MOSCOW, March 28. /TASS/. The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) says the preliminary results of decoding the black boxes of the Boeing that crashed at Rostov-on-Don’s airport on March 19 are not yet ready. Aide to IAC chairman Artur Muradyan told TASS on Monday that IAC can neither confirm nor deny the information about the last conversation among the crew of the crashed Boeing that was earlier reported by several media.

"The decoding of black boxes has not been completed yet. It is still underway. They are being analyzed, data is being compared, and the voices [of pilots] are being identified," Muradyan said. The final results of decoding will be available in a month or more, he added. "It is possible that we will announce preliminary information in a week or two," he noted.

Muradyan said that IAC did not provide any information on crew’s last conversation to the media. "IAC representatives did not provide this information to Kommersant or anyone else. We can neither confirm nor deny it for now," aide to IAC chairman Artur Muradyan told TASS on Monday.

He noted that IAC’s information "is closed for now." "When we have information, we will be able to comment on this," Muradyan added.

FlyDubai’s Boeing 737-800 crashed at Rostov-on-Don’s airport in the small hours on March 19 during a second attempt to land in complicated weather conditions of strong side wind and rain. The plane served regular Flight FZ 981 from Dubai. The passenger jet capable of carrying 189 passengers had 62 people onboard, including the crew. None has survived.

The investigation looks into several versions of the air crash: a pilot error, a technical malfunction, bad weather conditions and others.