Crash Of Prigozhin's Plane Shown On Video: Board Losing 3 Kilometres Of Altitude In Half Minute

• 24.08.2023, 8:22

Aviation experts have revealed details of the Embraer Legacy jet crash.

The Embraer Legacy 600 business jet, whose passenger list included Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner PMC, lost almost 3 kilometres in 30 seconds, then held altitude for a few more seconds, and then started to fall and crashed.

A publication on flightradar24.com says the service received the first data from Embraer at 17.46 Moscow time. By 18.10, the aircraft reached cruising altitude, having briefly descended before doing so. Nine minutes later, the aircraft's vertical speed (change in altitude per unit time) began to change dramatically.

The aircraft descended to 27,500 feet (8,382 metres) before climbing again to 29,300 feet (8,930 metres). The last data from the aircraft was received at 6.20pm Moscow time: it descended to 19,725 feet (6,012 metres) in the next 32 seconds.

Jan Petchenik, communications director for the Flightradar24 service, told Reuters that at 6.19pm Moscow time the plane began to descend sharply.

"Whatever happened, it happened quickly. Maybe they were struggling [with the aircraft] after something happened," he said. Before that, he noted, "there was no indication that there was anything wrong with this aircraft."

The business jet, which belonged to Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the PMC Wagner, crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in Tver Region on the evening of August 23. The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case on violation of the rules of safety of air transport movement and operation.

Rosaviatsia published a list of passengers of the crashed aircraft. Yevgeny Prigozhin, PMC commander Dmitry Utkin and Valery Chekalov, the head of firms associated with Prigozhin, are among them. Their deaths are reported, but they have not been officially confirmed.

The crash of Prigozhin's plane occurred exactly two months after the mutiny of the PMC founder.