By Gokhan Celiker, Yavuz Aydin  

The crash of an Embraer 190 aircraft operated by Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) on Wednesday during its Baku-Grozny flight bears striking similarities to a 2018 incident in Portugal, where the same model experienced control issues and was forced into an emergency landing.

The AZAL plane, which crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan, was carrying 67 people, including five crew members and 62 passengers.

According to the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office, preliminary reports indicate that 32 people survived the crash and are being treated for injuries. The country has declared Thursday a national day of mourning for those who lost their lives.

Reports suggest the crash occurred after the plane collided with a flock of birds. Prior to the incident, the aircraft had been diverted to Makhachkala in Russia’s Dagestan region due to fog. 

Both crashes involved extended loss of control

Data on flight tracking service Flightradar24 suggests that the altitude of the aircraft changed over 100 times in the final 74 minutes of its flight.

Some flight path maps also indicated areas where the signal was lost.

A similar incident occurred in 2018, when an Embraer 190 operated by Kazakhstan’s Air Astana also experienced control issues over Portugal due to adverse weather conditions.

In that case, the pilots were unable to maneuver the aircraft for a prolonged period, and the autopilot system failed to engage, prompting the crew to declare an emergency.

The flight, originally headed to Belarus’ capital Minsk and then to Almaty in Kazakhstan, endured severe structural stress during emergency maneuvers and began spinning uncontrollably.

The pilots eventually took full manual control of the aircraft, disabling the flight control computer.

Despite ongoing issues, they managed to land the plane safely.

However, the aircraft suffered damage and was later retired. An investigation revealed that its “aileron cables” had been connected incorrectly.  

Embraer aircraft overview

The Embraer E170, delivered for the first time on March 17, 2004, to LOT Polish Airlines, is part of the Embraer E-Jet family, which includes narrow-body, short- to medium-range, twin-engine jet aircraft.

The E170, E175, E190, and E195 models make up the family, with the larger E190 and E195 models entering service in late 2004, followed by the extended E175 variant of the E170 in mid-2005.

To date, 1,695 units of the Embraer E-Jet family have been produced.  

E190 specifications

The E190, which carries 98 to 114 passengers and is operated by two pilots, has a length of 36.25 meters (118 feet), a height of 10.57 meters (34 feet), and a maximum takeoff weight of 51,800 kilograms (about 57.1 tons).

Capable of climbing to altitude of 12,000 meters, the aircraft can reach a maximum speed of 871 kilometers per hour (545 mph), with a cruising speed of 829 kilometers per hour.

With a maximum range of 4,537 kilometers (2,819 miles), the E190 can take off from runways as short as 2,100 meters and requires a landing distance of 1,244 meters.