Russian investigators have published the final report on the February 2018 Saratov Airlines Antonov AN148 crash near Moscow, killing all sixty-five passengers and six crew onboard.
The investigators have said the pilots of the doomed aircraft forgot to switch on the heaters for the airspeed probes and this lead to excessive icing to the probe after taking off and during the initial climb. This, in turn, meant that probe wasn't working properly, giving the flight deck crew wrong airspeed readings, lower than the actual speed the aircraft was going. To increase the speed, the pilots initiated an urgent descent and because the visibility was low, the aircraft crashed into the ground in a steep dive.
The investigators also state that the pilots were in a rush to depart as they were trying to make up time, following a late arrival. They considered this rush to get away was probably responsible for the failure to check if the heaters were on or off for the sensors. The investigation team also criticised Saratov Airlines for lapses in the firm's safety management system, they also said the lack of proper oversight over the quality of crew training by Russian aviation authorities at all levels led to the issuance of pilots’ certificates, suggesting that the flight crew did not “fully satisfy the qualification requirements.”
According to Russian Aviation Insider, Rosaviatsia - the Russian Aviation authorities did an audit of Saratov Airlines, which then suspended its Air Operator’s Certificate which resulted in the airline halting operations at the end of March.
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