Power failure downed Libya plane near Ankara

Shafaq News- Ankara

Turkiye’s Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said on Wednesday that black box data from the aircraft carrying a Libyan military delegation, including Army Chief of Staff Mohamed Al-Haddad, showed a critical electrical failure shortly after takeoff, shedding new light on the crash near Ankara two months ago.

The aircraft went down on December 23, killing Al-Haddad and four accompanying officers.

Uraloglu told Anadolu Agency that cockpit voice recordings revealed a malfunction in the aircraft’s electrical system, involving multiple power generators. He said the plane remained in constant contact with air traffic control before and after issuing a distress call. “The pilots requested an immediate return to the airport and declared an emergency, switching to manual control after the aircraft’s onboard systems failed,” Uraloglu continued, adding that the voice recorder indicated that two minutes after takeoff, the pilots reported the failure of a second generator, followed by the loss of a third generator seconds later. No information was recorded regarding the status of the first generator at that stage.”

He added that cockpit communications later showed all generators had stopped functioning before some systems briefly recovered, allowing renewed contact with the control tower. Uraloglu said radar contact with the aircraft continued until 8:27 p.m. local time, when it began to disappear from screens. The plane crashed minutes later in the Haymana district near Ankara. “The final determination of the crash’s cause will depend on judicial proceedings and expert technical reports.