Flightradar24: Prigozhin’s plane lost altitude before crash
Flightradar24 service published a report on the flight of the plane of a businessman, the founder of the private military company Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin. It follows from it that before the crash, the board abruptly lost altitude – in 30 seconds the aircraft immediately fell by 2.4 kilometers. The document shows that the pilot tried to rise to the previous height, and then descended again.
What happened to Prigozhin’s plane in flight
board dialed cruising altitude 8.5 kilometers at 18:10 and supported it for less than 10 minutes – until 18:19. This altitude is below the minimum cruising altitude for airplanes whose speed does not exceed the speed of sound – such aircraft are usually stick to heights of 10 kilometers.
After that, the board briefly decreased and again began to gain altitude, rising to 9.1 kilometers. Then it descended again to a height close to its original height.
However, after 19 minutes 53 seconds of flight, the altitude fell and no longer rose – first it dropped by 500 meters, then another 500, and after a few seconds – another kilometer.
Photo: Anton Vaganov / Reuters
How Prigozhin’s plane crashed
Thus, during the 30 seconds of the monitored flight, the Embraer Legacy 600 immediately lost 2.4 kilometers of altitude, despite the pilot’s attempts to restore it.
At this time, the board no longer sent information about its location. Flightradar24 only has data on the aircraft’s speed and altitude.
After an abrupt descent, the board stopped transmitting this data as well – the plane crashed in the Tver region near the village of Kuzhenkino, Bologovsky district.
Where did the wreckage of Prigozhin’s plane fall?
An element of the tail was found 3.5 kilometers from the crash site of a business jet – the part fell in a clearing near a private house.
![](https://icdn.lenta.ru/images/2023/08/24/10/20230824104049844/owl_wide_1200_caeeaedeaf45051291f849890f20329d.jpeg)
Photo: Vitaly Shustrov / TASS
Another fragment was found two kilometers from the crash site. What this detail is is not specified.
Eyewitnesses reported that shortly before the plane crashed, they heard two strong pops.
Video from the crash site
Judging by the published footage, after the fall, the board was almost completely burned out. Crash site cordoned off police and emergency services, the cordon has not yet been removed.
Investigators are examining the wreckage.
Who was on board the plane with Prigogine
According to the lists published by the Federal Air Transport Agency, among the passengers were Evgeny Prigozhin, his subordinate commander Dmitry Utkin, as well as Nikolai Matuseev, Valery Chekalov, Alexander Totmin, Evgeny Makaryan and Sergey Propustin.
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In addition to them, there were three crew members on board. How reported in the Ministry of Emergency Situations, no one managed to survive. The Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case under article 263 (“Violation of the rules for traffic safety and operation of air transport”) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Investigators are considering all versions of what happened – from pilot error to technical problems.
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