“The plane made a second round coming in to land because of bad weather conditions,” Russia’s Emergency Minister said. “At landing the tail touched the runway, began to break down and burst into flames. At present, no combustion.”
Vasily Golubev, the governor of the Rostov region, says he believes weather was to blame for Flight 981’s demise.
“By all appearances, the cause of the air crash was the strongly gusting wind, approaching a hurricane level,” Golubev said. Such a wind would far exceed the 737-800’s flying capacity, leaving open the question as to why the pilots attempted the landing in the first place.
FlyDubai also issued a series of statements via its Facebook page updating people on details of the accident.
FlyDubai, based in the United Arab Emirates, is one of the Middle East’s largest low-fare carriers. Founded in 2009, it services up to 90 destinations with 1,700 flights a week and 49 aircraft. The 737-800 aircraft in question was built in 2010 and delivered to FlyDubai in 2011.
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing also released a statement on the crash early Saturday morning.
“Boeing’s thoughts and prayers are with those on board flydubai flight FZ981 and their families and friends,” the statement read.
“Boeing stands ready to provide technical assistance upon the request of government agencies conducting the investigation. In accordance with the international protocol governing aviation accident investigations, all inquiries about the investigation must be directed to investigating authorities.”
Please like and share on Facebook and Twitter if your thoughts and prayers are with the families with loved ones on FlyDubai Flight 981.