MH17: Report details final moments of doomed flight
The pilot of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was denied permission to fly higher just 20 minutes before it was blown up in mid-air over eastern Ukraine, said Dutch investigators.
Air traffic controllers had earlier requested the aircraft to go up to 34,000 feet to avoid another airliner, but the pilot said he was unable to climb at that point, possibly due to adverse weather. Instead, another aircraft, which was unidentified in the investigators’ report, climbed higher.
The report into the crash states that the Boeing 777, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, broke up in mid-air as a result of structural damaged caused by ‘a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from the outside’.
The investigator’s report doesn’t say specifically that the aircraft was hit by a missile, but it said there were no indications the crash was caused by a technical fault or by actions of the crew.
The crash, which killed all 298 passengers and crew onboard, happened as the plane passed over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine. The black boxes were retrieved intact, with the flight recorders showing a completely normal flight before impact.
Radio communications with Ukrainian air traffic control confirm that no emergency call was made by the cockpit crew. Investigators said the pattern of wreckage on the ground suggested the aircraft split into pieces during flight.
The report shows that at 12.53hrs, Ukrainian air traffic controllers at Dnipropetrov asked MH17 to climb 2,000 feet to flight level 350 over eastern Ukraine, in accordance with the original flight plan, to clear a ‘potential separation conflict’ with another Boeing 777.
The crew said they were unable to comply, possibly due to weather. Instead, at least one other plane climbed higher. The other plane was not identified by investigators but it is known that a large Singapore Airlines flight was in the vicinity, along with one other Boeing 777 and an Airbus A330.
Just after 13:00 hrs, the MH17 crew, running into bad weather, requested to climb to 34,000 feet – although air traffic control said the plane should keep at the same altitude. At 13.20hrs, MH17 exploded in mid-air.
It is believed it was hit by a BUK missile, but it has not yet been confirmed whether it was fired by Ukraine fighters or Russian-backed rebels.
The investigators said they are aiming to publish their final report into the crash by July 2015.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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