Turkish Authorities Share details from Probe of Libyan Plane Crash

(MENAFN) Turkish officials have released additional findings from the investigation into a deadly aircraft crash near Ankara involving a Libyan military delegation, revealing that the crew experienced serious electrical problems and attempted to turn back before communication was lost, according to reports.

The incident occurred on Dec. 23, when a private jet transporting a Libyan military delegation went down outside the Turkish capital. All eight people on board were killed, including Libya’s chief of general staff, several high-ranking military officials, and three crew members.

According to statements, the aircraft maintained steady contact with air traffic controllers both before and after declaring an emergency, alerting them to a malfunction affecting the plane’s electrical systems.

Providing details on the final moments of the flight, the transport and infrastructure minister said the pilots requested permission to return to the airport and transmitted a “PAN-PAN, PAN-PAN, PAN-PAN” call, which signals urgency but is below the most severe aviation distress level. Following this alert, air traffic controllers began efforts to assist the aircraft, while the flight crew increasingly relied on manual control as onboard systems continued to fail.

As the aircraft attempted to head back, all departures and arrivals at Ankara’s Esenboga Airport were suspended as a precaution, according to reports. While the crew did not issue a spoken “MAYDAY” call, they did activate the aircraft’s emergency transponder, which was picked up by air traffic control.

“The controllers detected the emergency signal, but the aircraft crashed in the Haymana area before it could descend to a sufficient altitude and approach the airport,” the minister said.

He added that both flight recorders—the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder—were found to be severely damaged, complicating further analysis of the crash.

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