Voice recorder from Russian plane crash reveals faulty wing flaps

MOSCOW, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- The cockpit voice recorder of the Russian jet that crashed in the Black Sea on Sunday has revealed that faulty wing flaps were to blame, a Russian pro-Kremlin website reported Wednesday.

Also Wednesday, divers recovered the second "black box" -- the flight data recorder that includes navigation information -- the Russian Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday.

The Life News website, as reported by the BBC, published voice transcripts from the cockpit that reveal the pilots lost control as the plane was at a "critical angle." The crew's last words included: "The flaps, hell... !"

The voice recorder was found Tuesday.

The Tu-154 airliner crashed off the Russian coast near Sochi, killing all 92 passengers and crew. They included 64 singers and musicians of the Alexandrov Ensemble, a celebrated military choir; Elizaveta Glinka, chief of Russia's Spravedlivaya Pomoshch, or Fair Aid, charity; nine reporters; two government employees.

The ministry said searchers recovered 12 large plane fragments and more than 1,500 smaller fragments. The search operations headquarters said it found 15 bodies of those aboard, as well as many fragments of bodies.

The aging TU-154 transport plane was traveling from Sochi, Russia to Latikia, Syria when it crashed soon after takeoff.

The military airliner was commanded by two experienced crew members: pilot Maj Roman Volkov and co-pilot Capt. Alexander Rovensky.

No sign of difficulties were revealed earlier in the final conversation between air traffic controllers and the plane's crew that was played on Russian media.

But according to the transcript of the cockpit recording from the "black box," the two pilots were alarmed.

"Commander we're falling!" can be heard on the tape as alarm sounds note dangerous proximity to the ground.

Both black boxes were sent to Moscow for examination in the defense ministry's aviation laboratory.

The Federal Security Service has said it is looking into four main suspected causes: pilot error, technical failure, faulty fuel and a foreign object in the engine. The FSB said there's no evidence to suggest terrorism, but it has not ruled it out entirely.