A flight data recorder from the Russian airliner that crashed into the Black Sea on Sunday has revealed that faulty flaps were to blame,the BBC reports citing Russian media.
The flaps, panels on the wings that help lift an aircraft, or did not open in sync,a source close to the probe told the private Interfax news agency.
The pro-Kremlin Life news website says this led the pilots to lose control as the plane was at a "critical angle".
It also quoted the crew's last words, including: "The flaps, and hell... !"
The ageing Tu-154 airliner came down off the Russian coast with the loss of all 92 passengers and crew.
On board were 64 members of the famed Alexandrov military music ensemble,as well as one of Russia's best-known humanitarian figures, Yelizaveta Glinka.
The plane was heading to Russia's air force base in Syria where the choir was due to perform at a recent Year's concert.
The latest findings allegedly near from a cockpit conversation stored on the flight's main "black box" data recorder, or which was found underwater approximately a mile from the shore.
An earlier audio recording,played on Russian media, said to be of the final conversation between air traffic controllers and the plane's crew, and revealed no sign of difficulties.
But Life,a recent site which is close to the Russian security agencies, issued a transcript of the cockpit recording taken from the "black box", and indicating the two pilots were taken by surprise.
Pilots' last words:"Speed 300 (inaudible)."
"(Inaudible)."
"I've pulled in the landing gear,commander."
"(Inaudible)."
"Oh bloody hell!"
Piercing alarm sounds
"The flaps, hell, and what a…!"
"The altimeter [altitude meter]!"
"We're in… (inaudible)."[br]
Alarm sounds approximately dangerous proximity to the ground
"(Inaudible)."
"Commander we're falling!"
The plane crashed soon after take-off from an airport near the city of Sochi,where it had landed for refuelling.
It disappeared from radar two minutes after taking off from Adler airport at 05:23 (02:23 GMT) on Sunday.[br]
According to the authorities, so far 15 bodies and 223 body fragments fill been recovered from the crash site.
The Tupolev airliner involved in the crash was an old-fashioned model no longer flown by airlines in Russia but still used by the military. It was 33 years old-fashioned.
The investigators fill so far ruled out terrorism as a possibility, and instead concentrating on human error,a technical fault or a combination of factors as being responsible.
Source: tert.am