Black Boxes Have Not Yet Been Found

Lithuanian authorities have disclosed as the search for the black boxes of the crashed Boeing 737 near Vilnius Airport (VNO) has continued, investigators from multiple countries, including the United States, as well as representatives from Boeing, will join the investigation to unravel what happened to the converted freighter that crashed in the Lithuanian capital.

Joined by the FAA, NTSB, and Boeing

In an interview with LRT, the public service broadcaster of Lithuania, Arūnas Paulauskas, the police commissioner of Lithuania, and Laurynas Naujokaitis, the head of the Transport Accident and Incident Investigation Division of the Ministry of Justice of The Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublinkos teisingumo ministerija, TM) disclosed that multiple parties would help with the investigation of the converted Boeing 737 freighter operated by Spain-based Swiftair that crashed in the early morning hours of November 25.

Naujokaitis said that four investigators from Germany and two from Spain, presumably from the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (Bundesstelle für Flugunfalluntersuchung, BFU) and Spanish Civil Aviation Accidents and Incidents Investigation Commission (Comisión de Investigación de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación Civil, CIAIAC) will join the investigation of the crash.

Furthermore, a total of 12 people will arrive in Vilnius to help with the process: four from the National Transportation Safety Board ( NTSB), three from the Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA), and five from Boeing.

Naujokaitis reiterated that this was a normal process when it comes to accident investigations since the initial phase of an inquiry into an accident includes stakeholders, such as representatives of the aircraft manufacturer, being involved to lend a helping hand.

However, the official noted that Lithuania remains responsible for the investigation, while other parties are helping the state’s investigators to determine what happened to the 737-400 that impacted terrain a few kilometers from Vilnius Airport (VNO).

The NTSB confirmed that it was leading a party of US investigators, involving its own representatives, FAA, and Boeing, to Lithuania to assist TM with the investigation.

In a statement on November 25, the Lithuanian Transport Competence Agency (Transporto Kompetencijų Agentūra) confirmed that in addition to the five stakeholders that were invited to participate in the investigation, the agency also informed the International Civil Aviation Organization ( ICAO), the European Union Aviation Safety Agency ( EASA), European Network of Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authorities (ENCASIA), and the European Commission (EC) about the crash.

Black boxes still missing

Meanwhile, Paulauskas said that the search for the aircraft’s black boxes, namely the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR), is still ongoing.

The police commissioner added that it has been challenging to communicate with the first officer and a German national who was onboard the aircraft at the time of the accident due to the extent of their injuries.

However, the fourth person inside the converted freighter’s cabin, a Lithuanian national, escaped the crash with few injuries. Paulauskas noted that the authorities have been able to talk with the person and gather some preliminary information.

In a separate interview with LRT, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, the head of the National Crisis Management Center (Nacionalinio krizių valdymo centras, NKVC), stated that the reasons for the crash are still being determined.

Vitkauskas added that the authorities’ preliminary conclusions have led to an assumption that the accident was related to the aircraft and/or the flight crew rather than external factors.

Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Europe, particularly the eastern flank of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), including Lithuania, has experienced various forms of hybrid warfare attacks, with the region living under heightened tensions as the war in Ukraine has continued for over 1,000 days.

A few days before the crash, submarine communications cables that connected Finland and Germany and Sweden and Lithuania were cut. In a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Danish Armed Forces (Forsavert) confirmed that its ships were present in the area of a Chinese vessel called the ‘Yi Peng 3.’

At a news conference on November 26, Ulf Kristersson, the Prime Minister of Sweden, urged the Chinese ship to be moved to Sweden. Kristersson emphasized that this was not an accusation but rather an attempt to seek clarity about the incidents, according to Reuters.

On November 19, the Lithuanian police confirmed that their Latvian counterparts from the Latvian State Security Service (Valsts drošības dienests, VDD) arrested two Spanish nationals who were accused of plotting a terrorist act in Šiauliai, the fourth-largest city in Lithuania in September. They attempted to set fire to a manufacturing site of a private enterprise in the city.

Lastly, there have been reports of multiple incendiary devices inside parcels that were supposed to be loaded on cargo aircraft. In July, there were at least two incidents where parcels self-ignited at DHL’s facilities in Leipzig, Germany, and Birmingham, the United Kingdom.

On October 14, Thomas Haldenwang, the head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, BfV), told a German Federal Parliament (Bundestag) committee that Russian operatives were behind the fires, which had the ultimate goal of setting fire to Canada and US-bound cargo aircraft while they were in the air.

Annalena Baerbock, the German Foreign Minister, stated that German and Lithuanian authorities must question whether this was an accident or another hybrid attack, according to a report by the Associated Press (AP).

“That shows what volatile times we are living in in the middle of Europe.”

Artūras Urbelis, the chief prosecutor of the Organized Crime and Corruption Investigation Department of Lithuania’s Prosecutor General’s Office, told LRT that preliminary findings showed no signs of a possible investigation of more serious criminal offenses, with Urbelis alluding to a potential investigation of terrorism.

Cleared to land

The Swiftair 737-400 converted freighter, registered as EC-MFE, was operating a flight on behalf of DHL from Leipzig/Halle Airport (LEJ) to Vilnius Airport (VNO) on November 25.

According to Flightradar24 data, the aircraft departed Germany at 2:08 local time (UTC +1), was scheduled to arrive in the Lithuanian capital at around 5:28 local time (UTC +2).

However, as it was on approach to Vilnius Airport (VNO), the 737-400 impacted terrain in a sparsely populated neighborhood a few kilometers north of the airport.

Valdas Benkunskas, the mayor of Vilnius, confirmed that 13 people were evacuated from two residential buildings near the crash site. None of them received substantial injuries during the event.

One out of four people that were onboard the aircraft, a Spanish pilot working for Swiftair, passed away on site. On November 26, Santaros Klinikos, the hospital that has treated the survivors onboard the aircraft, stated that one of the patients was in critical condition.

Air traffic control (ATC) audio, provided by LiveATC, indicated that shortly before the crash at 5:28, local controllers and the 737’s flight crew were communicating without issues. They also never squawked 7700, which would have indicated a general emergency onboard the aircraft, or made a MAYDAY distress signal on the radio during the flight’s final moments.

Minutes before the 737 crashed in Vilnius, the pilot told ATC that he was not expecting an instrument landing system (ILS) landing, which the controller still confirmed, ordering the aircraft to descend to 2,700 feet (822.9 meters) and set the airfield pressure setting (QNH), meaning elevation above sea level, to 1020.

The Swiftair pilot read back the instruction. However, when the controllers, including the ATC handling approach communications at the airport, cleared to land the aircraft, the flight crew did not respond.

A few seconds later, a thump was heard on the recording. Immediately after, ATC canceled start-up clearances for airBaltic and Wizz Air flights due to a “crash of aircraft on final [approach].”