Azerbaijan Airlines Flight Reportedly Hit By Russian Missile On Christmas Day

Azerbaijani government sources told Euronews on Thursday that a Russian surface-to-air missile hit Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J28243, ultimately causing the plane to crash during an emergency landing attempt in the Kazakhstani city of Aktau shortly thereafter.

Another video showing the crash of Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 pic.twitter.com/Ze5pQ7Grv9

— BNO News Live (@BNODesk) December 25, 2024

A Russian SAM was fired at the Embraer ERJ-190 during a drone swarm above Grozny, the capital city of Chechnya, Russia. The SAM detonated near the commercial jet and unleashed a spray formation of shrapnel that damaged the plane’s rear fuselage and flight controls. 

BREAKING: Approximate location where Azerbaijan Airlines flight AXY8243 (J28243) was hit by a Russian anti air missile. This happened at 08:15 local time at an altitude of about 1000m. The flight would crash 1h 13m later in Aktau, Kazakhstan. pic.twitter.com/34n0G7Ag40

— planatoli (@planatoli) December 26, 2024

Here’s more from the media outlet:

Government sources have told Euronews that the damaged aircraft was not allowed to land at any Russian airports despite the pilots’ requests for an emergency landing, and it was ordered to fly across the Caspian Sea towards Aktau in Kazakhstan.

According to data, the plane’s GPS navigation systems were jammed throughout the flight path above the sea.

Shortly after the Embraer ERJ-190 crashed in Aktau on Christmas Day, footage of the wreckage emerged on X, and that’s when internet sleuths began to notice “traces of shrapnel on the rear fuselage section of the aircraft.” 

!! There is no official statement that Azerbaijan Airlines flight J28243 was shot down, or shots fired at it, following a video shared on social media showing traces of shrapnel on the rear fuselage section of the aircraft. https://t.co/dWMPUUBynJ pic.twitter.com/6G1E2Kluqr

— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) December 25, 2024

The flight-tracking website Flightradar24 posted altitude and vertical speed data indicating the plane “struggled to maintain altitude for more than an hour.“

Here is a graph with altitude and vertical speed data for flight #J28243

The aircraft was struggling to maintain altitude for more than 1 hour (05:14 UTC to 06:28 UTC) pic.twitter.com/mLItiOkzS1

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) December 25, 2024

It is suspected that the SAM’s shrapnel spray pattern damaged the Embraer ERJ-190’s vertical stabilizer, horizontal stabilizer, and elevators—possibly explaining why the normal landing configuration might not have been achieved.

This resulted in an aggressive landing approach, contributing to a steep glide slope that led to the hard landing and eventual crash.