A pilot, who was trained in Ukraine, lost his life in a plane crash in Kazakhstan.

An aviation accident occurred in Kazakhstan on the morning of December 25. The second pilot, Alexander Kaljaninov, who was studying in Ukraine, lost his life in the incident.

This was reported by RBK-Ukraine citing the Ukrainian State Flight Academy on Facebook.

"On December 25, 2024, as a result of an aviation disaster near Aktau (Kazakhstan), the Embraer E-190 aircraft of Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), operating the Baku-Grozny flight, crashed, resulting in the death of second pilot Alexander Kaljaninov, born in 1992. Alexander had dreamed of becoming a pilot since childhood, just like his father, and wanted to connect his life with the skies," the statement said.

Kaljaninov earned a master's degree in aviation transport on April 6, 2021. He studied at the Flight Operation Faculty under the educational and professional program "Flight Operation of Aircraft" and received qualifications as a "Pilot Engineer" and "Research Engineer."

"Alexander was very intelligent, knowledgeable, spoke several foreign languages fluently, was very honest, and always ready to help," his colleagues at the Academy remember.

Photo: Alexander Kaljaninov (facebook.com/flightacademyNAU)

Aviation Accident in Kazakhstan

On the morning of December 25, the Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft was flying from Baku to Grozny. However, it was unable to land in the Russian city. The plane turned towards the Kazakh city of Aktau, where it crashed.

It later became known that the aircraft was shot down by Russian air defense near Grozny and was denied landing rights in the RF territory.

All details of the incident can be found in the RBK-Ukraine article.