Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363

Last updated

Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363
Boeing 737-53A, Tatarstan Airlines JP7127704.jpg
VQ-BBN, the aircraft involved in the accident, photographed in 2011
Accident
Date17 November 2013 (2013-11-17)
SummaryCrashed during aborted landing due to spatial disorientation and pilot error
Site Kazan International Airport, Kazan, Russia
55°36′32″N49°16′37″E / 55.60889°N 49.27694°E / 55.60889; 49.27694
Aircraft
Aircraft type Boeing 737-53A
Operator Tatarstan Airlines
IATA flight No.U9363
ICAO flight No.TAK363
Call signTATARSTAN 363
Registration VQ-BBN
Flight origin Domodedovo International Airport, Moscow, Russia
Destination Kazan International Airport, Kazan, Russia
Occupants50
Passengers44
Crew6
Fatalities50
Survivors0

Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight, operated by Tatarstan Airlines on behalf of Ak Bars Aero, from Moscow to Kazan, Russia. On 17 November 2013, at 19:24 local time (UTC+4), the Boeing 737-500 crashed during an aborted landing at Kazan International Airport, killing all 44 passengers and 6 crew members on board, making it 2013's worst plane crash. [1] [2]

Contents

According to the official investigation report by the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), the crash was a result of pilot error, arising from a lack of skill to recover from an excessive nose-up attitude during a go-around procedure. The pilots' deficiencies were caused by a problem with the airline's safety management and a lack of regulatory oversight. One member of the commission filed an alternative opinion report, however, claiming that the commission had ignored the possible malfunction of the aircraft's elevator controls. [3]

Accident

Crash profile Tatarstan-Boeing737-500-Kazan2013-scheme.png
Crash profile

Flight 363 took off from Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow at 6:25 p.m. local time, destined for Kazan International Airport, some 800 kilometres (500 mi; 430 nmi) east of Moscow. [4]

While on final approach to Kazan International Airport, the crew initiated a go-around due to an unstable approach but crashed onto the runway in a 75-degree-nose-down attitude, at a speed of 242 knots (448 km/h; 278 mph) moments later and exploded upon impact with the ground. [5] A second explosion occurred 40 seconds after impact. One of the airport's surveillance cameras caught the crash on video. All 44 passengers and 6 crew members were killed; there were no casualties on the ground. High winds and cloudy conditions were reported at the airport at the time of the crash. [6] [7]

The Kazan International Airport was kept closed for about 24 hours, serving only transit flights, before it was fully reopened on 18 November. [5] [8]

Aircraft

The Boeing 737-53A, registration number VQ-BBN, had been in service for more than 23 years. It had been operated by seven airlines. [9] Owned by AWAS from its manufacture (Boeing customer code 3A represents AWAS), it was leased to Euralair (1990 to 1992, registered F-GGML), Air France (1992 to 1995, still as F-GGML), Uganda Airlines (1995 to 1999, registered 5X-USM), Rio Sul (2000 to 2005, registered PT-SSI), Blue Air (2005 to 2008, registered YR-BAB), Bulgaria Air (several months in 2008, registered LZ-BOY), and Tatarstan Airlines (late 2008 until it crashed). [9] [10]

The airframe had been involved in two prior incidents:

  1. While in service with Rio Sul, on 17 December 2001, the aircraft crashed about 70 metres (230 ft) short of the runway while landing at Tancredo Neves International Airport under adverse weather conditions, damaging its landing gear. All 108 passengers and crew on board survived. [11] [12]
  2. On 26 November 2012, the aircraft made an emergency landing in Kazan due to problems with cabin depressurization shortly after takeoff. [13]

Crew

The captain was 47-year-old Rustem Gabdrakhmanovich Salikhov, who had been with the airline since 1992. He had 2,755 flight hours, including 2,509 hours on the Boeing 737. The first officer was Viktor Nikiforovich Gutsul, who was also 47. He had been with the airline since 2008 and had 2,093 flight hours, with 1,943 of them on the Boeing 737. [14] [15] [ additional citation(s) needed ]

Victims

NationalityPassengersCrewTotal
Russia42648
United Kingdom101
Ukraine101
Total44650

The full list of the passengers and crew was published by the Ministry of Emergency Situations. One of the victims was Irek Minnikhanov, the son of the incumbent President of the Republic of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov. [16]

Investigation

Crash site of Flight 363 Tatarstan Airlines 363 crash site.jpg
Crash site of Flight 363

The IAC launched an investigation into the crash and arrived at the site on 18 November. Both flight recorders, the flight data recorder (FDR) and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), were recovered from the wreckage. [17] The Tatarstan Transport Prosecution Office has opened a criminal investigation into the crash. [5] The American National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) dispatched a team of investigators to the crash site. [18]

On 19 November, Aksan Giniyatullin, the director of Tatarstan Airlines, declared that although the cockpit crew was experienced, the captain of the airliner may have lacked experience performing a go-around maneuver. Moments before the crash the pilot informed the control tower that the aircraft was not properly configured for landing and initiated a go-around, before plunging into the ground as if it had stalled. Investigators said the possible causes of the accident included technical malfunction as well as pilot error. [19]

On 22 November, the British Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) announced they had joined the investigation and had dispatched investigators to Kazan. [20]

Official reports

According to the criminal case report, released 14 November 2019 by the Investigative Committee of Russia, the investigation determined that crash was a direct result of erroneous actions on the part of the captain (Salikhov) and the first officer (Gutsul). Based on information obtained during the investigation, Salikhov was lacking sufficient piloting skills and was granted piloting on a basis of falsified documents. [21]

On 19 November 2013, the Investigation Board of the IAC reported the following preliminary details after recovering some information from the flight data recorder: [22] [23]

Tatarstan Airlines Boeing 737-500 Accident Technical Investigation Board of IAC informs about preliminary results of flight data recorder information recovery.

During the final approach, the flight crew were unable to follow a standard landing pattern defined by the regulating documentation. Having realized the aircraft was not lined-up properly relative to the runway, the crew reported to the ATC and started to go-around using the TOGA (take off / go around) mode. One of the two autopilots, which was active during the final approach, had been switched off and the flight was being controlled manually.

The engines reached thrust level close to full. The crew retracted the flaps from 30 degrees to 15 degrees position.

Affected by the upturn moment generated by the engine thrust, the aircraft started to climb, reaching the pitch angle of about 25 degrees. Indicated airspeed started to decrease. The crew retracted the landing gear. Since initiating the go-around maneuver up to this moment, the crew did not perform control actions through the yoke.

After the airspeed decreased from 150 to 125 knots (278 to 232 km/h; 173 to 144 mph), the crew started control actions through the yoke, pitching the nose down, which led to stopping the climb then starting descent and increasing the airspeed. Maximum angles of attack have not exceeded operational limits during the flight.

After reaching the altitude of 700 metres (2,300 ft), the aircraft started a steep nosedive, with the pitch angle reaching −75° by the end of the flight (end of the recording).

The aircraft collided with terrain at high speed (exceeding 450 km/h (240 kn; 280 mph)) and with highly negative pitch angle.

About 45 seconds have passed between the moment of starting go-around maneuver and the moment the recording stopped, the descent took about 20 seconds.

The propulsion systems were operating up to the collision with terrain. No single commands have been detected by the preliminary analysis, which would indicate failures of systems or units of the aircraft or engines.

Final report

On 24 December 2015, the IAC released their final report stating that the crash was caused by an under-qualified crew who lacked the skills to recover from an excessive nose up attitude during a go-around procedure. The go-around was necessitated by a positional error in the navigation system, a map drift. The pilots' deficiencies were caused by lack of airline safety management and lack of regulators' oversight. [24] [14] [25]

According to the final report, during the final approach the crew initiated a go-around, but being under high workload, which possibly caused a "tunnel vision effect", they did not perceive warning messages related to auto-pilot disconnection. When the plane climbed to 700 m, its pitch angle reached 25 degrees and the airspeed dropped to 230 km/h. At that moment the captain, who had not performed a go-around outside of training, moved the yoke, pitching nose down, which led to stopping climb and started a descent and increase of the aircraft's airspeed. After reaching the altitude of 700 m, the aircraft started a steep nosedive, with the pitch angle reaching −75° when the aircraft impacted the ground. The plane crashed on the airport's runway with a speed exceeding 450 km/h. The time from the start of the go-around maneuver until the impact was about 45 seconds, including 20 seconds of aircraft descent. [14]

Alternative opinion report

Nikolay Studenikin, the official representative of the Rosaviatsiya in the air accident investigation commission, filed an alternative opinion report, in which he expressed his disagreement with the conclusions of the commission. [3]

In it he stated that the IAC commission concentrated the investigation on the search of the shortcomings in the flight crew training in Russia, and that no direct connection between such shortcomings and the Flight 363 crash was actually established. He also criticized, that the investigation into the possible malfunction of the aircraft's elevators' controls was entrusted to their manufacturer, the US-based Parker Aerospace, which ruled that their controls operated normally during the accident. According to Studenikin, a flight simulation of the crashed flight, which was conducted on the Boeing facilities, was aimed only on proving the crew's fault and didn't simulate a possible mechanical failure in the Boeing aircraft. [3]

Aircraft certificate suspension

Rosaviatsiya refused to accept the results of the IAC's Flight 363 accident investigation, citing their concern over the Boeing 737's elevators' controls. [26] IAC suggested that the position by Rosaviatsiya was caused by their reluctance to accept the shortcomings of Rosaviatsiya's regulatory oversight of pilot training in Russia, which was revealed in the report. On 4 November 2015, IAC unexpectedly announced the suspension of Boeing 737 flying certificates in Russia, explaining it by Rosaviatsiya's refusal to accept the absence of safety issues with 737 elevator controls. [27]

With the Boeing 737 being a work-horse of several Russian airlines, the suspension meant that within days the significant part of the country's passenger fleet could be grounded for an uncertain period of time. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian President, said that Kremlin was aware of the IAC decision to suspend Boeing 737 operation in Russia and believed that the specialized agencies and the Cabinet would make the necessary analysis of the situation. [27] Ministry of Transport said that only six out of 150 Boeing 737 aircraft in Russia have the certificates issued by IAC, the rest got their certificates in other countries and thus IAC has no right to suspend them. [26] Rosaviatsiya announced that the IAC had no right to ban any Boeing 737 operation in Russia, as such a decision could be made only by the federal executive bodies. [27] It called an emergency meeting to discuss the future of Boeing 737 in Russia with the participation of Ministry of Transport, Rostransnadzor, airline representatives and a Boeing representative in Russia, but IAC refused to attend it. [26] The next day the IAC withdrew its suspension of Boeing 737 certificates. [26]

On 10 December 2015, the IAC met and officially accepted its Flight 363 final accident investigation report. [28] Rosaviatsiya and Studenikin refused to participate in this meeting or provide their approval for the report. [28]

Aftermath

In early December 2013, Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency recommended that the airline's certificate should be revoked. [29] [30] [31] The revocation was announced on 31 December 2013, and the company's aircraft were transferred to Ak Bars Aero. [32]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aviation accidents and incidents</span> Aviation occurrence involving serious injury, death, or destruction of aircraft

An aviation accident is defined by the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place from the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight until all such persons have disembarked, and in which (a) a person is fatally or seriously injured, (b) the aircraft sustains significant damage or structural failure, or (c) the aircraft goes missing or becomes completely inaccessible. Annex 13 defines an aviation incident as an occurrence, other than an accident, associated with the operation of an aircraft that affects or could affect the safety of operation.

PT Lion Mentari Airlines, operating as Lion Air, is an Indonesian low-cost airline. Based in Jakarta, Lion Air is the country's largest privately run airline, the second largest low-cost airline in Southeast Asia and the largest airline of Indonesia. With Wings Air and Batik Air, Lion Group is the country's largest airline's group. The airline operates domestic as well as international routes, which connects different destinations of Indonesia to Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, India, Japan and Saudi Arabia, as well as charter routes to Mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Macau, with more than 630 flights per day.

Tatarstan Airlines was the regional airline of the Republic of Tatarstan, part of the Russian Federation. It was based at Kazan Airport in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia and operated from 1993 until 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bellview Airlines Flight 210</span> 2005 aviation accident

Bellview Airlines Flight 210 was a scheduled Nigerian domestic passenger flight of a Boeing 737-200 airliner from Lagos to Abuja, operated by Lagos-based Bellview Airlines. On 22 October 2005, the aircraft nose-dived and crashed at high speed just a few minutes after take-off, killing all 117 people on board.

Utair is a Russian airline with its head office at Khanty-Mansiysk Airport while its hubs are at Surgut International Airport and Vnukovo International Airport. It operates scheduled domestic and some international passenger services, scheduled helicopter services, and extensive charter flights with fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters in support of the oil and gas industry across western Siberia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907</span> 2006 mid-air plane collision in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil

Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Manaus, Brazil, to Brasília and Rio de Janeiro. On 29 September 2006, the Boeing 737-800 operating the flight collided with an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet over the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. The winglet-equipped wingtip of the Legacy sliced off about half of the 737's left wing, causing the 737 to break up in midair and crash into an area of dense jungle, killing all 154 passengers and crew. Despite sustaining serious damage to its left wing and tail, the Legacy landed with its seven occupants uninjured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kazan International Airport</span> Airport in Russia

Kazan International Airport is an airport in Russia, around 25 km southeast of Kazan. It is the largest airport in Tatarstan, and the 15th-busiest airport in Russia. The Kazan International Airport serves the nearly 3.8 million citizens of the region.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 2007.

Flydubai, legally Dubai Aviation Corporation, is an Emirati government-owned low-cost airline in Dubai, United Arab Emirates with its head office and flight operations in Terminal 2 of Dubai International Airport, had intentions to operate from the new Al-Maktoum International Airport in the Dubai World Centre in Jebel Ali.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 6895</span> 2008 aviation accident

Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 6895, was a Boeing 737-200, registered as EX-009, operating a charter flight operated by Itek Air on behalf of Iran Aseman Airlines which crashed on 24 August 2008 near Manas International Airport in Kyrgyzstan while en route to Imam Khomeini International Airport, Tehran, Iran. It crashed while returning to the airport of origin after experiencing technical difficulties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aeroflot Flight 821</span> 2008 Boeing 737-500 crash in Russia

Aeroflot Flight 821 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by Aeroflot-Nord in a service agreement with Aeroflot and as its subsidiary. On 14 September 2008, the aircraft operating the flight crashed on approach to Perm International Airport at 5:10 local time (UTC+06). All 82 passengers and six crew members were killed. Among the passengers who were killed was Russian Colonel General Gennady Troshev, an adviser to the President of Russia who had been the commander of the North Caucasus Military District during the Second Chechen War. A section of the Trans-Siberian Railway was damaged by the crash. Flight 821 is the deadliest accident involving a Boeing 737-500, surpassing the 1993 crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 733, and was the second-deadliest aviation incident in 2008, behind Spanair Flight 5022.

Trigana Air is an airline based in Jakarta, Indonesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flydubai Flight 981</span> March 2016 aircraft crash in Rostov-on-Don, Russia

Flydubai Flight 981 (FZ981/FDB981) was a scheduled international passenger flight from Dubai, United Arab Emirates to Rostov-on-Don, Russia. On 19 March 2016, the Boeing 737-800 aircraft serving the flight crashed during a go-around, killing all 62 passengers and crew on board. The plane crash is known as the Rostov Airport disaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turkish Airlines Flight 6491</span> 2017 Cargo airliner crash in Kyrgyzstan

Turkish Airlines Flight 6491 was a scheduled international cargo flight operated by ACT Airlines on behalf of Turkish Cargo, from Hong Kong to Istanbul via Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. On 16 January 2017, the Boeing 747-400F flying the route crashed in a residential area while attempting to land in thick fog at Manas International Airport, Bishkek. A total of 39 people – all four crew members on board and 35 residents on the ground – were killed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saratov Airlines Flight 703</span> 2018 airliner crash in Stepanovskoye, Russia

Saratov Airlines Flight 703 was a domestic passenger flight from Moscow Domodedovo Airport to Orsk Airport in Russia. On 11 February 2018, the aircraft serving the flight, an Antonov An-148-100B, crashed shortly after take-off, killing all 71 people on board – 65 passengers and six crew members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UTair Flight 579</span> Aircraft accident in Russia, September 2018

On September 1, 2018, UTair Flight 579, a Boeing 737-800 on a scheduled domestic flight from Moscow to Sochi, Russia, with 164 passengers and 6 crew, overran the runway and caught fire while landing at Sochi, injuring 18 occupants. One airport employee died of a heart attack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aeroflot Flight 1492</span> Aviation accident in Moscow on 5 May 2019

Aeroflot Flight 1492 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by Aeroflot from Moscow–Sheremetyevo to Murmansk, Russia. On 5 May 2019, the Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft operating the flight was climbing out when it was struck by lightning. The aircraft suffered an electrical failure and returned to Sheremetyevo for an emergency landing. It bounced on landing and touched down hard, causing the landing gear to collapse, fuel to spill out of the wings, and a fire to erupt. The fire engulfed the rear of the aircraft, killing 41 of the 78 occupants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ural Airlines Flight 178</span> 2019 aviation incident

Ural Airlines Flight 178 was a scheduled passenger flight from Moscow–Zhukovsky to Simferopol, Crimea. On 15 August 2019, the Airbus A321 operating the flight carried 226 passengers and seven crew. The flight suffered a bird strike after taking off from Zhukovsky and crash landed in a cornfield, 5 kilometres away from the airport. All on board survived; 74 people sustained injuries, but none were severe.

References

  1. "'Dozens dead' in Russian plane crash". BBC News. 17 November 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
  2. "Russian airline crashes in Kazan, killing dozens". CBS News . 17 November 2013. Archived from the original on 17 November 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 Studenikin, Nikolay. Особое мнение представителя Росавиации [Alternative opinion of the Rosaviatsiya representative](PDF) (in Russian). Interstate Aviation Committee . Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  4. Busvine, Douglas; de Carbonnel, Alissa (17 November 2013). "Boeing airliner crashes in Russia, 50 killed". Reuters. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 Hradecky, Simon (17 November 2013). "Crash: Tatarstan B735 at Kazan on Nov 17th 2013, crashed on landing". avherald.com. The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
  6. "Dozens Killed As Plane Crash Lands in Russia". Sky News. 17 November 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
  7. "Boeing 737 crashes in Russian city of Kazan, 50 killed". Toronto Sun. 17 November 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
  8. В Казани разбился самолет [The plane crashed in Kazan]. Interfax (in Russian). 17 November 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
  9. 1 2 "Boeing 737 – MSN 24785 – VQ-BBN". airfleets.net. Airfleets aviation. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
  10. "VQ-BBN Tatarstan Air Boeing 737-500". www.planespotters.net. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  11. Ranter, Harro. "Accident description". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network . Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  12. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737-53A PT-SSI Belo Horizonte-Tancredo Neves International Airport, MG (CNF)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  13. "Incident: Tatarstan B735 near Kazan on Nov 26th 2012, loss of cabin pressure". avherald.com. The Aviation Herald. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  14. 1 2 3 "Final Report, Boeing 737-500 (53A) VQ-BBN [English translation]" (PDF). Interstate Aviation Committee. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  15. "Russia blames fatal plane crash on pilots, including one who lied to get license". Reuters. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  16. Авиакатастрофа в Казани: опубликован список 50 погибших [Plane crash in Kazan: published a list of 50 dead]. ITAR TASS (in Russian). 17 November 2013.
  17. "Both recorders retrieved from Kazan 737 crash site" . Flightglobal. 18 November 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  18. "US, Boeing Officials to Travel to Russia After Kazan Plane Crash". RIA Novosti. Rossiya Segodnya. 18 November 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  19. "Kazan Crash Pilot Had No Missed Approach Experience". Sputnik International. Moscow. Ria Novosti. 19 November 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  20. "The AAIB has sent a team to participate in an investigation in Kazan, Russia". aaib.gov.uk. Air Accidents Investigation Branch. Archived from the original on 22 November 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  21. "Investigation into crash of Boeing 737-500 in Kazan finished". sledcom.ru. Investigative Committee of Russia. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  22. "Боинг 737-500 VQ-BBN 17.11.2013" [Boeing 737-500 VQ-BBN 17.11.2013]. mak-iac.org (in Russian). Interstate Aviation Committee. 14 November 2019. Archived from the original on 13 October 2015.
  23. "Boeing 737-500 VQ-BBN 17.11.2013 [English translation]". mak-iac.org. Interstate Aviation Committee. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  24. "Final report" (PDF) (in Russian). Interstate Aviation Committee. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 March 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  25. Hradecky, Simon. "Crash: Tatarstan B735 at Kazan on Nov 17th 2013, crashed on go-around". avherald.com. The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  26. 1 2 3 4 "Росавиация отбила атаку МАК: Boeing-737 будут летать в России" [Rosaviation repulsed the IAC attack: Boeing 737 will fly in Russia]. BBC Russian Service (in Russian). 6 November 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  27. 1 2 3 "МАК заявил о приостановке сертификатов на Boeing-737" [IAC announced the suspension of the Boeing 737 certificates]. BBC Russian Service (in Russian). 5 November 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  28. 1 2 Протокол итогового заседания комиссии по расследованию [Protocol of the final meeting of the investigation committee](PDF) (in Russian). Interstate Aviation Committee. 10 December 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  29. Kaminski-Morrow, David (5 December 2013). "Tatarstan Airlines faces threat of grounding". Flightglobal . Archived from the original on 5 December 2013.
  30. Borodina, Polina (4 December 2013). "Rosaviatsia commission recommends revoking Tatarstan AOC". Air Transport World . Archived from the original on 4 December 2013.
  31. Borodina, Polina (23 December 2013). "Russia to revoke Tatarstan AOC". Air Transport World . Archived from the original on 23 December 2013.
  32. Авиакомпания "Татарстан" лишилась сертификата эксплуатанта [Airline "Tatarstan" lost operator certificate]. Kommersant (in Russian). 31 December 2013.