Overview
On 19 March 2016, Flydubai Flight 981 (FZ981/FDB981), a scheduled international passenger flight from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to Rostov-on-Don, Russia, crashed during a go-around. All 62 passengers and crew on board died. The aircraft was a five-year-old Boeing 737-8KN, registered as A6-FDN, with manufacturer serial number 40241. It was powered by two CFM International CFM56-7B27 engines. The plane first flew on 21 December 2010 and was delivered to Flydubai on 24 January 2011. A C-grade maintenance check was completed on 21 January 2016. The aircraft carried enough fuel for 8.5 hours of flight and had been flying for six hours before the crash.
Flight Sequence
Flight 981 occurred at night. The weather at Rostov-on-Don was poor, with a cloud base at 630 meters (2,070 ft), light rain showers, haze, and wind from 230 degrees at 13 m/s (25 kn; 47 km/h; 29 mph), gusting to 18 m/s (35 kn; 65 km/h; 40 mph). The flight aborted its first landing attempt and entered a holding pattern for nearly two hours. After a second landing attempt, the aircraft again aborted, climbed sharply during the go-around procedure, then descended rapidly and crashed onto the runway.
Background
Airline
Flydubai is an Emirati state-owned low-cost carrier headquartered in Dubai. Its chairman, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, also chairs Dubai-based Emirates. Flydubai was founded and began operations in 2009, expanding rapidly. At the time of the crash, it flew to over 100 destinations, including 11 in Russia, with an all-Boeing 737-800 fleet. The Rostov-on-Don service launched in September 2013 with two weekly flights. The airline had no prior fatal accidents and had passed the IATA safety audit in 2015; days before the crash, it became an official IATA member. Following the crash, Flydubai pilots raised concerns about duty-related fatigue. One pilot told BBC News that staff had insufficient rest between shifts and that senior management responded, "we don't have a fatigue issue at Flydubai." Another employee estimated that most of the 25 pilots (out of 600) who resigned in 2016 did so due to "fatigue, rosters and quality of life." Some pilots believed an accident was inevitable. Flydubai stated they could not disclose confidential employee information.
Aircraft
The Boeing 737-8KN (A6-FDN) was five years old. Its first flight was 21 December 2010, and it was delivered to Flydubai on 24 January 2011. The aircraft had completed a C-grade maintenance check on 21 January 2016.
Flight Crew
Captain Aristos Sokratous, 37, from Cyprus, had over 6,000 total flying hours, including 4,905 hours on the Boeing 737. He was promoted to captain a year and a half before the crash. He intended to leave Flydubai for a job at Ryanair to return to his family in Cyprus; his wife was due to give birth weeks after the crash. Several Flydubai staff said Sokratous decided to leave mainly due to fatigue and lifestyle issues, and Flight 981 was one of his last flights. First Officer Alejandro Álava Cruz, 36, from Spain, had over 5,700 flying hours, with 1,100 on the Boeing 737. He joined Flydubai in 2013, having previously flown for Binter Canarias and NAYSA in the Canary Islands. According to the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) final report, the accident flight was both pilots' first flight to Rostov. The captain had experience at other Russian airports, but the first officer did not.