What happened
On the scheduled flight Z92100 from Almaty Airport to Astana-Nursultan Nazarbayev Airport, a Fokker 100 operated by Beck Air JSC was performing its takeoff roll on runway 05R. The aircraft was carrying 93 passengers and five crew members. During the takeoff sequence, with flaps set to zero, the crew initiated rotation at a speed of 148 knots. Shortly after liftoff, the aircraft experienced lateral instability, rolling 5 degrees to the right and then 19 degrees to the left without any corresponding increase in airspeed.
After reaching an altitude of approximately 20 feet, the plane began to descend and the tail struck the runway surface. The aircraft continued to move on its main landing gear for roughly 15 seconds with the nose gear elevated. Although the aircraft briefly regained flight at 138 knots and the crew retracted the landing gear, the plane subsequently lost speed to 130 knots and veered right. This resulted in a belly landing where the aircraft slid for approximately 850 meters, breached the airport perimeter fence, and struck a two-story house located near the airfield boundary.
The impact caused significant damage, destroying the aircraft without resulting in a post-crash fire. Among the occupants, 12 fatalities were recorded, including the captain, while 47 injuries were reported. The remaining 39 people on board escaped without harm.
Findings
Investigations determined that the primary cause of the accident was an asymmetrical loss of wing lift during the takeoff phase. This phenomenon was attributed to the likely presence of ground icing on the aircraft surfaces.
Several contributing factors were identified:
- The crew failed to perform a sufficiently thorough inspection of the aircraft, specifically regarding the leading edge of the wings, despite the known meteorological conditions at Almaty.
- Deficiencies in the Flight Safety Management System (FMS) of Beck Air JSC meant that safety protocols were too general and lacked the specific actionable steps required to identify and mitigate such risks.
- The severity of the casualties was increased by the impact with a private residential structure following the breach of the airport fence.