Incident
On its first commercial flight, an An-124-100 aircraft was returning to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, after a ferry flight from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The aircraft carried three passengers and 14 crew members and was scheduled to make a fuel stop at Kerman, Iran.
Approach and Deviation
While in a holding pattern on approach to Kerman, the crew transmitted conflicting position information to air traffic control. The crew failed to follow the flight track in the holding pattern, resulting in a deviation 47 kilometers north of the prescribed route. Cleared to descend from 8,200 meters to 5,200 meters for runway 34 in limited visibility, the crew instead followed an opposite route. After passing over the airfield, the crew began descending from 3,300 meters but did not complete a standard turn, departing the approach path and flying toward the mountains, reaching an altitude of 4,100 meters and deviating 43.5 kilometers south of the airport.
Collision
Four minutes later, while executing a left turn to rejoin the approach path at an unsafe altitude, the radio altimeter sounded in the cockpit. At a speed of approximately 385 km/h, the aircraft collided with Mount Jupar, which has an elevation of 3,400 meters and lies about 37 kilometers southeast of Kerman Airport. The aircraft disintegrated on impact, and all 17 occupants were killed.
Investigation Findings
The official investigation identified several factors contributing to the accident. The crew erroneously decided to execute the ALMEK-1A approach scheme as proposed by the Kerman aerodrome controller, which violated the meteorological minimum. The crew also made a mistake in determining their position, reporting they were following the VOR Kerman while actually moving away from it. They failed to maintain the required speed and flight time for the scheme. It is presumed that the crew did not use the airborne radar in mountain mode and were misled by a 180° pointer indication of the VOR bearing on the navigation display. Additionally, the crew had experienced a gap of more than one year in flights on the An-124-100 under multi-crew (MVL) operations. The Kerman ATC did not respond to conflicting crew messages transmitted nine seconds apart ("our distance is 20 miles" and "standing in the area above Kerman") and offered the crew an approach pattern with a violation of the minimum.