What happened
During the takeoff roll, the crew attempted to depart from a runway covered in a layer of wet snow. As the aircraft reached the end of the available runway surface, it made contact with two vehicles operating on the airport grounds. Following this collision, the aircraft's nose pitched downward, leading to a crash into a vehicle maintenance workshop situated near the airfield. The impact caused the aircraft to burst into flames. There were nine fatalities among the occupants of the aircraft.
Findings
Investigations into the accident highlighted several critical errors regarding operational decisions and runway maintenance. The runway surface was found to be contaminated with snow that was thicker than the maximum allowable limit for safe operations. Additionally, the crew proceeded with the takeoff despite experiencing a tailwind of 21 km/h, a factor that rendered the remaining runway length inadequate for the flight conditions.
Contributing factors included the failure of airport authorities to sufficiently clear the runway of snow and the crew's failure to abort the takeoff sequence in a timely manner. Ultimately, the accident was attributed to inadequate flight preparation and poor decision-making by both the flight crew and airport personnel.