Event Details
During a flight from Perm, the crew began their descent to Sovetskiy Airport. They were advised that the weather at the destination included a ceiling of 80 meters and horizontal visibility of 2 kilometers, both below the established minimums. Despite these conditions, the decision was made to continue the approach, and the aircraft descended below the minimum descent altitude, likely in an attempt to establish visual contact with the ground.
On short final, the aircraft struck tree tops at a height of 25 meters. It then banked to the right and crashed into a wooded area located 700 meters short of runway 30 and approximately 250 meters to the right of the extended centerline. The impact was followed by a fire.
Aftermath
Eight passengers were rescued from the wreckage, while 32 other occupants were killed.
Findings
The official investigation determined that the probable cause of the accident was a wrong approach configuration by the flight crew, who decided to continue the approach in weather conditions below minimums and passed the minimum descent altitude until the aircraft contacted trees and crashed.
Contributing factors included:
- Poor approach planning
- Unsatisfactory crew interactions
- Poor distribution of tasks among the flight crew
- Violation of minimums
- The crew decided to continue the approach after passing the minimum descent altitude
- The crew failed to initiate a go-around procedure