What happened
A charter flight traveling from Nizhnevartovsk to Bugulseb, transporting 37 oil company employees and 4 crew members, crashed during its final approach. Upon arrival, the aircraft encountered challenging weather characterized by low visibility of 800 metres, cloud bases at 80 metres, and active icing conditions. As the flight descended through 1,100 metres, the crew encountered icing but chose not to engage the deicing equipment. During further descent to 900 metres, an icing alarm alerted the cockpit, yet the captain elected to proceed with the approach.
While configuring the aircraft by extending the flaps to 30 degrees, the plane became unstable and drifted right of the approach path. Air traffic control instructed the crew to perform a go-around. During this maneuver, as engine power was increased, the aircraft entered a high angle of attack, leading to a stall and a steep nose-down pitch of approximately 75 to 80 degrees. The aircraft type impacted the ground at a speed of 260 km/h, roughly 802 metres before reaching the runway. The wreckage was located 598 metres right of the runway centerline. There were 41 fatalities in the accident.
Findings
Investigations revealed that the crew failed to properly assess the severity of the weather and icing conditions. Specifically, significant frost accumulation—measuring up to 15 millimetres—was found on the stabilizers. Several operational errors contributed to the crash:
- The decision to continue the approach after the icing alarm sounded.
- Failure to activate deicing systems before entering clouds.
- Extending flaps to 30 degrees without inspecting wing and stabilizer surfaces, which is unsafe in icing conditions where a maximum of 15 degrees is recommended.
- Failure to retract the flaps during the go-around maneuver, which induced the high angle of attack and subsequent stall.
- Inadequate crew resource management, including poor communication, lack of mutual monitoring, and insufficient supervision.