What happened
Following the completion of a maintenance program in Chişinău, an aircraft was being ferried to Khartoum, with a scheduled stop in Antalya. The flight was carrying a crew of four and four passengers, along with a cargo load of approximately 2 tons of oil and various pieces of equipment.
During the initial climb phase after departure, the crew notified Air Traffic Control that the aircraft's transponder had failed. In response to this technical issue, the crew was authorized to perform an immediate return to the airport. While attempting the final approach, the aircraft descended too low and struck an ILS antenna. The impact caused the aircraft to crash into a field located roughly 200 meters before the runway threshold. A post-crash fire broke out, leading to the total destruction of the aircraft type/model.
Findings
- The aircraft was operating in an emergency return state due to a transponder failure.
- The aircraft struck an antenna during the final approach phase.
- All 8 fatalities occurred as a result of the impact and subsequent fire.