What happened
On February 3, 2005, a Boeing 737-242, registered as EX-0CO37, was operating a scheduled flight from Herat to Kabul under the management of Phoenix Aviation. The aircraft was carrying 97 passengers and 8 crew members. While cruising at flight level 270, the flight crew contacted Bagram Radar Approach Control to request descent for landing.
During the approach phase, air traffic controllers instructed the aircraft to cross the Kabul VOR at or above flight level 130 and provided weather updates indicating visibility of 2 kilometers in snow with a broken ceiling of 2,200 feet. Although the crew reported being at flight level 130 at 1048:44 UTC, this was the final communication received from the aircraft. Shortly thereafter, radar contact was lost.
Search operations were significantly obstructed by an intense snowstorm in the area. Three days later, an ISAF helicopter discovered the wreckage approximately 30 kilometers southeast of Kabul International Airport on the summit of Mt Shapiri Ghar at an altitude of 9,960 feet. The impact with the terrain destroyed the aircraft, and all 105 occupants sustained fatal injuries.
Findings
Investigation results indicated that the aircraft failed to follow the instructed approach procedure and descended below its assigned minimum altitude of 13,000 feet before establishing on an approach segment. The exact reason for this unauthorized descent could not be confirmed because the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were unavailable for analysis.