What happened
During a night arrival at Dubai International Airport from Moscow, the flight crew engaged in a non-standard operational procedure. To facilitate an earlier deployment of the flaps before the landing gear was extended, the captain instructed that the landing gear circuit breaker be deactivated. Following this action, the crew failed to reactivate the circuit breaker to restore power to the gear system.
As the aircraft continued its approach, the flight engineer performed the necessary checklists but erroneously verified that the landing gear was in the down position. The captain proceeded with the landing sequence without performing a secondary verification of the gear status. Consequently, the aircraft type (unspecified model) impacted the runway on its belly. The impact caused the aircraft to slide for several dozen meters, leading to fires in the number 2 and number 3 engines, as well as a fire in the rear cargo area. All 321 occupants were successfully evacuated from the aircraft, though the airframe sustained damage beyond repair.
Findings
Investigation into the incident identified that the primary cause was a failure to reactivate the landing gear circuit breaker following a manual override. This error was compounded by a checklist error in which the flight engineer incorrectly confirmed the gear was locked down, and a lack of subsequent verification by the captain during the final approach phase.