Fatal Approach Error During Scheduled Flight to Vladivostok (RA-85845)

Flight Overview and Approach Sequence The aircraft departed Yekaterinburg Airport at 1947LT on scheduled flight XF352 to Vladivostok, with an intermediate stop at Irkutsk. It climbed to 10,100 metres and began descent to Irkutsk International Airport at 0150LT, with the copilot serving as pilot-in-command. At 0205LT, the crew reported 2,100 metres with the runway in sight, but the airspeed was 540 km/h, exceeding the 400 km/h limit for lowering the landing gear. ## Loss of Control and Crash At 0206:56, the aircraft leveled off at 900 metres at 420 km/h. After the first officer requested gear down, speed fell to 395 km/h with engines at idle. Once the gear was down and locked, the aircraft entered a left bank of 20–23°. Speed dropped to 365 km/h, below the recommended 370 km/h, and power was added slowly, barely maintaining 850 metres at 355–360 km/h. At 0207:46, while still turning left, the angle of attack rose to 16.5° as the autopilot attempted to maintain altitude with decreasing speed. An aural warning sounded. The first officer corrected using the control column and disconnected the autopilot, but deflected the column left, increasing the bank to -30° to -44°, then -48°. In a nose-down attitude, speed rose to 400 km/h before the aircraft entered clouds. ## Night Conditions and Final Phase In darkness, the crew lost visual contact with the ground and could not see the natural horizon. The captain took over controls but alternately deflected the steering wheel left and right. A sharp right deflection produced a positive angular acceleration of +4.4° per second, prompting a left correction. The first officer then recognized a severe left bank of -45° and indicated a right roll was needed. As the vertical descent rate increased by 20 metres per second, a crew member pulled the control column. The aircraft pitched up rapidly, stalled, and entered a flat spin before crashing into an open field 22 seconds later. The aircraft was totally destroyed by impact forces and a post-crash fire, killing all 145 occupants.