Night Approach Accident at Tashkent-Yuzhny Airport (UK-87985)

Flight and Approach Conditions After an uneventful flight from Termez, the crew began a night descent to Tashkent-Yuzhny Airport under marginal weather conditions. Fog limited visibility, with runway visual range (RVR) for runway 08L between 600 and 900 metres. The captain continued the approach with an excessive rate of descent, causing the aircraft to pass below the minimum descent altitude (MDA) without visual contact with the ground. At an altitude of 165–170 metres, the captain levelled the aircraft and continued descending at a distance of 2 km from the runway threshold, but this time with an insufficient rate of descent. The aircraft crossed the runway threshold at about 30–40 metres and flew over the runway for 3.3 km. The captain established visual contact with the runway lights and elected to land, but did not realize he was approaching the end of the 4 km runway. He reduced both engines to idle, activated thrust reversers upon realizing the error, and attempted a go-around. The aircraft struck a 2-metre-high concrete wall located 260 metres past the runway end, lost its right wing, and crashed into a drainage ditch along the perimeter fence, bursting into flames. The aircraft was totally destroyed, and all 37 occupants were killed, including Richard Conroy, special UNO representative in Uzbekistan.