What happened
During a nighttime arrival from Termez, the crew began their descent toward Tashkent-Yuzhny Airport under challenging weather conditions characterized by heavy fog. At the time, runway 08L had a reported visibility between 600 and 900 meters. During the approach, the pilot maintained an excessive rate of descent that caused the aircraft type to drop below the minimum descent altitude without visual contact with the terrain.
At an altitude of approximately 165 to 170 meters, the pilot leveled the aircraft's attitude but continued descending at a much slower rate. The plane crossed the runway threshold at an elevation of roughly 30 to 40 meters and traveled 3.3 km down the runway. Although the pilot eventually spotted the runway lights and attempted to land, they did not realize the aircraft was approaching the end of the 4 km runway. Upon realizing the imminent danger, the crew reduced engine power to idle and deployed thrust reversers in an attempt to perform a go-around.
However, the aircraft type struck a concrete wall, measuring 2 meters in height, located 260 meters beyond the runway extremity. The impact caused the loss of the right wing, leading the aircraft to crash into a drainage ditch near the perimeter fence, where it caught fire. There were 37 fatalities and no survivors.
Findings
Investigations into the accident highlighted several critical errors made by the crew:
- The crew did not adhere to established approach procedures.
- A potential error in the approach selector setting, possibly utilizing SP mode instead of ILS mode, may have prevented a correct approach pattern.
- The decision was made to proceed with the approach despite failing to establish visual contact with the runway and approach lighting systems.
- The crew failed to execute an appropriate go-around procedure once the error in runway position was identified.