Crash of a BAe 125-800B in Minsk: 5 killed

Date & Time: Oct 26, 2009 at 2134 LT
Type of aircraft:
Operator:
Registration:
RA-02807
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Moscow - Minsk
MSN:
258076
YOM:
1986
Flight number:
RLS9607
Country:
Region:
Crew on board:
3
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
2
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
5
Captain / Total flying hours:
11926
Captain / Total hours on type:
811.00
Copilot / Total flying hours:
2356
Copilot / Total hours on type:
811
Aircraft flight hours:
12751
Aircraft flight cycles:
7979
Circumstances:
Following an uneventful flight from Moscow-Vnukovo Airport, the crew started a night approach to Minsk-2 Airport runway 31. On approach, the crew encountered poor visibility due to marginal weather. The 'Pull Up' alarm sounded and the captain initiated a go-around procedure. Few minutes later, the crew attempted a second approach to land. At an altitude of about 550 metres, the crew realized he was on the wrong ILS frequency and corrected it. On final, the EGPWS alarm sounded for 35 seconds but the captain decided to continue the approach until the aircraft impacted trees and crashed in a wooded area located 3 km short of runway, bursting into flames. The aircraft was destroyed by a post crash fire and all five occupants were killed.
Probable cause:
The cause of the crash of BAe-125-800B RA-02807 during the ILS approach procedure at night, in weather conditions that met ICAO CAT I, was the failure to take timely action by the crew to carry out a missed approach, or divert to an alternate, when the ground could not be seen while descending below decision height during a transition to visual flight, and the lack of a proper response and action required when the TAWS alarm repeatedly sounded, which led to the collision of the aircraft with obstacles (forest) and land in a controlled flight (CFIT), its destruction and death of people on board.

Contributing factors were:
- Deficiencies in the type of retraining and training of the flight crew, especially in the use of automatic flight modes, and flight director;
- Erroneous actions of the captain, which led to an execution of the approach with the wrong ILS frequency set on the left set;
- Lack of preparation of the commander of the plane for an approach in weather conditions that meet CAT I ICAO.
Values of meteorological conditions in the flight log were in most cases were falsified;
- Poor communication and crew resource management (CRM) of the flightcrew;
- Poor control of the level of training of the crew by the airline's management and lack of organization in the airline's flight operations;
- Psychological characteristics of the pilots, unrecorded in the formation of the crew and, possibly, reduced efficiency of the captain in a stressful situation because of chronic ischemic heart disease with coronary artery problems, which was not detected when passing aviation medical checks.
Final Report:

Crash of a Canadair RegionalJet CRJ-100ER in Yerevan

Date & Time: Feb 14, 2008 at 0415 LT
Operator:
Registration:
EW-101PJ
Flight Phase:
Survivors:
Yes
Schedule:
Yerevan - Minsk
MSN:
7316
YOM:
1999
Flight number:
BRU1834
Country:
Region:
Crew on board:
3
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
18
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
0
Aircraft flight hours:
15563
Aircraft flight cycles:
14352
Circumstances:
A Canadair CRJ100ER passenger jet, operated by Belavia, was destroyed when crashed and burned on takeoff from Yerevan-Zvartnots Airport (EVN), Armenia. All three crew members and eighteen passengers survived the accident. The airplane arrived as flight BRU1833 from Minsk-2 International Airport (MSQ), Belarus at 02:05. Refueling was carried out in preparation for the return flight and the crew conducted the flight planning. After refueling the pilot carried out a tactile and visual inspection of all critical surfaces of the wing and visual inspection of the tail assembly. All the planes were clean and dry. The weather reported for the 04:00 was: wind 110 degrees at the ground 1 m/sec, visibility 3500 meters, haze, small clouds, vertical visibility of 800 meters, scattered clouds at 3000 m, a temperature of minus 3° C, dew point minus 4° C, pressure 1019 hPa. At 04:08 both engines were started. The engine air intake heating (cowl anti-ice) was switched on but the wing anti-icing system was not switched on. The crew taxied to runway 27 and were cleared for departure. During takeoff the airplane progressively banked left until the left wing tip contacted runway. The airplane went off the side with the airplane rolling the right. The right hand wing broke off and spilled fuel caught fire. The airplane came to rest upside down.
Probable cause:
The accident involving aircraft CRJ-100LR registration number EW-101PJ was the result of an asymmetric loss of lift of the wing during take-off, which led to the toppling of the aircraft immediately after liftoff from the runway, the left wing tip contacting the ground, the subsequent destruction and fire. The reason for the loss of lift of the wing at the actual weather conditions, was the formation of frost, which "pollutes" the surface of the wing. The cause of formation of frost, most likely, was the fuel icing, while the aircraft was parked at the airport and during taxiing for the return flight, resulting in a difference in temperature of the surrounding air and cold fuel in the tanks after the flight. The situation could be aggravated when exceeding the values recommended by the operations manual of the angular velocity when lifting the nose wheel during takeoff with "contaminated" wings when it is impossible to monitor this parameter instrumentally. Existing procedural methods of control of the aerodynamic surfaces of the aircraft before departure, along with the inefficiency, during takeoff, the existing system of protection from stalling due to increased sensitivity of the wing, even to a slight contamination of the leading edge, can not fully guarantee the prevention of similar accidents in future. An Airworthiness Directive on the need to include anti-icing systems on the wing in the final stage of taxiing at the actual weather conditions was issued by Transport Canada after the accident. This probably could have prevented the accident.

Crash of a Tupolev TU-134AK in Minsk: 58 killed

Date & Time: Feb 1, 1985 at 0801 LT
Type of aircraft:
Operator:
Registration:
CCCP-65910
Flight Phase:
Survivors:
Yes
Schedule:
Minsk - Leningrad
MSN:
63971
YOM:
1982
Country:
Region:
Crew on board:
6
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
74
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
58
Aircraft flight hours:
685
Aircraft flight cycles:
448
Circumstances:
Six seconds after takeoff from runway 13 at Minsk-2 Airport, while climbing to a height of 35 meters and a speed of 325 km/h, the left engine lost power and failed. The crew continued to climb to a height of 220 meters, still at a speed of 325 km/h, when the right engine lost power and failed. The pilot-in-command attempted an emergency landing when the aircraft struck trees and crashed in a wooded area located 10,100 meters from the airport, bursting into flames. The wreckage was found 3 hours and 15 minutes later. 22 people were injured while 58 others were killed, among them three crew members.
Probable cause:
It was determined that the aircraft remained parked on the apron at Minsk-2 Airport for about a week prior to the flight and has not been deiced prior to takeoff. During initial climb, some ice detached from both wings and entered both engines, causing them to flame out.

Crash of a Tupolev TU-124V in Moscow: 62 killed

Date & Time: Jan 3, 1976 at 1005 LT
Type of aircraft:
Operator:
Registration:
CCCP-45037
Flight Phase:
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Moscow - Minsk - Brest
MSN:
2 35 10 02
YOM:
1962
Flight number:
SU2003
Country:
Region:
Crew on board:
5
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
56
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
62
Aircraft flight hours:
17014
Aircraft flight cycles:
14409
Circumstances:
26 seconds after takeoff from runway 24 at Moscow-Vnukovo Airport, while climbing to a height of 200 metres, the crew retracted the landing gear and reduced the engine power to nominal value. Once the altitude of 250 metres was reached, while at a speed of 340 km/h, the airplane entered a right turn when the crew was cleared to climb to 1,500 metres. The crew failed to acknowledge this clearance when seven seconds later, the airplane entered a left turn, nosed down and crashed at a speed of 550 km/h onto a house located 5,400 meters from the runway end and 1,800 metres to the right of its extended centerline. The aircraft and the house were totally destroyed and all 61 occupants were killed as well as one people in the house. Another person on the ground was injured.
Probable cause:
It was determined that both artificial horizons failed during initial climb for undetermined reasons. The combination of this instrument failure and a limited visibility caused the pilots to suffer a spatial disorientation and then a loss of control.