Armavia Flight 967

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Armavia Flight 967**
Summary
Date	May 3, 2006
Type	Crash on approach
Site	6 km off Adler-Sochi International Airport over Black Sea
Fatalities	113
Injuries	0
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Airbus A320-211^[1]
Operator	Armavia
Tail number	EK-32009
Passengers	105
Crew	8
Survivors	0

Armavia Flight 967 was a flight operated by Armavia, the largest international airline of Armenia on May 3, 2006, from Yerevan in Armenia to Sochi, a Black Sea coastal resort city in Russia which has had an Armenian guest worker population. The airplane crashed during its second approach to Sochi airport, killing all 113 aboard.

The accident was the first major commercial airline crash in 2006. ^[2]

1 Circumstances
2 Rescue and recovery efforts
3 The plane
4 Cause of crash
5 Notes
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Circumstances

The aircraft was carrying 113 people, including six children and eight crew members. It was scheduled to depart Zvartnots International Airport (EVN) at 01:45 Armenian Daylight Time (20:45 UTC, May 2) and arrive at Adler-Sochi International Airport (AER) at 02:00 Moscow Daylight Time (22:00 UTC, May 2). The aircraft disappeared from radar screens at about 02:15 Moscow time (22:15 UTC, May 2) ^[3] and was confirmed to have crashed early on May 3, 2006 off the Black Sea coast shortly before it was to land at the airport. ^[4]

It was reported that the weather in the area was bad with rough seas, driving rain and low visibility when the aircraft approached the airport. Armavia released a statement on their website claiming that weather was to blame but also included that all maintenance on the plane was supervised by officials from a foreign firm. Investigators do not believe terrorism was involved.

[edit] Rescue and recovery efforts

Wreckage from the plane was spotted six kilometers (four miles) from the coastline. Rescuers also found baggage and life jackets among the wreckage. The first group of bodies were recovered from the sea not long after the rescue effort began. None were found to be wearing a life jacket, possibly indicating a lack of warning before the accident. Emergency Ministry spokeswoman Yulia Stadnikova said that the aircraft was lying on the seabed, 400 meters (1,312 ft) below the surface. The current weather conditions are delaying recovery efforts. Twenty-six of the passengers were Russian citizens, seventy-nine were Armenian.

[edit] The plane

The plane, an Airbus A320-211 with tail number EK-32009, formerly owned by the now defunct Australian airline Ansett until its collapse in September 2001, had been operated by Armavia on a lease since February 2004 which was due to expire in February 2007. This lease followed a prolonged period of storage.

[edit] Cause of crash

An inquiry by Armenian, French, and Russian officials in inspecting the retrieved black boxes arrived to the conclusion that pilot error had led to the crash of the airliner.^[5] An Armenian civil aviation official stated that "The A-320's flight modeling showed the flight was stable until 17 seconds before the crash." Furthermore, "stormy weather and inadequate ground control had to be factored in as well. He [the official] said flight recordings suggested that the air traffic controller's instructions had made the crew angry and nervous."