| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | February 14, 2008 |
| Type | Ground impact |
| Site | Zvartnots International Airport, Yerevan, Armenia |
| Passengers | 18 |
| Crew | 3 |
| Injuries | 10 |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Survivors | 21 (all) |
| Aircraft type | Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-100ER |
| Operator | Belavia |
| Tail number | EW-101PJ |
Belavia Flight 1834 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Yerevan, Armenia, to Minsk, Belarus, operated by Belavia. On the morning of February 14, 2008, the Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet carrying 18 passengers and 3 crew crashed and burst into flames shortly after take off from Zvartnots International Airport near the capital city of Yerevan, in the country of Armenia.
The jet hit its left wing on the runway during takeoff, crashed to the ground, flipped over, and came to rest inverted near the runway. All passengers and crew managed to escape the aircraft before it erupted into flames, partly due to the timely response of the fire and rescue crews.
There were no fatalities, but 7 people were taken to hospital for treatment.
Contents |
The aircraft involved, EW-101PJ (MSN 7316), was a 50-seat Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-100ER.[1] It was a fairly new member of the fleet since it was leased by the airline and delivered in February 2007.
| Nationality | Total |
|---|---|
| Armenia | 10 |
| Georgia | 5 |
| Russia | 1 |
| Ukraine | 1 |
| Belarus | 1 |
| Total | 18 |
It was initially reported that 16 of those on board were Armenian nationals,[2] but CAGD later reported that there were 10 Armenians, 5 Georgians, a Russian, a Ukrainian, and a Belorussian among the passengers.[3] A list with the names of 16 of the passengers was subsequently published.[4] The Russian Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) final report in Russian[5] found that 7 passengers received serious injuries while the remaining 11 passengers and 3 crew were unhurt.
Gayane Davtyan, a spokeswoman for the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia said that the jet, operated by the Belorussian airline Belavia, hit its left wing on the runway during takeoff and erupted into flames.[6]
Eyewitness reports stated that the aircraft banked sharply to the left immediately after rotation when it was only 3 to 5 meters airborne, clipped its left wing on the runway, crashed to the ground and rolled many times until coming to a stop inverted near the runway.
It seems that one of the passengers was able to open the door and everyone got out quickly partly due to the timely intervention of the fire and rescue crews, which were reportedly on site within 50 seconds.[3] The passengers also helped the crew members out of the cockpit.[3]
Artyom Movsesyan, the general director of the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia stated that 10 people were hospitalized with various injuries including burns & concussions. Gevorg Abramian, a spokesman for the airport said that none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.[7] A local official also confirmed that there were no fatalities, and stated that 4 people were taken to hospital with serious burns.[1][6] Gayane Davtyan also stated that nearly everyone on board received burns of various degrees.[1][2][6] A list of 6 injured passengers and their respective injuries was subsequently published by A1+.[8]
Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport was temporarily closed after the crash, which took place at 4:15 am local time.[6] As of 10:30 local time, the airport was still closed while arrivals were being diverted to Gyumri's Shirak Airport. The first plane expected to land at Zvartnots was from Tehran at 11:30 local time.[1]
Initial speculation pointed to icing on the wings which caused the left wing to stall upon lift-off. Icing conditions were reported at the airport during the crash, and the CRJs are very prone to wing contamination and icing since they do not have any leading edge devices.[9] The Russian Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) heading the investigation, and the Russian investigators initially stated that the aircraft began to roll left immediately after liftoff, inverting before crashing.[10] Investigation teams from the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia, from Belarus, and from Bombardier participated in the investigation to determine the probable cause of the accident.[10]
The Russian Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) released their final report in Russian[5] which concluded that the most probable cause of the accident was:
The airplane had arrived at Yerevan 2 hours before scheduled departure and was preparing for departure as flight B2-1834 from Yerevan (Armenia) to Minsk (Belarus) with 18 passengers and 3 crew. Refueling was done in automatic mode 25 minutes after landing, and 2,200 liters (1,802 kg) of Jet-A-1 fuel were added to the tanks. Due to reported reducing visibility at the main alternate airport, the crew decided to add another 400 liters of fuel about 30 minutes later during flight preparations.
The first officer performed the preflight check of the aircraft about 15 minutes after landing (and before refueling) and found all aerodynamics surfaces clean and dry by visual inspection as well as by touching the surfaces with the palm of his hand. The report [5] mentioned that weather conditions that are susceptible to frost contamination require the pilot in command to perform the preflight walk-around.
The weather at the time was: winds from 110 degrees at 2 knots, visibility 3500 meters (11500 feet) in light haze, clouds overcast at 2600 feet, scattered at 9800 feet, temperature -3 °C, dew point -4 °C and QNH 1019 hPa.
The crew computed V1 at 137, Vr at 139 and V2 at 145 knots.
After engine start the crew activated the anti-ice systems of the engines, but the wing anti-ice systems were not activated.
The airplane banked progressively left after liftoff until the left wing touched the ground with the airplane veering left of the runway, rolled right separating the right hand wing, crossed the runway rolling on its back and disintegrated coming to rest right of the runway. Leaking fuel triggered a ground fire, which was quickly brought under control by the airport fire fighters.
The Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) performed a test employing a CRJ-900 registration D-ACKK to assess the accumulation and freeze of atmospheric moisture with large temperature differences between the ambient air and the remaining fuel in the tanks after landing. It was found that ice accumulated on the underside of the wing immediately after landing and grew 25 minutes after landing upon refueling. The upper side of the wing showed dew accumulation after refueling. The fuel temperature at the time of arrival was measured at -21 °C, and before departure at -12 °C with an ambient temperature of plus 8 °C.
At the time of the accident it could therefore be assumed that the temperature of the fuel in EW-101PJ never got above -12 °C with an ambient temperature of -3 °C.