Dagestan Airlines Flight 372

Dagestan Airlines Flight 372

The tailfin of the aircraft at the crash site
Accident summary
Date December 4, 2010 (2010-12-04)
Summary Crew error, fuel starvation
Site Domodedovo International Airport, Domodedovsky District, Moscow Oblast, Russia
55°25′42″N 37°53′59″E / 55.42833°N 37.89972°E / 55.42833; 37.89972Coordinates: 55°25′42″N 37°53′59″E / 55.42833°N 37.89972°E / 55.42833; 37.89972
Passengers 160
Crew 8
Injuries (non-fatal) 92
Fatalities 2
Survivors 166
Aircraft type Tupolev Tu-154M
Operator Dagestan Airlines
Registration RA-85744
Flight origin Vnukovo International Airport, Moscow
Destination Uytash Airport, Makhachkala

Dagestan Airlines Flight 372 was a scheduled commercial flight between Vnukovo International Airport, Moscow and Uytash Airport, Makhachkala. On December 4, 2010 a Tupolev Tu-154M operating the flight, with registration RA-85744,[1] skidded off the runway following an emergency landing at Domodedovo International Airport, 45 km south-east of Vnukovo. Two people on board were killed.[2]

Aircraft

Dagestan Airlines RA-85744 Tu-154M, the aircraft involved. The airline had been renamed South East Airlines when this photo was taken.

The aircraft operating the flight was a Tupolev Tu-154M, registered RA-85744,cn: 92A-927.[3] It had been built in 1992, and was equipped with three Soloviev D-30KU jet engines for propulsion.[3] The aircraft had been completely overhauled in 2009, and met all relevant European safety standards, as it had been used for the transport of the Belgium national football (soccer) team in November 2010, a flight which required it to meet European regulations.[4]

Accident

The plane was flying a scheduled trip from Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow to Uytash Airport in Makhachkala, Republic of Dagestan.[5] Two of the aircraft's three engines failed shortly after take off from Vnukovo Airport at 14:07 local time (11:07 UTC); the pilots reported the loss of engines when the aircraft was at a height of around 9,100 metres (29,900 ft).[1] An emergency landing at Domodedovo International Airport was requested, and as the aircraft was in the process of landing, the third engine failed.[1][5] The aircraft approached runway 32R from the right at almost right angles, overflying the threshold before turning right at 500 metres (1,600 ft) to the left of the runway and crossing over the runway, flying parallel with but to the right of the runway.[6] The aircraft touched down 88 metres (289 ft) to the right of the runway centerline, and only 350 metres (1,150 ft) short of the end, about a half hour after its departure, landing in conditions of freezing rain.[1][6]

The landing caused the plane to sustain major damage,[7] and it was written off shortly after the incident.[8] A passenger on board the plane said that the aircraft broke into three parts after landing.[9] Later reports said that both the cockpit and vertical stabilizer had separated from the aircraft, and that the wings and undercarriage had both been damaged.[3]

Casualties

The emergency landing resulted in 92 injuries (of which 39 were serious) and two fatalities.[10][11][12][13]

One of the two dead was Gadzhimurad Magomedov, the brother of Magomedsalam Magomedov, the president of Dagestan.[14] The other (died of a heart attack) was the mother of a judge of the Constitutional Court of Russia.

The number of people on board the plane was unclear; early reports said that between 163 and 172 people were on board,[5][15] but a number of 168, eight of which were crew members, was later settled on.[5][8]

Aftermath

The final report by the Interstate Aviation Committee into the crash.

Russian authorities dispatched investigators to the site of the emergency landing,[7] classifying the investigation as a "criminal probe," according to the Russian Investigative Committee.[15] Prosecutor General Yury Chaika was said to be "keeping a watchful eye" over the proceedings.[15] Several hours after the incident occurred, the lead prosecutor in the investigation said that the preliminary results suggested a bird strike was responsible for the loss of engines.[1]

By the day after the incident, investigators had recovered the flight data recorder and a second data storing device.[16] The Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) said that it had begun analysis of both recovered devices, which were said to be in "satisfactory condition."[16] The cockpit voice recorder was recovered on 10 December.[17] Analysis of the flight data recorder showed that eight minutes after the aircraft took off, at an altitude of 6,500 metres (21,300 ft), the fuel supply to the engines fluctuated, and as the aircraft passed 9,000 metres (30,000 ft), the outer two engines shut down.[18] The crew at this point began a descent towards Domodedovo Airport.[18] The center engine had a "period of instability," but its normal status was "restored and maintained" until the aircraft's landing.[18]

The fuel supply at Vnukovo Airport was confirmed to meet standards.[18] On 1 April 2011, investigators announced that poor fuel quality had been ruled out as a cause of the crash, despite instrument readings that indicated issues with the fuel supply before the aircraft crashed.[19]

On 26 September 2011, the MAK released its report into the incident, concluding that the cause was the flight engineer accidentally shutting off a fuel pump while transferring fuel.[6] As a result, fuel consumption fluctuated, leading to unusual altitude and engine readings before the outer two engines shut down.[6] At this point, the crew chose to bring the plane to Domodedovo Airport.[6] The report said that the crew had not used all available options to deal with the loss of engine power, and had not followed procedures for landing with two nonfunctional engines.[6] The report also noted that the crew had not been sufficiently trained to deal with the situation.[6]

On 22 January 2015, the airplane's pilot Zakarzha Zakarzhayev was found guilty in court under article 263.3 of the Criminal Code of Russia (violating safety rules of transportation and air travel, which led by neglect to death of two or more people).[20] He was given a suspended sentence of 3 years and then immediately amnestied.[21]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Accident: South East T154 at Moscow on Dec 4th 2010, all engines out in flight". The Aviation Herald. 4 December 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  2. ↑ http://lenta.ru/news/2010/12/04/noengines
  3. 1 2 3 "Crashed Dagestan Tu-154 had serial engine failure: MAK". Flightglobal.com. 4 December 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
  4. ↑ "Pilot Error Probed in Domodedovo Crash". The Moscow Times. 6 December 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Two killed as plane makes emergency landing in Russia". AFP. 4 December 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Tu-154 crew battled power loss after switching off fuel pump". Flightglobal.com. 26 September 2011. Archived from the original on 26 September 2011. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  7. 1 2 "Two killed, dozens injured after emergency landing at Moscow airport – investigators". Kyiv Post. 4 December 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  8. 1 2 "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  9. ↑ "Two killed and 83 injured as airplane makes emergency landing at Moscow". The Guardian. 4 December 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
  10. ↑ Final report, section 1.2
  11. ↑ "http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=206834". 5 December 2010. Archived from the original on December 6, 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2010. External link in |title= (help)
  12. ↑ "Dagestan Tu-154 crashes at Moscow". Flightglobal.com. 4 December 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  13. ↑ "Two dead, 56 injured in Moscow plane accident – Health Ministry". Ria Novosti. 4 December 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  14. ↑ "Russia crash landing kills Dagestan leader's brother". Reuters. 5 December 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
  15. 1 2 3 "Criminal probe opened into Tu-154 accident". The Voice of Russia. 4 December 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  16. 1 2 "Investigators analyse data recorders from crashed Tu-154". Flightglobal.com. 5 December 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
  17. ↑ "Investigators locate cockpit recorder of Dagestan Tu-154". Flightglobal.com. 10 December 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  18. 1 2 3 4 "Two engines on Tu-154 failed after 'instability' in fuel supply". Flightglobal.com. 5 December 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
  19. ↑ "Dagestan Tu-154 crash inquiry rules out fuel quality". Flighglobal.com. 1 April 2011. Archived from the original on 1 April 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  20. ↑ Подмосковный суд признал командира самолета виновным в гибели двух человек (in Russian). Russian Legal Information Agency. 22 January 2015.
  21. ↑ Суд приговорил к условному сроку командира самолета Закаржаева (in Russian). Russian Legal Information Agency. 23 January 2015.

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