MOSCOW, November 19 (RIA Novosti) – The pilot of a Russian airliner that crashed on Sunday while preparing to land had no experience of flying the missed approach procedure that he had initiated just before the disaster, the airline’s director said Tuesday.
The jet, a Tatarstan Airlines Boeing 737, was flying from Moscow to Kazan in the Republic of Tatarstan when it crashed at about 7:30 p.m. local time (1530 GMT) Sunday, killing all 44 passengers and six crew on board including the President of Tatarstan's son and the local head of the Federal Security Service.
When asked if the pilot had experience of flying such a maneuver in a real aircraft (as opposed to a simulator), a standard procedure for an airline pilot who cannot complete a non-visual approach, Aksan Giniyatullin, the director of Tatarstan Airlines, said “I think not.”
He insisted however that the crew was experienced, with the captain having a total of 2,500 flight hours and his co-pilot 1,900.
The plane’s commander, Rustam Sulikhov, informed air traffic control that the aircraft was in a “non-landing configuration” during the initial approach and he intended to sort out the problem after going around for another attempt, state broadcaster Rossiya-24 said Monday.
That probably meant the aircraft’s flaps or undercarriage were not set up as required for landing, according to a British airline pilot contacted by RIA Novosti. The pilot would have been right to go around and sort that problem out on a subsequent approach, he said.
Russia's transport minister Maxim Sokolov said the aircraft “hit the ground vertically,” which pilots say is consistent with a stall following a loss of airspeed or excessive climb attitude – a hazard facing any crew climbing away after a missed approach, particularly in poor weather or at night.
The aircraft had originally been due to fly to another destination, but was put on the Kazan route at the last minute as there were too many passengers for the original designated plane, a Bombardier CRJ200.
The Interstate Aviation Committee said Monday investigators had located two seriously damaged cockpit voice recorder containers from the Boeing 737. Experts said one of them had no data unit, the search for which is ongoing.
Giniyatullin confirmed that the plane that crashed in Kazan had suffered a decompression problem last year.
The airliner, which has been in service since 1990, had previously been operated by seven airlines, including Uganda Airlines. Tatarstan Airlines had operated the plane since 2008.
Crash investigators said the possible causes of the accident included technical malfunction and pilot error.
Donna Bull was on a marketing trip.
The Boeing 737-500 airliner crash-landed in the Russian city of Kazan on Sunday evening, killing everyone on board.
The Tatarstan Airlines flight from Moscow was trying to abort its landing in order to make a second approach when it struck the runway and exploded.
Forty-four passengers and six crew members on board were killed, according to emergency officials.
Ms Bull, an A-levels program manager, was described as a "very popular and well-respected member of staff" by her employer Bellerbys College in Cambridge.
She was heading to Kazan for a 10-day marketing trip with a Moscow-based colleague, Yana Baranova, who also died.
The UK Foreign Office confirmed the death of a Briton in the crash and said it was providing consular assistance.
Also among the dead was the son of the leader of the Tatarstan region, Irek Minnikhanov, and the head of Russia's FSB security service in Tatarstan, Alexander Antonov.
The plane took off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport at 6.25pm local time and crashed just over an hour later.
According to eyewitnesses, the Boeing lost altitude quickly and its fuel tank exploded on impact.
There were high winds and cloudy skies over the airport in central Russia at the time of the crash.
Boeing officials at the Dubai Airshow declined to comment on the crash.
The flight was operated by the regional Tatarstan airline, according to a spokeswoman from Russia's Emergencies Ministry.
Kazan, which is 500 miles east of Moscow, is the capital of the oil-rich region of Tatarstan.
A new runway was built at the airport ahead of the World Student Games, held in the city earlier this year.
A spokesman for state aviation oversight agency Rosaviatsia said authorities would search for the flight recorders.
"The plane touched the ground and burst into flame," Sergei Izvolsky said.
"The cause of the crash as of now is unknown."
Russia and the former Soviet republics combined had one of the world's worst air traffic safety records in 2011, with a total accident rate almost three times the world average, according to the International Air Transport Association.
IATA said last year that global airline safety had improved, but accident rates had risen in Russia and the ex-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States.
In April 2012, at least 31 people were killed when a Russian passenger plane crashed shortly after take-off in Siberia.
Source: http://news.sky.com
KAZAN, November 18 (RIA Novosti) – Russian officials said Monday that they located flight recorders from a Boeing 737 that crashed in the city of Kazan over the weekend, killing all 50 people on board.
The Interstate Aviation Committee said in a statement that the container carrying the recorders was seriously damaged.
The precise cause of the accident is not yet known, but terrorism has been ruled out.
Those killed included Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov's son, Irek, and republican Federal Security Service department chief Lt. Gen. Alexander Antonov. One British national, 53-year-old education consultant Donna Bull, was also said to be among the dead.
The Tatarstan Airlines airliner was bound from Moscow to Kazan and was carrying 44 passengers and six crew when it crashed Sunday around 7:30 p.m. local time (1530 GMT).
Crash investigators initially said the possible causes of the accident were a technical malfunction or pilot error. Flight recorders had not been located as of mid-morning Monday.
The head of the transportation department of the regional Investigation Committee, Alexander Poltinin, said the pilot made two attempts at landing the aircraft for unknown reasons.
A Kazan airport air traffic controller, Kirill Kornishin, told state broadcaster Rossiya-24 that the pilot reported a problem with the “landing configuration” as he began attempting a second approach.
“He reported that he was performing another circle, and I dictated the data to him, according to procedure, and that was that,” Kornishin said.
Deputy Emergency Situation Situations Minister Vladimir Stepanov said the process of retrieving bodies would be completed Monday.
“Not all the bodies have been located,” Stepanov said. “The main work will be completed today.”
Stepanov said operations to sort through the wreckage would carry on into the week.
A source in the Federal Air Transport Agency told RIA Novosti that the plane last underwent a full servicing in March 2012.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev began a government meeting Monday by observing a minute’s silence.
The Tatarstan Airlines plane had previously been in service with a number of other international companies, including low-cost airline Blue Air from 2005 to 2008.
A pilot with Blue Air told RIA Novosti on condition of anonymity that the company had experienced no problems with the aircraft while it was used by the company.
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Fifty people died after a Boeing passenger plane crashed while landing in the city of Kazan in central Russia on Saturday, according to the Emergencies Ministry. A doctor working at the scene said that only ashes and rubble were left from the plane.
The passenger aircraft Boeing 737-500 operated by the regional Tatarstan airline exploded after crash-landing in the airport of Kazan at 15:25 GMT. The jet’s nose reportedly hit the ground during touchdown. Flight U363 was coming from Moscow Domodedovo airport.
Initially, 44 fatalities were reported in the crash. Later the Federal Air Transport Agency said that 50 people - including six crew members - were on board, all of whom were killed.
When the Emergencies Ministry published a list of the victims, it included an 11-year-old girl. It was also confirmed that Irek Minnikhanov, son of Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, was among the passengers killed in the accident.
Rescuers have already recovered the bodies of all 50 people from the crash site, according to Tatarstan's Disaster Medicine Center. Now they are looking for flight data recorders.
The passenger jet caught on fire after the crash landing. The flames were extinguished less than one hour into the disaster.
“Only ashes and pieces of foam were left from the plane [after the explosion],” a doctor from the emergency rescue team told ITAR-TASS.
Kazan is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Located 800km to the east of Moscow, it’s the capital of the largely-Muslim Republic of Tatarstan.
'One of fuel tanks detonated'
An emergency services source told Interfax that the pilots apparently made some mistake when entering the second lap.
“The plane attempted to land several times. One of the [fuel] tanks detonated while the plane was landing,” said Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman Irina Rossius.
A witness traveling from Kazan to Moscow, who happened to be on the airfield at the moment of the crash, reported hearing a loud bang and feeling some trembling. The shuttle bus he was on was then diverted back to the terminal. The young man did not report any panic and said that he and other passengers were allowed to pick up their luggage within about 15 minutes after the crash.
A criminal case into the violation of flight rules has been initiated. The Interstate Aviation Committee is dispatching its experts to look into the accident. Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed the government to form a commission to investigate the cause of the plane crash in Kazan, said presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Causes under review: Pilot error, technical failure, weather
The Investigation Committee has launched a probe into the crash. The head of the committee, Vladimir Markin, said the crash might have been caused by pilot error, technical malfunction, or weather conditions.
According to local reports, there were high winds and cloudy skies over the airport in central Russia. Temperatures were above zero.
An expert on air accidents, first-class pilot Vladimir Gerasimov told RT he suspects “an apparent crew error,” as the plane failed to make a precise landing approach on the first try. However, this can be verified only after the flight data recorder of the crashed plane is analyzed, he added.
The weather conditions were favorable for landing, argued sources in the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring of Russia.
“The visibility was five thousand meters, the runway was dry. You cannot even imagine better conditions,” said an employee from the federal service, adding that it is unlikely that bad weather caused the crash.
Probes are expected to start on Monday morning.
'Boeing 737-500 caused trouble before'
The Boeing 737-500 is a make of a popular short- to medium-range twin-engine jet airliner, which was introduced in 1987. The series is also known as “Classic,” along with the 300 and the 400 models. The 737-500 can seat from 108 to 132 passengers and has two cockpit crew members.
The jet that crashed in Kazan - tail number VQ-BBN - was released in 1990. The Tatarstan airline bought the plane in December 2008.
This is not the first time that the aircraft has experienced problems. Just last year, the plane made an emergency landing at the same terminal, a law enforcement source told Interfax. The flight was headed to Moscow, but the plane made an emergency landing. Twenty minutes after takeoff, alarm sensors were reportedly triggered due to depressurization of the cabin. None of the 78 people on board were injured.
The crashed Boeing has been in service for 23 years,the airlines spokesperson told ITAR-TASS. She assured that the plane, built in 1990, has been undergoing routine maintenance operations, adding that it had just recently been subject to maintenance.
This is not the first accident involving a Boeing-737 in Russia. On May 18, a 400 jet model belonging to UTair airline caught fire just after it landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport. Luckily, only one landing gear leg was set ablaze, and none of the 136 people on board were injured in the incident.
On December 30, 2012, a TU-204 jet belonging to Red Wings airlines hard-landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport, breaking into several parts and crashing into a nearby highway. Five people were killed and four others seriously injured, including the driver of a car that was hit by the plane’s wheel. Only the crew was on board the plane.
Story and Comments/Reaction: http://rt.com
Aircompany Tatarstan is the national air carrier of the Republic of Tatarstan. The airline established in 1999 operates the scheduled passenger service to the different cities of Russia (Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Makhachkala), CIS (Baku, Dushanbe, Yerevan, Tashkent, Khujand), Asia (Istanbul) and Europe (Prague, Tel-Aviv).
Boeing 737-500, Tatarstan Aircompany, Ak Bars Aero, VQ-BBN, Flight U9-363
Tip of the hat to Phil!
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