Investigators criticise aircraft’s commander for angle-of-attack blunder on approach
Russian investigators have blamed the crew of an Antonov An-24 for allowing the aircraft to drop below stalling speed, leading to it crashing while attempting to land at Varandey airport in the Arkhangelsk region.
The twin turboprop, being operated by Regional Airlines of the Russian transport ministry’s west Siberian territorial administration, came down in daylight and clear weather on 16 March this year after a flight from Usinsk.
Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) has carried out an investigation into the accident that included simulating the ill-fated flight using a similar An-24.
The 33-year-old aircraft (RA-46489) had been operating the Ufa-Perm-Usinsk-Varandey route with 45 passengers – mainly workers from a natural gas business – plus four flightcrew members, a flight attendant and two engineers. Twenty-six passengers and two of the seven crew were killed in the accident.
Varandey airport is on the Barents Sea coast and is a port for the energy industry. The weather conditions at Varandey were cold, about -24°C (-11°F), but clear.
MAK concludes that the An-24’s angle of attack exceeded the limit for stalling while the aircraft was on the final stages of its landing approach.
“Deceleration of the aircraft to the stalling speed occurred as a result of the actions of the aircraft’s commander,” it says. MAK states that the crew failed to control the An-24’s speed and allowed it to remain in an inappropriate state of flight for an excessive period.
But MAK concedes that “possible errors” in the readings provided by a number of instruments – including the airspeed and angle-of-attack indicators – could have “hindered” the crew’s ability to control the flight parameters.
DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW/LONDON
Source: Flight International
