Investigators are probing an overrun by a Belavia Boeing 737-300 at Kiev's downtown Zhulhany airport late on 12 July.
The aircraft (EW-336PA) had been operating the carrier's B2847 service from Minsk and had touched down on runway 26 in darkness at about 23:40.
Meteorological data from Zhulhany at the time indicates variable winds, the presence of cumulonimbus cloud and subsequent light rain showers.
The aircraft continued past the threshold of the opposite-direction runway 08 by around 300m, coming to rest of soft ground having passed over approach lighting, according to video images purportedly taken at the scene and distributed on social media.
None of the 139 passengers and five crew members was injured, the airport's operator states. The airport has only a single runway, which restricted operations until around 14:00 the following day.
Cirium's Fleets Analyzer shows that the twinjet involved was originally delivered to Continental Airlines in 1995 and was operated by BMIbaby and Kuban Airlines before being picked up by Belavia in 2012.
Ukrainian investigators recently concluded that another Belavia Boeing 737 excursion, at Kiev's main Borispol airport, had resulted from the captain's mistaking runway edge lights for centreline lights.
The approach to runway 18L was conducted in darkness, and poor weather conditions, as the 737-500 arrived from Minsk on 9 December last year.
Weather data had indicated fog, with visibility on the runway down to 750m, and the aircraft was carrying out a stable Category I ILS approach.
After the autopilot was disengaged at a height of 76ft the aircraft began to deviate from its course, with an 8° left bank.
The captain, who was flying, “did not correct” the deviation but instead deflected the control wheel to the left, says Ukrainian investigation authority NBAAI.
“After turning off the autopilot, the landing was done visually, in instrument meteorological conditions,” it states.
“The captain probably took the left-edge runway lights to be the runway centreline lights, which caused the aircraft to deviate to the left of the runway axis.”
As a result the aircraft touched down, in an 8.4° left bank, with its left-hand main landing-gear 25.4m to the left of the centreline.
It veered some 6-7m off the runway edge 577m from the 18L threshold, travelling for 208m before returning to the runway axis.
While none of the occupants was injured the aircraft (EW-290PA) sustained damage to its engine inlet and fan blades, as well as fuselage damage and cuts to its tyres.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
