A VNUKOVO AIRLINES Tupolev Tu-154M has crashed about 10km (5.5nm) from Longyearbyen Airport on the northern Norwegian island of Svalbard (Spitzbergen), while approaching the airport's runway 28. The accident to the Moscow-based airliner happened at midday local time on 29 August .
Early reports said that all 129 passengers and 14 crew were thought to have been killed in the crash. The Tu-154's crew was in contact with Longyearbyen air-traffic control, but gave no emergency call.
Mountainous terrain in the area averages more than 1,000m (3,300) high, with the instrument-landing-system (ILS) approach to runway 28 following the Adventdalen glacial valley.
Weather reports which were issued by the rescue services said that cloudbase was below the peaks. The airfield is close to the coast and has a distance-measuring-equipment beacon, ILS for both runways and an off-airfield non-directional beacon.
Vnukovo was the first of the Aeroflot divisions to be privatised and the carrier had not experienced a fatal accident before.
Flight VKO2801 was believed to be carrying passengers from Moscow to the Russian mining community on Svalbard.
Vnukovo's Tu-154M fleet totals more than 30 aircraft
Source: Flight International
