People, before launching into print could you please do yourself (
and us all) a favour and check some basic facts:
Fact #1:
Sunset today in Kazan was at 16:33 local time (
in Kazan).
Fact #2:
The crash is reported to have occurred at 19:25 local time (
in Kazan).
Conclusion: The crash occurred approximately 3 hours after the sun had set, i.e. it was pitch
dark,... and so, at this point in time, posting pics & videos of (
other) events,
shown in day time, could not possibly be of this event, could they? doh!!!
Lord give me strength !!!
And speaking of facts, and fwiw, I've just had a look at my (
Lido) Instrument Approach Charts for Kazan (KZN/UWKD) - it's a destination that I also fly to/from - and it shows the following minima for a Cat C aircraft:
nb. HAT = Height Above Threshold
Runway 11:
- ILS DME: DH = 200 ft HAT / 550m RVR or 800m visibility.
- VOR DME: MDA = 290 ft HAT / 750m visibility.
- RNAV GNSS (LNAV): MDA = 340 ft HAT / 800m visibility.
- NDB (BL) DME (KZN): MDA = 450 ft HAT / 1,400m visibility.
- NDB (BL): MDA = 510 ft HAT / 1,600m visibility.
Runway 29:
- ILS DME: DH = 200 ft HAT / 550m RVR or 800m visibility.
- VOR DME: MDA = 340 ft HAT / 800m visibility.
- RNAV GNSS (LNAV): MDA = 450 ft HAT / 1,400m visibility.
- NDB (BL) DME (KZN): MDA = 450 ft HAT / 1,400m visibility.
- NDB (AM) DME (KZN): MDA = 450 ft HAT / 1,400m visibility.
All the above instrument approach angles are based upon 3º (
aside from the R11 VOR DME which is 3.1º). All the approaches are directly aligned with the relevant runway QDM, and the final descent from the platform altitude occurs at 3.9 Nm (
from the threshold of the respective touchdown end) for all the instrument approach types. Imho, from an instrument approach perspective, there's nothing of note, i.e. any of those approaches should be a veritable 'no-brainer'.
In practical terms, if following a 3º descent profile, and with the cloud ceiling reported as 700 ft, they should have been able to see the runway lights when approximately 2Nm from touchdown; and especially that the Met Visibility (5,000m) equates to 2.7 Nm (
and also remembering that it's night time, so the Met Vis could be factored as x2). I.e. once they came out of the base of the cloud, they should have been able to see the runway lights in front of them and they would still have approximately 1 Nm to fly (
and continue descending) until they reached the MDA of either of the VOR approaches, and even further still to reach the DH position of either of the ILS's.
Given the METAR at the supposed time of the crash, the weather seems far from being limiting and, as far as I can tell, a trawl through the
NOTAMS for Kazan does not suggest any known outages of the approach aids, though it is now showing the airfield as being closed:
A4677/13 NOTAMN
Q) UWKD/QFALC/IV/NBO/A/000/999/5536N04917E005
A) UWKD B) 1311171820 C) 1311180800
E) AD CLSD DUE TO TECR