Tu 134 crashed in Russia
 

Domodedovo - Petrozavodsk. 5 severely injured in hospital, other (more than 40) reported dead. Plane landed at the road 2 km short of Petrozavodsk airport. It breaked apart and catched fire.

Sad, really, truly sad. I think Russian aviation is emerging from the past quite quickly, but never quickly enough.

No reflection, or accusation , on the crew, and I have no doubt that, properly maintained, Tupolevs were well up to the task, but, time moves on, selectively. Some things stand still, and for this reason, some parts of life would be better left well in the past, but the past is still active, and for this we have now a better idea of the true accident rate in the former CIS, & I doubt it was pretty.

To balance any negativity implied in my post, I offer my appreciation of the safety achieved by Aeroflot et al with Boeing & Airbus :D

Balanced
 

Well put CPS ...

captplaystation, according to the METARs, the weather during the arrival of the flight was deteriorating from OVC005 to OVC003 to fog with zero visibility shortly afterwards. The airport is only equipped with 2NDB landing systems with MDH of 162 meters at best. Why the age of the aircraft is an issue here?

(typing this while watching Ice Pilots NWT)

The official version of events says during final approach in poor weather conditions the plane struck the ground 700 m from the threshold and broke apart.

media reports say they landed on a road.

Forty people at least dead according to various news outlets. Also, ITAR-TASS.com (reliable source?) claims that the plane had a technical problem (vague?) on approach.

Anyway...

Being as blunt as possible, poor training of Russian pilots vs poor aircraft manufacturing. Wxr can never down an aircraft -- it's the crew's decision to fly inside/within the vicinity of the poor wxr which increases the workload and increases the probability of a disaster. Try and defend your views all you want but you know deep down that I put forth a valid argument.

Joshilini, and my views are what exactly? Let me give you a hint: OVC005 is 150 meters above the field, and they had no business being below 162 meters. "Aeroflot et al" have managed to bring down a couple-three Airbuses (Mezhdurechensk, Irkutsk, Sochi) and at least one Boeing (Perm; I don't count the gear-up landing at Kaliningrad or alleged tailstrike of a brand new B738). And at the same time I gave a link to a reality show about an airline flying DC-3 on a regular pax route. Are you catching my drift? Exactly. It's not about how old the aircraft are, it's about pilots sticking to the basics of aviating.

DVV, I think you have misread my post.

Let me clarify for you that I am not blaming the manufacturer of the aircraft as much as most Western people do, but I am blaming the pilot training standards of most (if not all) non-Western airlines.

Russian sources claimed that landing lights at PES were switched off just before arrival of the plane.

Moreover, some officials (incl. director of PES) claimed that that was pilots navigation error and that after missed by 200 m and begining revert maneuver plane cut electric lines.

http://img.lenta.ru/news/2011/06/21/lep/picture.jpg

Aircraft 31 years old, airport lights not working properly
 

According to Pravda.ru the aircraft was 31 years old. The landing equipment at the airport was not working properly. Here is a computer translation, slightly corrected:

Tu-134 crashed in Karelia. Killed 44 people out of 52
21.06.2011 | Source: Pravda.Ru

Passenger aircraft Tu-134 of airline "Ruseyr" crashed a mile from the capital of Karelia. On board the ship were 52 people, 44 of them died, others are currently in intensive care. The airliner took off from Moscow at 22:30 on Monday, made a hard landing on the highway about a kilometer from Petrozaavodska writes "Gazeta.ru". The plane disintegrated fuselage, and it caught fire. At 00:45 the fire was extinguished.

NewsInfo adds that the plane was landing on the road nearly crashed into a residential building. In the mournful list of known dead was listed football referee Vladimir Pettai, who judged the match the Russian Premier League. Also near Petrozavodsk killed a Swedish citizen Vettrut Jacob, who was a lifeguard and flew to a conference of the Barents region, adds BaltInfo. Member of the crew managed to survive only one stewardess. For the life of Julia Skvortsova struggling doctors. All victims, including one child, are in hospitals. Status of the seven injured is estimated to be extremely grave, all of them are in intensive care with multiple injuries and burns.

During the night a plane flew into Karelia Emergency IL-7, carrying three mobile medical unit designed for transportation of the victims. Also, this flight will arrive in Petrozavodsk 15 rescue squad "Centrospas", and five psychologists center for emergency psychological assistance to MOE, adds dp.ru. The medical team also sent a helicopter from St. Petersburg. Also in the next few hours from Moscow to fly a charter with the relatives of those who were on board Flight 9605. Close already started to arrive in Domodedovo airport. With each of them hold a conversation, psychologists, transmits the first channel.

"Despite the fact that the machine was 31 years old, she was in good condition", - underlined by the company. In "Ruseyr" also assured that before flying the aircraft was completely properly, adds, "Russian news service." Now experts investigate the cause of the crash. It is already known that during the crash of Tu-134 near Petrozavodsk at the airport were not working means of landing. The extent to which disconnection of ground effect on the circumstances of the accident was not specified. However, according to the MOE, crash-landing airliner occurred in dense fog, said "The Eye of the Planet."

According to "Vesti.ru" on the runway at the airport near Petrozavodsk Besovets not working lights of high intensity. "Lights of high intensity on the runway, which should be included in conditions of poor visibility, did not work," - deputy chairman of the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), Alexei Morozov, without specifying the reasons. "This is a commission to be seen" - he stressed.

Professionals have found the black boxes. To set up a special investigation team of the Ministry of Transport, which included the head of the Federal Air Transport Agency and deputy head of the Ministry of Transport. It also created a committee of the Interstate aviakomiteta. By the scene of the accident sent the experts of the Investigative Committee of Russia. A criminal case under article "violation of safety rules for air operations," which provides that up to seven years in prison.

Descending below minimum during Non-precesion approach......
Classic crash.... again...... :-(((

Another version of Press report
 

44 killed in plane crash 2011-06-21 07:35
St Petersburg - A passenger jet crashed in heavy fog and burst into flames late on Monday on a highway in north-western Russia, just short of a runway whose fog lights had failed, killing 44 people, officials said. Eight people survived the crash.

The Tu-134 plane, belonging to the RusAir airline, was en route from Moscow to the city of Petrozavodsk, said an Emergencies Ministry spokesperson, Oksana Semyonova.

Her ministry said in a website statement that 44 people were killed. Eight survivors, including a 10-year-old boy and a female flight attendant, were hospitalised in critical condition in Petrozavodsk.

Semyonova said the plane went down on its final approach to the airport in Petrozavodsk, making a crash landing 1km to 2km short of the runway, breaking apart and then bursting into flames.

It was unclear if the plane had attempted to land on the road, or just happened to fall there, she said. Petrozavodsk is in Karelia province, near the Finnish border, about 640km northwest of Moscow.

Explanation

Authorities had no immediate explanation for the accident, but the Interfax news agency quoted the airport director Alexei Kuzmitsky as saying there were "unfavourable weather conditions".

Compounding the pilot's troubles was the failure of the runway's high-intensity illumination, which is supposed to be deployed at times of low visibility, Alexei Morozov, deputy head of the Interstate Aviation Committee, told the Itar-Tass news agency.

A RusAir representative who declined to give his name said that the plane was in good working order and that the weather conditions, although tricky, "weren't critical".

The Tupolev 134, along with its larger sibling the Tu-154, has been the workhorse of Soviet and Russian civil aviation since the 1960s. The model that crashed was built in 1980, had a 68-person capacity and a range of about 2 000km.

Photographs on the ministry website showed fragments of metal strewn across a road as a thick fog hung over woodland in the background. A landing gear jutting out from the ground was the only recognisable plane part.

The state news network Rossia-24 broadcast footage of woman showing video she shot on her phone of the plane burning on the highway. A nearby road sign stood undamaged, indicating the way to the airport.

The plane was carrying 52 people, including nine crew, Semyonova said. Russian news agencies said Russian Premier League soccer referee Vladimir Pettay and a Swedish citizen were among the victims.

Safety records

The Karelia branch of the Emergencies Ministry said radio contact with the pilot was lost at 23:40 local time (19:40 GMT). The black box flight data recorders have been recovered, the news agencies said.

The accident occurred on the eve of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's planned appearance on Tuesday at the Paris Air Show to support dozens of Russian firms seeking sales contracts.

Russia and the other former Soviet republics have some of the world's worst air traffic safety records, according to the International Air Transport Association. Experts blame weak government controls, poor pilot training and a cost-cutting mentality for the poor safety record, leading to emergency landings being reported with alarming regularity.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski was among 96 people killed when his Tu-154 crashed in heavy fog while trying to land near the western city of Smolensk in April 2010.

In 2006, three crashes - two in Russia and one in Ukraine - killed more than 400 people.
- AP Source:
44 killed in plane crash: News24: World: News

Note that although the accident appears to have happened at about midnight local, this is the time of "white nights" this far north in Petrozavodsk, and in fact the accident has happened on midsummers night, so in semi-daylight.

Metar info :

ULPB 202100Z 06002MPS 0700 FG VV003 14/14 Q0992 NOSIG RMK QBB100 QFE740/0987 SC0.6
ULPB 202000Z 13001MPS 2100 BR RA OVC005 14/14 Q0993 TEMPO 1500 RMK QBB160 QFE741/0988 SC0 6
ULPB 201949Z 10002MPS 2100 RA BR OVC004 15 Q0993 TEMPO 1500 RMK QBB120 QFE741/0988 SC0, 6 =
ULPB 201900Z 15001MPS 3000 BR OVC005 15/14 Q0994 NOSIG RMK QBB170 QFE741/0989 SC0.6 =

Field elevation is 46 metres / 151 feet. Accident occurred at around 1940Z.

AvHerald

From the BBC is a report quoting the airports director as saying that the aircraft hit a power line causing a power cut which extinguished the high intensity landing lights

"There was no immediate explanation for the crash, but Interfax quoted the airport's director as saying there had been "unfavourable weather conditions", with the aircraft making its final descent in thick fog and heavy rain.
The aircraft hit a power line, causing a power cut which extinguished the high-intensity landing lights on the runway, deployed at times of low visibility, moments before the crash, Alexey Kuzmitsky said."

Curious to know if there were road lights that would be bright enough to lure the crew to think they were heading for what they thought was a runway?

QBB
 

Was puzzled with the QBB in the METAR, but:
http://www.pprune.org/tech-log/16046...csifering.html

Cloudbase!


I must defend Russian aviation on the training part. I as an auditor for a large western company checking codeshare operators, have witnessed young pilots (state funded ab initio trained guys) see fly in a Ukrainian airline.
Absolutely top class. First years they fly on harsh Siberian routes, one young guy saw more bad weather as in my own then 20 years flying experience on biggies tot luxury climates.

Maybe the last 10 years training might have eroded, but by that time it outdid any western ab initio training system by a long shot when comparing theoretical levels and flight training experience which included jets.

Just by "concluding" that training there is deficient I would dub that as "western arrogance".
As if our western bare minimum (below minimum?) ab initio money driven training, is something to be proud of.

As with the Polish President accident I would say there was much pressure on the crew to press on in bad weather. Happens all over the world, but in countries like Russia the pressure might be just a tad higher. It is the whole (social)system, not this poor crew alone.

Anyhow, when still flying I would start an ADF approach briefing in bad weather with a 747 with saying: gentlemen, we are in for an emergency landing. Lucky for me I hat to deal with these situations only a few times in my WHOLE career. NOT on a daily basis...

Non precision approaches in bad WX are just risky like hell and modern pilots don't have the experience anymore like their forefathers that had nothing else better to find the runway.
Especially when it comes to deciding when to break off.
Maybe Russian pilots have even the most experience with them!

I appreciate all the usual caveats apply about not judging before the findings are made public, but, as others have noted, this does seem like another example of crews attempting to land in conditions that neither the airport nor the aircraft is properly equipped. It's difficult to escape the conclusion that poor decision making was the errant factor, and it's not the first time.

Of course, we have to consider that commercial pressures or threats had a bearing on that decision making process, and there's perhaps a cultural influence involved too. But, I have a further concern.

If airline bosses in the UK continue to erode pilots' professional status in an attempt to reduce costs, then sooner or later these types of accidents could become commonplace in Western Europe too. Think of Manx2.

More pictures
 

Pravda.ru has now released 11 photos from the crash site:
[url=http://www.pravda.ru/photo/album/17428/9/url]

Air crash in north-west Russia claims 44 lives
Published: 21 June, 2011, 02:04
Edited: 21 June, 2011, 12:39

A Tu-134 passenger plane crashes on a car highway near the area Karelian village of Besovets (RIA Novosti / Press Service of Russian Emergencies Ministry)


Forty-four people have died in an air crash in north-west Russia. Another eight have been taken to hospital with serious injuries.
A Tupolev Tu-134 passenger plane of the RusAir aviation company has crashed near Petrozavodsk, capital of the Republic of Karelia. The incident happened at around midnight on Monday. The aircraft came down on a highway some 2km from its destination airport.
The initial rescue effort was launched by the witnesses, who happened to be near the crash site.

“I carried three people out of the wreckage. One was either a girl or a woman, I could not tell but she was lighter than the man – it was hard to see, it was dark. Then there was a man, he also wasn’t heavy, he was lighter than me. Myself and another person, Father Andrew, also carried out a big man called Sergey. There was a third person helping us…” a witness said.
“Then we carried out two more people from the wreckage in the middle of the road. Another man reached out his hands towards me but I couldn’t make it to him – everything started exploding – I could not get any closer – everything was engulfed by fire. I’m sorry…” he added.

Eight people, including two children, have been saved from the burning debris. All have been taken to hospital in a state of shock with burns and multiple injuries.

“We have received six patients with burns and physical trauma. Men, women and a 16-year-old girl. Four of them are in a critical condition. We're doing what we can. It's too early to make any prognosis,” Elissan Shandalovich, chief doctor at the hospital said.

The two children who survived the crash are Anton Terekhin and Anastasia Terekhina, brother and sister, according to an Emergencies Ministry list. Their mother, Oksana Terekhina, also survived. The other survivors on the list are Anna Nazarova, Sergey Belgeisov, Vladimir Stepanov, Aleksandra Kargopolova and Yulia Skvortsova. The latter is a flight attendant and the only crew member who was not killed in the incident.

Four of the eight injured will be transferred to Moscow in a special aircraft-mounted medical capsule. Nine-year-old Anton and Moscow resident Belgeisov are in such a bad condition that they cannot be safely moved. Kargopolova, who has moderate injuries, will be treated in Petrozavodsk, since it is much closer to her home city Kondopoga than Moscow is. The transportation of Nazarova, who lives in the Karelian city of Segezh but needs intensive therapy, is still under consideration.
The other 44 people out of the 52 on board have been killed. One of those who died was Swedish rescue worker Jacob Vetterut, another was Alerds Hans Gunter from the Netherlands, according to the Emergencies Ministry. Two victims, Vagram Simovyan and Kristina Onishchenko, were Ukrainian. The Simanovs, a family of four who had dual Russian-American citizenship, were also killed. The rest of the passengers were Russian citizens.
Karelia’s administration is preparing to receive and house some 100 relatives of the passengers of the flight, who are to arrive in the region. A team of psychologists will try to help them deal with their loss.
The republic’s head, Andrey Nelidov, announced that the families of the victims will receive aid amounting to about US$35,000. Survivors will receive half of that sum.

The remains of many of the victims are in a bad state. A DNA test will be needed to identify 33 of the bodies, the local administration says.

There could have been more victims in the incident because the Tupolev crash landed close to a number of houses next to the highway. Luckily, the only object on the ground it reportedly damaged was a parked car.

Landing lights outage linked to crash
The Emergencies Ministry says that the cause of the crash could be anything from pilot error to a mechanical fault, or possibly heavy fog. A criminal case and investigation have been opened.
“At the moment we are inspecting the site of the crash. Fragments of the plane are being found in a 300-meter-wide area. We’ve found and retrieved flight recorders. We’ve taken records of communication between the crew and the ground services from the airport. We’ve also retrieved documents and fuel samples from Domodedovo Airport in Moscow,” a spokesman for Russia’s Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin said.

The vice-chairman of the Interstate Aviation Committee and the head of the Aviation Accident Investigation Commission, Aleksey Morozov, has made a statement admitting that the landing lights at Petrozavodsk airport were off when the Tupolev approached to land, and that this together with adverse weather conditions could have caused the tragedy.
The lights outage may have been caused by the airliner itself, Nikolay Fedotov, chair of the local committee for civilian safety told the media. He said the Tupolev went 150 to 200 meters off course as it approached the runway and hit the high-voltage power line. The collision cut the power supply, and it took several seconds for the backup supply to switch on. Meanwhile, the aircraft hit several treetops with its wing and crashed, the official said.

The Tupolev Tu-134 is a twin-engine airliner designed in the early 1960s in the USSR. The model has been in operation in more than 40 countries, but the largest fleet of Tu-134s is still in Russia. The aircraft, which crashed on Monday night, was commissioned in 1980.

In 2007, the Russian transport minister, Igor Levitin, called the Tu-134 an old and outdated airliner that needed to be replaced by the Sukhoi Superjet 100 or foreign equivalents within five years. There are 28 recorded crashes – including this latest one – for this model.
President Dmitry Medvedev has expressed his condolences to the victims’ relatives and ordered Levitin to investigate the causes of the crash at the scene. According to the president’s spokeswoman Natalia Timakova, the transport minister has already arrived at the site


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