Flydubai Flight 981: Difference between revisions

Coordinates: 47°15′30″N 039°49′6″E / 47.25833°N 39.81833°E / 47.25833; 39.81833
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
m Reverted edits by DCG Company (talk) to last version by 173.220.62.19
→‎Flight: as opposed to?
Line 100: Line 100:
<gallery mode=packed heights=200px>
<gallery mode=packed heights=200px>
File:Авиакатастрофа в Ростове-на-Дону (25).jpg|Aerial view of the crash site
File:Авиакатастрофа в Ростове-на-Дону (25).jpg|Aerial view of the crash site
File:Авиакатастрофа в Ростове-на-Дону (31).jpg|Debris scattered on Runway 22
File:Авиакатастрофа в Ростове-на-Дону (31).jpg|Debris scattered on the runway
File:Авиакатастрофа в Ростове-на-Дону (23).jpg|Rescue workers sift the wreckage
File:Авиакатастрофа в Ростове-на-Дону (23).jpg|Rescue workers sift the wreckage
File:Memorial at Rostov-on-Don Airport for victims of Flydubai Flight 981 (1).jpg|Makeshift memorial at the airport
File:Memorial at Rostov-on-Don Airport for victims of Flydubai Flight 981 (1).jpg|Makeshift memorial at the airport

Revision as of 23:10, 21 March 2016

Flydubai Flight 981
A6-FDN, the aircraft involved in the crash, seen departing from Dubai International Airport in 2011
Accident
Date19 March 2016 (2016-03-19)
SummaryCrashed during aborted landing attempt; under investigation
SiteRostov-on-Don Airport
Rostov-on-Don, Rostov Oblast, Russia
47°15′30″N 039°49′6″E / 47.25833°N 39.81833°E / 47.25833; 39.81833
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBoeing 737-800
OperatorFlydubai
RegistrationA6-FDN
Flight originDubai International Airport
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
DestinationRostov-on-Don Airport
Rostov-on-Don, Russia
Passengers55
Crew7
Fatalities62 (all)
Survivors0
Flydubai Flight 981 is located in Middle East
Dubai International Airport
Dubai International Airport
Rostov-on-Don Airport
Rostov-on-Don Airport
class=notpageimage|
Origin and destination airports

Flydubai Flight 981 (FZ981/FDB981)[a] was a scheduled international passenger flight from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, to Rostov-on-Don, Russia. On 19 March 2016, the Boeing 737-800 flying this route made two unsuccessful landing attempts at Rostov-on-Don Airport in inclement weather. After aborting its second approach, the aircraft climbed to 4,000 feet (1,200 m), then descended rapidly and crashed near the start of runway 22.[1][2] All 62 people on board the aircraft were killed in the high-speed impact. [3][4]

The crash was Flydubai's first fatal incident in its eight-year history.[5]

Background

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a five-year-old Boeing 737-8KN,[b] registered as A6-FDN,[4] MSN 40241, equipped with two CFM International CFM56 engines.[6] Its first flight was on 21 December 2010, and it was delivered to Flydubai on 24 January 2011.[6] The aircraft had passed a C-grade maintenance check on 21 January 2016.[7]

Flight crew

The captain was 38-year-old Aristos Sokratous, from Cyprus.[8] He had 5,965 hours of total flying time,[9] with 5,000 hours being the minimum required for a captain at Flydubai.[10][11] Sokratous was promoted to captain a year and a half before the crash.[8] At the time of the crash, he was going to quit the airline after accepting a job from Ryanair, which would allow him to be based with his family in Cyprus.[12] His wife was due to give birth to their first child a few weeks after the crash.[8]

The first officer, 37-year-old Alejandro Cruz Alava, was Spanish.[13] He had 5,769 hours of flying time.[9] He started flying with Flydubai two years before the crash, having flown before for two regional airlines in the Spanish Canary Islands, Binter and Naysa.[14]

Both pilots had experience of landing at Rostov-on-Don.[15]

Weather

At the time of the crash, the range of wind speed in the vicinity was 14–22 m/s (27–43 kn; 31–49 mph)*.[16] Just before the crash, ATC reported to Flight 981 that wind direction was 230 degrees, wind speed 12 m/s (23 kn; 27 mph)* with gusts to 18 m/s (35 kn; 40 mph)*, and visibility was 3,500 m (11,500 ft), according to the ATC records published online.[17][18]

According to one news report, a rare low-altitude jet stream, with a wind speed above 30 m/s (58 kn; 67 mph)*, was observed around the airport as low as 629 meters (2,064 ft)*, while normally it is observed above 5,000 meters (16,000 ft)*.[11] One aviation safety expert suggested that a wind shear, a sudden change in wind speed or direction, might have contributed to the crash.[19]

Flight

Flight 981 was scheduled to depart from Dubai International Airport at 21:45 local time (UTC+4) on 18 March 2016 and arrive at Rostov-on-Don Airport at 01:20 local time (UTC+3) the next day.[20] It departed from Dubai with a 35-minute delay, at 22:20.[3] The return flight from Rostov was scheduled at 02:20.[21]

After a four-hour flight, at 01:39 local time, the aircraft made its first landing attempt, but had to abort it at 01:42 at 1,725 feet (526 m)*, 6.7 kilometres (4.2 mi)* short of the runway, due to poor weather conditions.[21] Ten minutes before this attempt, two other flights landed successfully at Rostov-on-Don from the first attempt: S7 Airlines Flight 1159 (at 01:23), and Ural Airlines Flight 2758 (at 01:28).[21][11] Flight 981 went into a holding pattern near the airport, awaiting better weather conditions, for the next two hours.[22][23] It maintained 8,000 feet (2,400 m)* for the first 30 minutes of the hold and then climbed to 15,000 feet (4,600 m)* feet.[22] Soon after Flight 981's first aborted landing, Aeroflot Flight 1166 made three unsuccessful attempts to land at Rostov-on-Don (at 01:54, 02:07 and 02:17) and at 02:20 diverted to nearby Krasnodar International where it landed successfully at 02:59.[21][24]

At 03:28, the crew of Flydubai Flight 981 started the second attempt to land on runway 22.[21] According to ATC communications published online, pilots reported to ATC that in case they would need to make another go-around, they would climb to flight level 80—approximately 8,000 feet (2,400 m).[c][21][18] At 03:36 the aircraft intercepted the runway 22 localizer at 10 nautical miles (19 km)* from the runway.[21] The crew confirmed it to ATC and continued the descent.[17][18] At 03:40:54, when the aircraft descended to 480 meters (1,570 ft)* with a speed of 243 km/h[25][26] and was about 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi) from the runway threshold, the crew decided to abort the landing.[21] They reported their intention to ATC with "Going around, Sky Dubai[d] 981".[17][18] ATC advised Flight 981 to switch to another air traffic controller ("Sky Dubai 981, contact Rostov Radar on 121.2").[17][18] Flight 981 acknowledged this with "121.2, bye-bye", which was their final transmission.[17][18] The aircraft increased its speed and within 43 seconds climbed to 1,200 meters (3,900 ft)* with a speed of about 343 km/h.[25][26] Starting at 03:41:37 the aircraft's altitude rapidly decreased and it hit the ground.[25][26]

At 03:42, the air traffic controller (ATC) of the airport alerted the local emergency services about the crash.[27] The aircraft impacted the ground immediately east of the approach end of Runway 22. A CCTV video, uploaded online after the crash, shows an aircraft making a steep descent into the ground, followed by an explosion.[28]

According to a source from the rescue team, the small radius of the expansion of debris and the small size of the debris parts, points out that the speed of the fall was more than 400 km/h, as even the aircraft's magnesium alloy wheel rims, its most solid part, were shattered.[29] This speed assessment matches the Flightradar24 data.[25] According to the same source, the plane struck the ground approximately at a 60 degrees angle.[29]

Flight 981 carried fuel for 8.5 hours of flight.[22] It had been airborne for 6 hours until the crash.[22]

  • Aerial view of the crash site
    Aerial view of the crash site
  • Debris scattered on the runway
    Debris scattered on the runway
  • Rescue workers sift the wreckage
    Rescue workers sift the wreckage
  • Makeshift memorial at the airport
    Makeshift memorial at the airport

Victims

People on board by nationality[13]
Nationality Passengers Crew
 Russia 44 1
 Ukraine 8 0
 India 2 0
 Uzbekistan 1 0
 Spain 0 2
 Colombia 0 1
 Cyprus 0 1
 Kyrgyzstan 0 1
 Seychelles 0 1
Total 55 7

All 62 people on board, 55 passengers and 7 crew members, died in the crash.[3] 44 passengers, including four children, were Russian citizens.[30][13] 30 passengers were tourists on a package tour from Natalie Tours, one of the largest Russian tour operators.[11]

Among the passengers were Igor Pakus, chief physician of the Rostov Oblast regional clinic hospital and a member of the Regional Legislative Assembly, and Elvira Belyakova, head of Rostvertol's pension fund.[11]

Investigation

On the day of the crash, a commission was established by the Interstate Aviation Committee to investigate the circumstances of and reasons for the crash.[4] While being led by Russian air accident investigators, the commission included representatives of the aviation authorities of the United Arab Emirates (the state of the plane's registration and the aircraft operator), of the United States (where the aircraft was designed and produced), and of France (where the plane's engines were designed).[4] The US team in the commission consists of air accident investigators from NTSB, experts from Boeing, and representatives from the FAA.[31]

The Russian Investigative Committee also opened a criminal investigation into any possible safety violations leading to the fatal crash,[32] and allocated more than 50 investigators to work on the case.[19] In a statement it listed "crew error, technical failure, adverse weather conditions and other factors" as possible reasons for the crash.[19] Terrorism was ruled out earlier as the cause of the crash.[7]

On 20 March the air crash investigation commission completed the debris field survey and mapping of the wreckage site.[33] Russian and Emirati experts started the analysis of the radar data, Flight Crew-ATC communications and meteorological information.[33] Both flight recorders were recovered from the crash site and delivered to the Interstate Aviation Committee in Moscow.[4]

On 20 and 21 March, Russian air crash investigators, together with their colleagues from the UAE and France, extracted the memory modules from the protective casing and downloaded the data from both the flight data recorder (FDR) and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR).[33] According to preliminary analysis, both flight recorders functioned normally during the flight and kept recording data until the aircraft impacted the ground.[33] The CVR sustained much more severe damage in the crash than the FDR, but the quality of both recordings was described as good.[33] The experts began to decipher and analyse the recovered information and prepare the transcription of the in-flight crew communication. They also started the synchronisation of information from the flight recorders, radar data, ATC communications and meteorological information.[33]

On 21 March air crash invesigators in Rostov-on-Don finished the collection of debris from the crash site and started the reconstruction of the fuselage.[33] Another group of investigators, in Moscow, together with Emirati investigators, airline representatives and experts from Cyprus and Spain, started to collect and analyze materials on plane's airworthiness, preparation for the flight and crew training.[33]

Reaction

In light of the disaster, the Governor of Rostov Oblast, Vasily Golubev, announced that the government would pay 1 million rubles (about $15,000 USD) to the families of the victims.[7] The day after the crash has been designated as a day of mourning in the region.[7]

Notes

  1. ^ FZ is the IATA designator and FDB is the ICAO airline designator. These codes are commonly used in flight numbers, eg. Flight FZ981.
  2. ^ The aircraft was a Boeing 737-800 model; Boeing assigns a unique customer code for each company that buys one of its aircraft, which is applied as an infix in the model number at the time the aircraft is built. The code for Flydubai is "KN", hence "737-8KN".
  3. ^ Aircraft altitude is measured by air pressure according to calculated sea level taking into account the actual pressure, which declines as altitude above sea level increases. A flight level is the pressure altitude in hundreds of feet related to standard pressure of 1013,25 Hpa at sea level.
  4. ^ Sky Dubai is the airline's assigned call sign.

References

  1. ^ "Rostov-On-Don Airport in Russia". Sputnik News. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  2. ^ "A6-FDN – Boeing 737-8KN – FlyDubai – Flightradar24". www.flightradar24.com. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
  3. ^ a b c "Statement relating to Flydubai FZ981". Flydubai. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Boeing 737-800 А6-FDN 19.03.2016". Interstate Aviation Committee. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  5. ^ Baldwin, Derek (19 March 2016). "Flydubai crash surprising as airline has excellent safety record, Dubai-based analyst says". Gulf News. Dubai. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  6. ^ a b "Boeing 737 Next Gen MSN 40241". Airfleets.net. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  7. ^ a b c d Chance, Matthew; Cullinane, Susannah; Meilhan, Pierre (19 March 2016). "Flydubai plane crashes in Russia; 62 aboard reported dead". CNN. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  8. ^ a b c "Cyprus Pilot of Crashed FlyDubai Jet Had a New Job Elsewhere". The New York Times. Associated Press. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  9. ^ a b "Flydubai plane crash: airline to give victims' families $20,000 each". Gulf News. Dubai. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  10. ^ "Captain". Flydubai. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  11. ^ a b c d e "Струйное течение, полупустой самолет. Основные версии причин авиакатастрофы в Ростове-на-Дону" [Jet stream, half-empty aircraft. Main versions of the plane crash in Rostov-on-Don]. Meduza (in Russian). 19 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  12. ^ Long, Natalie (19 March 2016). "Flydubai plane crash pilot, co-pilot leave behind pregnant wives". Gulf News. Dubai. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  13. ^ a b c "Updated list of passengers and crew members of flight 981 – Dubai – Rostov-on-Don". Ministry of Emergency Situations. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  14. ^ Long, Natalie (19 March 2016). "Flydubai plane crash: Two Spaniards were from Canary Islands". Gulf News. Dubai. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  15. ^ Cornwell, Alexander (20 March 2016). "Flydubai chief executive: 'Airport was good enough to land'". Gulf News. Dubai. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  16. ^ Heintz, Jim (19 March 2016). "All 61 aboard Dubai airliner killed in crash in south Russia". Associated Press. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  17. ^ a b c d e "Последние переговоры пилотов упавшего «Боинга» с диспетчерами аэропорта Ростова: аудио" [The last communications between the pilots of the crashed Boeing with Rostov ATC: Audio]. DonDay. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  18. ^ a b c d e f "Крушение самолета в Ростове-на-Дону" [Aircraft crash in Rostov-on-Don]. Aviation Safety. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  19. ^ a b c Nechepurenko, Ivan (19 March 2016). "Wind Given as Possible Cause of Fatal Plane Crash in Russia". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  20. ^ "Flydubai flight FZ 981: Dubai – Rostov". FlightMapper. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  21. ^ a b c d e f g h "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737-8KN A6-FDN Rostov Airport (ROV)". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  22. ^ a b c d Hradecky, Simon (19 March 2015). "Crash: Flydubai B738 at Rostov on Don on Mar 19th 2016, struck wing onto runway after holding for 2 hours". Aviation Herald. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  23. ^ "Playback of FlyDubai flight FZ981". Flightradar24. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  24. ^ "Aeroflot flight SU1166". Flightradar24. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  25. ^ a b c d "Крушение «Боинга» Flydubai. Что до сих пор неизвестно" [Crash of Flydubai's Boeing. What is still unknown]. Meduza (in Russian). 20 March 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  26. ^ a b c "FlyDubai flight FZ981". Flightradar24. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  27. ^ "Уточненная информация на 12:00 об аварии с самолетом в г. Ростове-на-Дону" [Updated (for 12:00) information about the accident with the aircraft in Rostov-on-Don] (in Russian). Rostov-on-Don branch of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  28. ^ "Plane Crashes in Russia". The New York Times. Reuters. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  29. ^ a b "Источник: Boeing потерпел крушение, пытаясь уйти на третий круг" [Source: Boeing crashed, trying to go around for a third attempt] (in Russian). TASS. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  30. ^ "Statement relating to Flydubai flight FZ981". Flydubai. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  31. ^ "US Transport Agency Sending Team to Russia to Assist in Boeing Crash Probe". Sputnik. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  32. ^ Roth, Andrew (19 March 2016). "Dubai passenger jet crashes in Russia, killing 62". The Washington Post. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  33. ^ a b c d e f g h "Боинг 737-800 А6-FDN 19.03.2016" [Boeing 737-800 А6-FDN 19.03.2016] (in Russian). Interstate Aviation Committee. 20 March 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2016.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flydubai Flight 981.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flydubai_Flight_981&oldid=711281682"