B738, Rostov-on-Don Russia, 2016

B738, Rostov-on-Don Russia, 2016

Summary

On 19 March 2016, a Boeing 737-800 making a second night ILS approach to Rostov-on-Don failed to complete a go around commenced after becoming unstable in turbulent conditions and crashed at high speed within the airport perimeter killing all 62 people on board. The Investigation concluded that the Captain had lost spatial awareness and then failed to configure the aircraft correctly or control its flightpath as intended and that although the First Officer had recognised this, he had tried to coach the Captain rather than take over. It was noted that the flight up to this point had been conducted normally.

Description

On 19 March 2016, a Boeing 737-800 (A6-FDN) being operated by Flydubai on a scheduled international passenger flight from Dubai to Rostov-on-Don as FDB 981 failed to complete a second approach at destination and, following an initial climb, transitioned to a steep descent whilst in night IMC and subsequently crashed onto the intended landing runway. The aircraft was destroyed by the high energy impact and the explosion which followed and all 55 passengers and 7 crew members were killed. Damage was caused to the runway surface and to runway lighting and the airport remained closed for two days to allow wreckage recovery and infrastructure repairs.

A general view of the crash site after the removal of larger pieces of wreckage. [Reproduced from the Official Report]

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Air Accident Investigation Commission of the Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK). Both the FDR and the two-hour CVR were recovered from the wreckage having sustained "substantial mechanical damage" but the data from both was successfully downloaded. Recorded ATC radar and communications data were also available.

An Interim Report with some initial factual information and including five "Prompt Safety Recommendations" was issued on 20 April 2016. These Recommendations were intended to direct attention to what appeared to be key aspects of the accident at that time and were as follows:

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