Monday, March 22, 2010

Aviastar-TU Tupolev Tu-204 crashes on approach to Moscow, eight crew injured

by B. N. Sullivan

A Tupolev TU-204-100 passenger aircraft operated by Russian carrier Aviastar-TU crashed early today while on approach to Moscow Domodedovo Airport, destroying the aircraft. All eight crew members who were on board the ferry flight from Hurghada, Egypt have survived, although all were said to be injured.

The accident occurred on Mar. 22, 2010 at about 02:35 AM local time. At the time of the accident, the aircraft (registration RA-64011) was on approach to Runway 14R at Domodedovo when it "disappeared from radar."

According to a FlightGlobal.com article about the accident, the aircraft "came down about 1km from the runway, while attempting to land at night in fog and poor visibility."

Flight Global.com also reported that the cloud base was down to 60m and runway visibility was variable, at 450-700m, but the runway lighting was functioning normally.

There was no post-crash fire. The flight data recorders have been recovered and turned over to MAK, the Russian accident investigation committee, for analysis. Russian aviation authorities have banned Aviastar-TU from carrying out passenger operations while the investigation is underway.

RussiaToday posted this video of the crash site on YouTube:



If the video does not play or display properly above, click here to view it on YouTube.