Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 14 February 2008 |
Summary | Loss of control following stall shortly after take-off |
Site | Zvartnots International Airport, Yerevan, Armenia |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Bombardier CRJ100ER |
Operator | Belavia |
IATA flight No. | B21834 |
ICAO flight No. | BRU1834 |
Call sign | BELAVIA 1834 |
Registration | EW-101PJ |
Flight origin | Zvartnots International Airport Yerevan, Armenia |
Destination | Minsk National Airport Minsk, Belarus |
Occupants | 21 |
Passengers | 18 |
Crew | 3 |
Fatalities | 0 |
Injuries | 7[1] |
Survivors | 21 |
Belavia Flight 1834 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Yerevan, Armenia, to Minsk, Belarus, operated by Belavia. On the morning of February 14, 2008, the Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet carrying 18 passengers and three crew crashed and burst into flames shortly after take off from Zvartnots International Airport near Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.
The jet hit its left wing on the runway during takeoff, crashed to the ground, flipped over, and came to rest inverted near the runway. All passengers and crew managed to escape the aircraft before it erupted into flames, partly due to the timely response of the fire and rescue crews. There were no fatalities, but seven people were taken to hospital for treatment.
Aircraft and crew
The aircraft involved, EW-101PJ (MSN 7316), was a 50-seat Bombardier CRJ100ER.[2] It was a fairly new member of the fleet since it was leased by the airline and delivered in February 2007. The aircraft was built in 1999.[3]
The captain was 50-year-old Viktor Shishlo, who had logged 9,215 flight hours, including 461 hours on the CRJ100. The first officer was 44-year-old Alexander Mukhin, who had 9,454 flight hours with 405 of them on the CRJ100.[4]
Crash
Gayane Davtyan, a spokeswoman for the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia said that the jet, operated by the Belarusian airline Belavia, hit its left wing on the runway during takeoff and erupted into flames.[5]
Fire and rescue crews were reportedly on site within 50 seconds. The passengers also helped the crew members out of the cockpit.[6]
Yerevan's Zvartnots airport was temporarily closed after the crash, which took place at 04:15 local time.[5] As of 10:30 local time, the airport was still closed while arrivals were being diverted to Gyumri's Shirak Airport. The first plane expected to land at Zvartnots was from Tehran at 11:30 local time.[2][needs update]
None of the 21 occupants were killed, although seven passengers received serious injuries.[1]
Investigation
Initial speculation pointed to icing on the wings which caused the left wing to stall upon lift-off. Icing conditions were reported at the airport during the crash, and the CRJs are very prone to wing contamination and icing since they do not have any leading edge devices.[7]
The Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) performed a test employing a CRJ-900 registration D-ACKK to assess the accumulation and freeze of atmospheric moisture with large temperature differences between the ambient air and the remaining fuel in the tanks after landing. It was found that ice accumulated on the underside of the wing immediately after landing and grew 25 minutes after landing upon refueling. The upper side of the wing showed dew accumulation after refueling. The fuel temperature at the time of arrival was measured at −21 °C (−6 °F), and before departure at −12 °C (10 °F) with an ambient temperature of plus 8 °C (46 °F).
At the time of the accident, it could therefore be assumed that the temperature of the fuel in EW-101PJ never got above −12 °C (10 °F) with an ambient temperature of −3 °C (27 °F).
Investigation teams from the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia, from Belarus, and from Bombardier participated in the investigation to determine the probable cause of the accident.[8]
See also
References
- ^ a b Final report, section 1.2, page 12.
- ^ a b "CRJ-100 plane of Belavia burns at Zvartnots airport". ArmRadio. 2008-02-14. Archived from the original on 2011-05-31. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
- ^ "Aircraft details". planespotters.net. 2011-04-29. Archived from the original on 2011-01-29. Retrieved 2012-04-16.
- ^ "Final Report of Belavia Flight 1834" (PDF). Interstate Aviation Committee. 2009-06-04. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-16. Retrieved 2009-08-31.
- ^ a b "Plane crashes in Armenia's capital". Alaska Report. 2008-02-14. Archived from the original on 17 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
- ^ "Black Boxes Being Transcribed". Panorama.am. 2008-02-14. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
- ^ Tanner, Clinton E. (September 2007). "The effect of Wing Leading Edge Contamination on the Stall Characteristics of aircraft". SAE Aircraft and Engine Icing International Conference, Session: Airplane De / Anti-icing Operations - Part I. Seville, Spain: SAE. doi:10.4271/2007-01-3286.
- ^
Kaminski–Morrow, David (2008-02-15). "Crashed Belavia CRJ rolled left after becoming airborne". Archived from the original on 19 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
External links
- "CRJ-100LR (CL-600-2B19) 14.02.2008." (Archive) Interstate Aviation Committee (in Russian)
- Final Report (Archive) (in Russian)
- "Пресс-релиз Национальной авиакомпании «Белавиа»." Belavia. 14 February 2008. (in Russian)
- Photos of the aircraft involved at Airliners.net
- Belavia Airlines Accident In Yerevan, 21 Injured
- Reports: No Fatalities in Armenian CRJ Takeoff Crash 2008-02-14
- Crash: Belavia CRJ100 at Yerevan on Feb 14th 2008, wing tip strike during takeoff
- "Plane crashes in Armenia's capital". CNN. 2008-02-14. Archived from the original on 2008-02-17. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
- "Plane crashes in Armenian capital". KazInform. 2008-02-14. Archived from the original on September 4, 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
- "Passenger are in Stress". A1+. 2008-02-14. Archived from the original on 2011-05-17. Retrieved 2008-02-18.