Volga-Dnepr Airlines aircraft accident near Tetovo

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Volga-Dnepr Airlines aircraft accident near Tetovo
Antonov An-12 ..., Volga-Dnepr Airlines AN0127649.jpg

An identical An-12 of the Volga Dnepr Airlines
Accident summary
Accident type Controlled flight into terrain
place near Lisec , Tetovo , Macedonia
Macedonia 1991North Macedonia 
date July 24, 1992
Fatalities 8th
Survivors 0
Aircraft
Aircraft type Soviet UnionSoviet Union Antonov An-12BK
operator RussiaRussia Volga-Dnepr Airlines
Mark Soviet UnionSoviet Union CCCP-11342
Departure airport Simferopol Airport , Ukraine
UkraineUkraine 
Destination airport Skopje Airport , Macedonia
Macedonia 1991North Macedonia 
Passengers 2
crew 6th
Lists of aviation accidents

An aircraft accident involving Volga-Dnepr Airlines occurred on July 24, 1992. On a charter cargo flight operated by Volga-Dnepr Airlines , an Antonov An-12BK was flown against a mountain on its approach to Skopje Airport . All 8 people on board the Antonov were killed in the incident.

Airplane and occupants

The aircraft used on the flight was a 22-year-old Soviet -made Antonov An-12BK that had made its maiden flight in 1970. The machine had the factory number 00347607. The machine had the Soviet aircraft registration CCCP-11342 since it was commissioned . The aircraft was delivered to the Soviet Air Force on December 26, 1970 . The Volga-Dnepr Airlines, founded in 1990, took over the aircraft in Soviet times, on July 25, 1991. They continued to operate the Antonov with this registration number; it had not yet been converted to the new Russian RA registration number . The four-engine transport aircraft was equipped with four Ivchenko AI-20M turboprop engines . At the time of the accident, the machine had a cumulative total operating performance of 4537 operating hours, which accounted for 4868 take-offs and landings.

There was a six-person crew on board, and two passengers also flew with it.

Reason for the flight

A flight from Simferopol to Skopje was carried out with the Antonov , where fans were to be charged, which were to be sold in the Ukraine. The flight was conducted in daylight.

the accident

The machine was on the approach to land at the capital airport when a thunderstorm formed near the airport. After crossing the Skopje radio beacon, the pilots changed course on the approach chart and tried to avoid the thunderstorm. The approach was continued in a course direction of 230 degrees, which, however, led exactly in the direction of a mountain range. For a landing on runway 34 assigned to them, the pilots would have had to maintain a course of 163 degrees.

The pilots had difficulties in determining their current position because the airport DME was out of order. The last radio contact with air traffic control took place at 20:23. The pilots flew a 140-degree turn below the safety altitude. The machine was flown near the village of Lisec, which belongs to Tetovo, at an altitude of 1600 meters against the 1934 meter high Lisec mountain. The Antonov broke apart in the collision and burned out, killing all 8 occupants. The scene of the accident was located 26 kilometers southwest of the destination airport.

root cause

The accident was attributed to a combination of several unfavorable factors:

  • Extremely difficult weather conditions at the destination Skopje airport and in its vicinity. There were thunderstorms and heavy rain that started when the aircraft was approaching Skopje.
  • The crew of the Antonov had no information about a thunderstorm over the airport from the air traffic control in Skopje until the decision to approach.
  • A lack of radar monitoring of the flight as well as an omitted radio direction finding by the air traffic controller, with which the position of the machine could have been determined
  • Inability of the crew to use the one-dimensional radio on board, either due to its failure or due to the deactivation of the receiving devices on the ground when switching to the emergency power supply
  • the incorrect decision of the crew to continue the approach under the given conditions
  • the incorrect decision of the crew to perform maneuvers during the course to avoid the thunderstorm while the exact position of the aircraft in relation to natural obstacles along the new flight path was not known

context

The accident was one of three that occurred in Macedonia in 1992 and 1993, and which led to criticism of Macedonian aviation. In November 1993, on Avioimpex flight 110 with a Jakowlew Jak-42 at Ohrid Airport, under similar circumstances, the worst accident in the country's history occurred , in which 116 people died.

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