Aviastar-TU Flight 1906

Aviastar-TU Flight 1906 was a Tupolev Tu-204 that crashed while attempting to land at Domodedovo International Airport, Moscow, Russia, in heavy fog on 22 March 2010. The aircraft was on a ferry flight from Hurghada International Airport, Egypt to Moscow, and had no passengers on board; all eight crew survived the accident, four with serious injuries requiring hospitalization and four with minor injuries. The accident was the first hull loss of a Tu-204 and the first hull loss for Aviastar-TU.

Investigators determined the cause of the accident to be failure of the autopilot system and poor cockpit crew performance.

Accident

Aviastar-TU Airlines Flight 1906 was a ferry flight with only eight crew on board the aircraft. At 02:34 local time (23:34 on 21 March UTC), the plane crash-landed about 1450 m short of runway 14R at Domodedovo airport while attempting to land at night in fog and poor visibility. The METAR for the airport at the time indicated wind direction 160° at 3 m/s and visibility 100 m.

When the aircraft was on final, the pilots received several warnings from ATC that they were 1000-2000 m to the left of the landing course, followed by another warning that they were too low. The pilots were confused about their location and were trying to figure it out based on reports from ATC, the flight computer and a portable GPS device. According to the final investigation report, they also ignored automatic altitude readouts that started at 60 m above ground level and continued every 10 m. Nine seconds before the impact, the pilot contacted ATC to ask if they were off course, still concentrated on aligning the aircraft with the runway and not on its altitude. The pilots made no effort to stop the descent.

The aircraft crash-landed in a birch forest at 23:35 local time, its left wing broke off, and the hull broke into two. There was no fire. Fire services arrived 30 minutes later. All crew members except the flight engineer who was seriously injured, escaped the crashed plane on their own. They could not immediately explain the reason of the crash, saying that it happened too fast. One of the crew members (purser) reached the nearby highway and stopped a car which took her to a hospital. Three other crew members also reached the highway and waited there for an ambulance.

The two pilots suffered serious fractures and concussions; two others were taken to hospital where they were described as being in a satisfactory condition. The four remaining crew members were treated for minor injuries in Domodedovo's medical center. The accident resulted in the first hull loss of a Tupolev Tu-204 and the first hull loss for Aviastar-TU.