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Aeromist-Kharkiv Flight 2137

23 Dec 2002 · Near Ardestan, Iran

Antonov An-140 · Crashed into mountain on landing approach

From Kharkiv International Airport (HRK) to Isfahan Shahid Beheshti International Airport (IFN)

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Event

Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
Event fatalities
44 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
44
Survivors
0
InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
Unknown
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Airline

Antonov An-140

Flight
HT2137
Aircraft type
Antonov AN-140
Category
Airplane · from aircraft type
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
UR-14003
Onboard fatalities
44
Route
From Kharkiv International Airport (HRK)To Isfahan Shahid Beheshti International Airport (IFN)

Cause areas

  • Personnel issues › Miscellaneous
  • Personnel issues › Task performance
  • Personnel issues › Action/decision

From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.

Approximate · Estimated position: Ardestan, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.

From the Wikipedia article

On 23 December 2002, an Antonov An-140 crashed near Ardestan, Iran, killing everyone on board. The crash, with 44 fatalities, killed a number of Russian and Ukrainian aviation specialists.

Crash

The aircraft was en route from Kharkiv in Ukraine to Isfahan in Iran, having stopped in Trabzon, Turkey to refuel. It hit high ground on a night-time descent to Isfahan International Airport, killing all on board. The passengers, including several Russian and Ukrainian specialists and officials, were headed for the official inauguration of Iran's version of another Antonov plane, the An-140 commuter airliner, which is licensed by the Antonov design bureau. Iranian officials at first said they believed pilot error was the cause of the crash, but later said it was too early to determine what caused the accident. A short summary of the report was published on the Flight Global website.

Investigation and cause

Investigation

The aircraft's flight data recorder was recovered and the initial investigation into the crash stated that the primary cause was due to "procedural navigation errors by the crew". The Commonwealth of Independent States' Interstate Aviation Committee report concluded that the main causes of the crash were poor crew management, failing to apply approach procedures, and incorrect use of the aircraft's GPS satellite navigation system, in breach of its operational requirements and their rating for its use on approach; failure to use information from other installed navigation equipment; failure to seek an alternative approach when they realised the GPS could not be giving a realistic distance measuring equipment readout.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Aeromist-Kharkiv Flight 2137” (revision 1366785065, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article

Sources

Wikipedia article: Aeromist-Kharkiv Flight 2137
Article
Aeromist-Kharkiv Flight 2137
Revision
1366785065 · 2026-07-30 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q4600175
Licence
Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
Record
Wikipedia article "Aeromist-Kharkiv Flight 2137" (page 35840418, revision 1366785065)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata coordinates)
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
airline flight number in the infobox
Fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Summary
Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.