South Airlines Flight 8971
Antonov An-24 · Crashed next to the runway while landing in fog
From Odesa International Airport (ODS) to Donetsk International Airport, Donetsk, Ukraine
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
- 5 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 52
- Survivors
- 47
- 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
- 9
- 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-24
- Flight
- YG8971
- Aircraft type
- Antonov AN-24
- 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-WRA
- Operator
- South Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 5
- Route
- From Odesa International Airport (ODS)To Donetsk International Airport, Donetsk, Ukraine
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 13 February 2013, a Ukrainian Antonov An-24 passenger aircraft operating South Airlines flight 8971 crashed on landing at Donetsk International Airport, Ukraine, killing 5 of the 52 people on board.
Flight Crew
The crew of the flight consisted of:
Captain - Sergey Nikolaevich Melashenko
First Officer - Oleg Smirnov
Flight Engineer - Roman Korol
Navigator - Sergei Xlopcev
Accident
At 18:09 Kyiv Time, after an internal flight from Odesa to Donetsk, the plane missed the runway as it made a hard landing at Donetsk International Airport. Five passengers were confirmed dead. After touchdown the aircraft had burst into flames, however, most occupants were evacuated because they were able to escape from the burning aircraft through a hole in the fuselage left by the crash. Eyewitnesses have stated that the aircraft was attempting to land in dense fog and touched down on soft ground between the main runway and the taxiway, other observers reported the aircraft touched down short of the runway, on soft ground. According to flight documentation on board were 36 passengers and 7 crew members; but there were also several unregistered passengers making the total of people on board 52.
All 44 passengers were football fans on their way to the match between Shakhtar Donetsk and Borussia Dortmund. This match opened with a minute of silence in memory of the deceased.
The aircraft was built in 1973.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Officer Volodymyr Vyshynsky is in charge of the inquiry which was opened the day after the crash. On 14 February 2013 investigators considered pilot error, faulty ground support equipment and poor weather conditions as possible causes. The plane's pilot blamed bad weather for the accident; while the plane's operator, South Airlines, stated that the plane was in good condition and the pilot should not have landed in the fog and should have diverted to another airport. One passenger mentioned "engine failure during landing".
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Vilkol stated that the cause for the crash was a loss of speed by the aircraft during landing approach due to an error of the unprepared crew, which had no clearance to make the flight in those weather conditions. The Ministry of Transport reported that at the Minimum Descent Altitude (MDA) the crew did not establish visual contact with the approach lights or runway, the commander then reduced the rate of descent however did not communicate a decision to go-around or continue the approach to his crew. The aircraft slowed to below the minimum control speed, rolled to 48 degrees of bank and impacted ground right wing first.
Text from the Wikipedia article “South Airlines Flight 8971” (revision 1346572714, 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: South Airlines Flight 8971
- Article
- South Airlines Flight 8971
- Revision
- 1346572714 · 2026-04-01 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4554271
- 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 "South Airlines Flight 8971" (page 38508211, revision 1346572714)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article 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.