Tajikistan Airlines Flight 3183
Tupolev Tu-154B-1 · Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error
From Khujand International Airport (LBD) to Sharjah International Airport (SHJ)
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
- 85 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 86
- Survivors
- 1
- 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
- 1
- 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
Tupolev Tu-154B-1
- Flight
- 7J3183
- Aircraft type
- Tupolev TU-154
- 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
- EY-85281
- Operator
- Tajikistan Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 85
- Route
- From Khujand International Airport (LBD)To Sharjah International Airport (SHJ)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Personnel issues › Psychological
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Tajikistan Airlines Flight 3183 was a Tupolev Tu-154B-1 that crashed on 15 December 1997 on approach to Sharjah Airport in the United Arab Emirates. There was a sole survivor, the navigator, from a crew of seven and seventy-nine passengers. Investigators determined the cause of the accident was pilot error leading to controlled flight into terrain.
Accident
The aircraft departed from Khujand Airport in the afternoon of 15 December 1997. Upon entering the airspace of the Emirate of Sharjah, the aircraft began to descend, experiencing turbulence on the way down. Preparing for final approach, the crew did not notice they were too low, and the aircraft crashed into the desert approximately 13 km east of Sharjah Airport. All 79 passengers were killed (although one survived the crash, only to later die in hospital) as well as 6 of the 7 crew members. The sole survivor was identified as the flight navigator, 37-year-old Sergei Petrov.
Investigation and cause
Cause
According to the Aviation Safety Network, "The pilot descended below the assigned altitude and unintentionally continued a descent into terrain. Contributing factors were self-induced stress, slight turbulence and non-adherence to operating procedures". The president of the Tajikistan State Air Company, who had chartered the flight, claimed that an explosion had taken place on the aircraft prior to the crash, but there was no evidence to support this.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Tajikistan Airlines Flight 3183” (revision 1348064017, 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: Tajikistan Airlines Flight 3183
- Revision
- 1348064017 · 2026-04-10 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q11737221
- 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 "Tajikistan Airlines Flight 3183" (page 40019329, revision 1348064017)
- 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.