Turkish Airlines Flight 6491
Air ACT on behalf of Turkish Cargo Boeing 747-412F/SCD · Controlled flight into terrain during go-around
From Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) to İstanbul Atatürk Airport (ISL)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA17RA058
- 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
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Final · Interstate Aviation Committee final report
- Event fatalities
- 39 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 35
- Occupants
- 4
- 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
- 36 · all on the ground
- 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
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Not recorded
Boeing 747-412F/SCD
- Flight
- TK6491
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 747
- Category
- Airplane
- 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
- TC-MCL
- Onboard fatalities
- 4
- Route
- From Hong Kong International Airport (HKG)To İstanbul Atatürk Airport (ISL)
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 129: Foreign
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Approach · IFR missed approach
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Unknown or undetermined
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Personnel issues › Psychological
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
Turkish Airlines Flight 6491 was a scheduled international cargo flight operated by ACT Airlines on behalf of Turkish Cargo, from Hong Kong to Istanbul via Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. On 16 January 2017, the Boeing 747-400 flying the route crashed in a residential area while attempting to land in thick fog at Manas International Airport, Bishkek. A total of 39 people – all four crew members on board and 35 residents on the ground – were killed. It was Kyrgyzstan's deadliest plane crash since the crash of Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 6895 in 2008.
The subsequent investigation found that the aircraft failed to acquire the correct instrument landing system's signal. Due to a series of errors by the pilots, the aircraft flew significantly higher than the proper altitude for approach. The autopilot then picked up a false glide slope signal. Believing that they had captured the correct glide slope, the pilots let the autopilot put the aircraft into a descent. It then crashed into a residential area past the runway, mere seconds after a go-around was initiated.
Accident
Flight 6491 was an international freight flight from Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok Airport to Istanbul's Atatürk Airport with a transit at Bishkek's Manas International Airport. Two airports, Astana and Karaganda, were listed as alternate destinations in case the weather in Bishkek was not suitable for landing. The flight would be flown by ACT Airlines on behalf of Turkish Airlines. After a two-hour delay, the aircraft took off from Hong Kong at 03:12 local time and would be expected to arrive in Bishkek approximately 6 hours later.
Investigation and cause
Final report
On March 3, 2020, the Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) released its final report on the accident, stating that probable cause was the loss of control by the pilots over the aircraft position in relation of the glideslope during the instrumental approach, carried out at night in weather conditions suitable for ICAO CAT II landing. The report also listed numerous contributing factors.
Recommendations issued by the IAC include calls for improvements in flight crew and ATC training, changes in the Boeing 747 automation system, and the addition of radar in Manas International Airport.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Turkish Airlines Flight 6491” (revision 1358248141, 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
NTSB narrative
The Government of Kyrgyzstan has notified the NTSB of an accident involving a BOEING 747 that occurred on January 16, 2017. The NTSB has appointed a U.S. Accredited Representative to assist the government of Kyrgyzstan's investigation under the provisions of ICAO Annex 13 as the State of Manufacturer and Design of the airplane.All investigative information will be released by the Government of Kyrgyzstan.
Verbatim NTSB factual narrative from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: Turkish Airlines Flight 6491
- Article
- Turkish Airlines Flight 6491
- Revision
- 1358248141 · 2026-06-07 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q952728
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA17RA058
- Event ID
- 20170116X90503
- Case number
- DCA17RA058
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Turkish Airlines Flight 6491" (page 52887568, revision 1358248141); merged with NTSB case DCA17RA058 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date; matches the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC / MAK), Air Accident Investigation Commission final report
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia: 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); gaps and aircraft details from NTSB record DCA17RA058
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities; matches the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC / MAK), Air Accident Investigation Commission final report
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: ground fatalities; matches the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC / MAK), Air Accident Investigation Commission final report
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (4)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "Turkish Airlines Flight 6491" and NTSB case DCA17RA058, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this event outside the United States Wikipedia's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- No bulk values were replaced by the NTSB case API.
- The report differs on coordinates: N 43°03.248' E 074°2.271' (title page): about 35 km west of Manas International Airport, which the same line names as the place; an evident misprint, so the report's coordinates are not used (reviewed 2026-09-19) (NTSB data: no coordinates).
- Checked against the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC / MAK), Air Accident Investigation Commission final report on 2026-09-18. The report states the same date, flight number, ground fatalities, fatalities, registration, departure, damage and type of operation. Shown unchanged where the report gives another value or wording: operator (shown Air ACT on behalf of Turkish Cargo; report ACT Airlines); destination (shown Istanbul Atatürk Airport, Istanbul, Turkey; report UCFM · Manas Airport, Bishkek). Not checked: place, crash-site coordinates and aircraft type.