2013 Irkut-Avia An-12 crash

On 26 December 2013, an Irkut-Avia Antonov An-12 operating a domestic cargo flight in Russia from Yeltsovka Airport, Novosibirsk, crashed on approach to its destination, Irkutsk Northwest Airport, Irkutsk. All nine people on board, six crew members and three passengers, were killed in the accident. The accident has been found to have been caused mainly by pilot error, even though later inquiries suggested that a failure of the engine number two might have been the main factor that led to the crash.

Flight

The Antonov An-12 was scheduled to perform a cargo flight between Yeltsovka Airport and Irkutsk Northwest Airport, to transport freight between the factories of the Irkut Corporation in the cities of Novosibirsk and Irkutsk. The aircraft was carrying six crew members, three passengers and 1.5 tons of spare parts. The first part of the flight went uneventful, then when on approach the aircraft lined up with runway 14 at Irkutsk Northwest Airport. At 9:01 pm local time the Irkutsk air traffic control centre lost contact with the plane, which was about 1.7 km before the runway. The aircraft impacted some birch trees with its landing gear and belly, before crashing into an hangar belonging to the Russian Ministry of Defence and catching fire. Multiple replacement tools and ZIL-131 veichles that were inside the hangars or on the ground were destroyed. 37 minutes after the crash the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations received reports of the accident. Ten fire engines and numerous firefighters reached the crash scene soon after the accident; the cost of the damage was estimated to be over 78 million rubles.