Aviastar-TU Flight 6534
Tupolev Tu-204-100C · Ground fire due to oxygen leak in cockpit
From Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport (HGH) to Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport (OVB)
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
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 8
- Survivors
- 8
- 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
- 3
- 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-204-100C
- Flight
- 4B6534
- Aircraft type
- Tupolev TU-204
- 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
- RA-64032
- Operator
- Aviastar-TU
- Onboard fatalities
- 0
- Route
- From Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport (HGH)To Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport (OVB)
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
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
Aviastar-TU Flight 6534 was a scheduled international cargo flight from Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport in Hangzhou, China to Tolmachevo Airport in Novosibirsk, Russia. On 8 January 2022, the Tupolev Tu-204 operating the flight caught fire during pushback. The 8 crew members on board were able to evacuate, with 3 sustaining minor injuries. Investigators attributed the accident to an oxygen leak in the cockpit.
Accident
The aircraft began pushback from stand 204 at 04:34:37 local time, for a scheduled departure time of 04:40. In accordance with the preflight checklist, the First Officer pressed the test button of the oxygen mask to his right at 04:34:54. This initiated an oxygen gas leakage that lasted for 2 minutes 25 seconds. There were three flashes of flame during this time, which resulted in a rapidly developing fire in the cockpit.
The area where the fire extinguisher was located in the cockpit was covered by the flames, so the crew opened the cockpit door and asked the relief crew for the other portable fire extinguisher. The aircraft stopped moving at 04:35:17 and the crew began evacuating. The escape rope storage boxes in the cockpit were engulfed by the fire, rendering them unusable during the evacuation. As a result, the crew members had to jump from the exits 3.9 metres (12 feet) above the ground to escape the plane, as the aircraft was not fitted with inflatable slides. All crewmembers had evacuated the aircraft by 04:38:02, with three sustaining minor injuries during the evacuation after jumping down from the plane.
Emergency crews arrived at the burning aircraft within two minutes. The fire spread throughout the interior of the plane into the cargo hold, eventually burning through the roof and breaking the airframe into three main pieces. Videos captured by the public showed smoke billowing out of the fuselage behind the cockpit. The fire was extinguished by emergency services by 09:40, and other operations at the airport were not affected. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
An investigation was opened by the Eastern Regional Administration of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, with an English translation of the final report released by Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK).
CCTV footage recorded at the airport showed the fire sequence inside the cockpit. Potential causes of fire including arson, cigarettes, and lithium-ion batteries were ruled out by investigators. The origin of the fire was determined to be that:
The crew oxygen system components inside the right-hand console malfunctioned and resulted in oxygen leakage, and then the leaking oxygen formed an ephemeral oxygen-rich environment in the confined space. The heat generated or emitted from the aircraft components and systems in this area ignited the combustible materials in the oxygen-rich environment.
The leaking oxygen then exacerbated the development and spread of the fire. The cause of the malfunction was not stated. The investigation resulted in recommendations to check the crew oxygen systems on Tu-204 and Tu-214 aircraft to ensure the absence of leaks.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Aviastar-TU Flight 6534” (revision 1373019975, 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: Aviastar-TU Flight 6534
- Article
- Aviastar-TU Flight 6534
- Revision
- 1373019975 · 2026-09-03 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q136418836
- 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 "Aviastar-TU Flight 6534" (page 80545410, revision 1373019975)
- 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.