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CAAC Antonov An-24 accident near Lanzhou

15 Dec 1986 · near Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport, People's Republic of China

Antonov An-24RV · The CAAC Antonov An-24 accident near Lanzhou occurred on 15 December 1986

From Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport, People's Republic of China to Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)

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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
6 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Unknown
Survivors
38
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
38
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-24RV

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
B-3413
Operator
Caac
Onboard fatalities
6
Route
From Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport, People's Republic of ChinaTo Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)

Cause areas

  • Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
  • Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena

From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.

Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.

From the Wikipedia article

The CAAC Antonov An-24 accident near Lanzhou occurred on 15 December 1986. On that day, an Antonov An-24RW of the airline CAAC, which was on a domestic scheduled flight from Lanzhou to Chengdu with a scheduled stopover in Xi'an, crashed on the first leg of the flight due to engine icing. Of the 44 people on board, six passengers were killed in the accident.

Accident sequence

A few minutes after takeoff from Lanzhou Airport, the crew of the Antonov flew through a zone of bad weather and icing conditions. The right engine failed and the pilots feathered its propeller. The pilots requested clearance from air traffic control in Lanzhou to turn back for an emergency landing. After receiving it, they initiated the descent. During this, control over the aircraft was partially lost. About 30 minutes after takeoff the aircraft crashed into a field located only a few kilometres from the airport. The aircraft was destroyed. Six passengers died, while the remaining 38 occupants were injured.

Investigation and cause

Cause

It was determined that the right engine had failed due to icing.

Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall einer Antonow An-24 der CAAC bei Lanzhou” (revision 239497202, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article

Sources

German Wikipedia article: Flugunfall einer Antonow An-24 der CAAC bei Lanzhou
Article
Flugunfall einer Antonow An-24 der CAAC bei Lanzhou
Translation
Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
Revision
239497202 · 2023-11-26 · retrieved 2026-09-19
Wikidata
Q123404687
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
de Wikipedia article "Flugunfall einer Antonow An-24 der CAAC bei Lanzhou" (page 12863333, revision 239497202), translated into English with AI assistance
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
none
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
"scheduled flight" in the article's opening paragraph
Fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Summary
Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.