Tu-154 emergency landing in Novosibirsk

The Tu-154 emergency landing in Novosibirsk was an aviation accident that occurred on the night of 12 January 2000. A Tu-154M airliner of the airline Sibir was operating a scheduled domestic flight on the route Krasnodar—Raduzhny—Novosibirsk, but during landing at the destination engines No. 1 (left) and No. 3 (right) experienced a drop in RPM. The pilots eliminated the malfunction by increasing the RPM, but afterwards the drops recurred, and a few seconds before landing first engine No. 2 (centre; at an altitude of 640 metres) failed, then engine No. 3 (at an altitude of 300 metres) and then engine No. 1 (at an altitude of 9 metres). Initially the captain decided to go around, but after the failure of engine No. 3 he decided to land the aircraft. During the landing roll on the runway the pilots applied emergency braking, which led to the destruction of all 12 wheel tyres of the main landing gear legs, and the airliner stopped 600 metres from the far end of the runway. None of the 30 people on board (22 passengers and 8 crew members) were killed or injured.

Sequence of events

On 12 January 2000 the crew of Tu-154M aircraft RA-85763 was to perform the flight Novosibirsk—Raduzhny—Krasnodar and the return flight (Krasnodar—Raduzhny—Novosibirsk). Until the second landing at Raduzhny there were no remarks on the operation of the equipment. After completing the leg from Krasnodar to Raduzhny, 5000 litres of TS-1 aviation fuel remained in the aircraft's tanks. At Raduzhny airport another 10,000 litres of RT+TS-1 aviation fuel were added to the tanks; in total, the aircraft's tanks held 15,000 litres of aviation fuel. On board the airliner, besides the 8 crew members, were 14 service passengers (a relief crew and technical personnel) and 8 passengers.

The first engine malfunctions were observed during the aircraft's descent from 10,600 metres to 10,100 metres — the throttles of engines No. 1 (left) and No. 3 (right) were set to the flight idle (FI) position, and the RPM dropped below idle RPM with fluctuation of the operating parameters of these engines. A brief illumination of the red warning lamp for the disconnection of the engine No. 1 generator was also observed. The parameters recovered after the engine power setting was increased. The same thing recurred at the start of the descent from cruising level for the approach to Tolmachevo airport — when the engine power was rapidly reduced to idle, an uncharacteristic oscillation of the low-pressure spool RPM of engine No. 3 occurred with an amplitude of 5 % against a permissible value of 2 %.

Before the third turn, after the landing gear and flaps were extended to 28° and the engine power was reduced to idle, engine No. 2 (centre) failed at an altitude of 640 metres. The crew reported the engine failure to the circuit controller and continued the approach. While performing the fourth turn, the pilots developed doubts about the correct operation of the heading channel of the Kurs MP-70 system. According to the navigator's explanation, a rapid movement of the course needle of the flight-navigation instrument (PNP) on the captain's side, inconsistent with the flight dynamics, was noticed from the extreme right position to a position 1-1.5 dots left of the centre of the PNP scale. As a result of piloting by the unreliable PNP indications, as well as the unannunciated failure of the first half-set of the Kurs MP-70 system, the flight on final approach up to a distance of 5500 metres from the runway threshold was carried out with a gradual deviation of course to the left.

At 5500 metres from the runway and at an altitude of 270 metres, with a lateral deviation to the left of 450 metres and a deviation from the landing course of 25°, the crew identified the false PNP indications. Almost simultaneously the tower controller informed the crew of the deviation to the left of the course. Assessing the aircraft's position as unsuitable for landing, the captain gave the command to go around. Almost at the same moment engine No. 3 (right) failed; by the moment of the engine No. 3 failure the crew had already established visual contact with the runway lights. In a difficult situation, characterised by the airliner's position being unsuitable for landing and the failure of two engines, the captain decided to switch to visual flight and perform an S-shaped manoeuvre to land on the runway. Displaying high professionalism and skilful crew management, the captain, with an S-shaped manoeuvre to correct the lateral deviation and adjust the altitude and with maximum use of the aircraft's manoeuvring characteristics, brought it onto the landing course.

The runway threshold was crossed at an altitude of 100 metres; during the flare (at an altitude of 9 metres) engine No. 1 (left) failed. The touchdown was made at a distance of 1200 metres from the approach end of the runway. To stop within the runway, the pilots applied emergency braking, which led to the destruction of all 12 wheel tyres of the main landing gear legs. The aircraft stopped 600 metres short of the far end of the runway. None of the 30 people on board were injured.