An-26 crash near Tbilisi
Tojikiston Antonov An-26 · Difficult weather conditions, crew error
From Batumi (Georgia) to Shymkent (Kazakhstan)
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
- Occurrence
- Event fatalities
- Unknown
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- 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
- Unknown
- 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-26
- Aircraft type
- Antonov AN-26
- 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
- CCCP-26035
- Operator
- Tojikiston
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Batumi (Georgia)To Shymkent (Kazakhstan)
Cause areas
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Environmental issues › Operating environment
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 An-26 crash near Tbilisi was an aviation accident involving an An-26B passenger aircraft of the Tajik aviation enterprise Tojikiston, which occurred on Thursday 17 June 1993 33 kilometres from Tbilisi; 41 people were killed (according to other data — 33).
Crash
The aircraft was operating a charter passenger flight from Batumi to Shymkent with intermediate stops in Baku and Ashgabat. The passengers were traders who boarded with their goods. According to the weather forecast received by the crew before departure, thunderstorms were expected over a considerable part of the Kutaisi-Tbilisi-Baku route; however, the captain decided to take off. Late in the evening, with 28—36 passengers (the data differ between sources) and 5 crew members, the airliner took off for Baku. The aircraft was proceeding at flight level 5100 metres when the crew reported to the Tbilisi area air traffic control centre passing Mukhrani. This was the last radio exchange with aircraft 26035, and soon its blip disappeared from the radar screen. At 22:15 the An-26 crashed into the ground near the village of Choporti (Dusheti District), 33 and a half kilometres north of Tbilisi Airport. All the people on board were killed.
Investigation and cause
Causes
Local residents stated that the aircraft exploded in the air. But the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia almost immediately refuted the version that the crash was due to an explosion on board. According to the commission's conclusion, the accident in fact occurred because, while flying through a thunderstorm, the airliner, owing to severe turbulence, went to supercritical angles of attack, entered a stall and then went into a spin. The captain knew about the thunderstorm on the route but nevertheless chose to fly. This was largely because Batumi Airport operated only in the daytime, while it lacked proper conditions for an overnight stay, including rest facilities for the crew, security for the aircraft and baggage, and much else. Later during the flight the crew requested permission to go around the thunderstorm on the southern side, but the controller in Tbilisi forbade this. The crew's choice of alternate aerodromes was at the same time severely limited, since the political and economic situation in the post-Soviet space was still difficult at that time.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Russian Wikipedia article “Катастрофа Ан-26 под Тбилиси” (revision 146598482, 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
Russian Wikipedia article: Катастрофа Ан-26 под Тбилиси
- Article
- Катастрофа Ан-26 под Тбилиси
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 146598482 · 2025-07-16 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q118956688
- 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
- ru Wikipedia article "Катастрофа Ан-26 под Тбилиси" (page 5400120, revision 146598482), 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
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): The Tajik aviation enterprise Tojikiston flew traders on a charter passenger flight: an airline charter. The article: "The aircraft was operating a charter passenger flight from Batumi to Shymkent with intermediate stops in Baku and Ashgabat."
- Fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Russian Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.