Airbus A321neo accident over Magadan

Investigation

The investigation of the circumstances and causes of the aviation incident was carried out by the central office of Rosaviatsiya; the chairman of the investigation commission was the head of Rosaviatsiya's Flight Safety Inspection Directorate, Anvar Shaykamalov.

A criminal case was opened over the incident on the grounds of an offence under Part 1 of Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Provision of services not meeting safety requirements"). The crew was suspended from flying for the duration of the investigation.

On 24 December 2021 Rosaviatsiya's final report on the results of the investigation of the occurrence was published.

The causes of the accident were named as:

Snow had not been removed from the forward part of the fuselage (near the cockpit glazing). Its melting while the aircraft was still at the airfield led to the formation of "barrier ice", which prevented air from entering the pitot probes

The captain deflected the sidestick too strongly. This behaviour led to the aircraft stalling. While the aircraft was in a stall, the crew resorted to "dual input", which is prohibited by the flight crew operating manual. This made it more difficult to return the aircraft to level flight.

Ground personnel made errors when carrying out the de-icing treatment:

The treatment was carried out in "heavy snowfall" conditions. Under such conditions the de-icing fluid has no holdover time.

Only 99 litres of type IV fluid were used to treat the wing and stabiliser (against a standard for the A321neo of 230 litres)

Examination of samples of the fluid revealed that it did not meet the viscosity standard. Insufficient viscosity of the fluid means that the solution is retained less well on the surface of the aircraft and increases the risk of icing.