CVR - Aeroflot Flight 9981

Описание: Photo of RA-82069 was taken in August 1996.

Aircraft Photo:
• https://www.airliners.net/photo/Aerof...

Accident Details:
• https://aviation-safety.net/database/...

On October 8th 1996, an Antanov-124 owned by Aeroflot but operated by "Ajax", flew from Moscow to Turin where it had to collect several "Ferrari" cars and deliver them to Brunei. The flight crew consisted of:
• Captain: Alexei Sergeevich Borodai
• First Officer: Alexander Timofeyevich Ugryumov
• Flight Engineer: P.F. Mazurenko
• Navigator: ?
• Radio Operator: ?
• Reserve / Relief Captain: Oleg Igorevich Pripuskov
Note: Various sources indicate Pripuskov was a “replacement pilot”.

Due to construction works at Caselle Airport, the runway was shortened to 2350 meters from 3300 which caused difficulties in landing. After passing the clouds, the crew saw that they were passing the runway threshold earlier than planned and at a higher altitude. The captain decided to land and the first officer began to dissuade him and asked to go-around.

When the height was less than a meter and with less than a kilometer of runway remaining, the first officer persuaded the captain to go around. However, the first officer moved the engine control levers too quickly and only the third engine went to takeoff-mode. During the go-around attempt the aircaft touched trees at an altitude of 15 meters, it then crashed into a some houses and caught fire.

Four people were killed, two on the ground and two in the aircraft. The first officer and the relief captain were killed, while the captain (who survived) had both legs amputated, the flight engineer suffered serious injuries.

The following findings were reported:
• Weather conditions were marginal,
• At the time of the accident, the runway length was 2,350 metres instead of 3,300 metres due to work in progress,
• The ILS CAT III system was inoperative during work in progress,
• The pilots were warned that the crew of an aircraft that landed on the same runway 36 about 11 minutes earlier established a visual contact with the runway at an altitude of 200 feet only.
• The crew continued the approach below MDA without establishing visual contact with the runway.
• Poor crew coordination.
• Poor approach planning.
• The crew failed to follow the approach checklist.
• The crew did not divide up the tasks in a correct manner.
• The crew did not prepare for a possible go-around procedure.
• The decision of the captain to initiate a go-around procedure was taken too late.
• The crew encountered engine trouble after the power levers were suddenly moved.
• The relative low experience of the captain on this type of aircraft.

English subtitles added, huge shoutout to: Алексей Паленков