Aviastar-TU Flight 1906 was a Tupolev Tu-204 that crash-landed while attempting to land at Domodedovo airport, Moscow, Russia, in heavy fog on 22 March 2010. The aircraft of Aviastar-TU Airlines was on a ferry flight from Hurghada International Airport, Egypt to Domodedovo. There were no passengers on board and all eight crew survived the accident; four crew members were seriously injured and taken to a hospital, while others suffered minor injuries. The accident was the first hull loss of a Tu-204 and the first hull loss for Aviastar-TU.
Investigators determined the cause of the accident to be failure of the autopilot system and poor cockpit crew performance.
Accident
Aviastar-TU Airlines Flight 1906 was a ferry flight with only eight crew on board the aircraft. At 02:34 local time (23:34 on 21 March UTC), the plane crash-landed about short of runway 14R at Domodedovo airport while attempting to land at night in fog and poor visibility. The METAR for the airport at the time indicated wind direction 160° at and visibility .
When the aircraft was on final, the pilots received several warnings from ATC that they were to the left of the landing course, followed by another warning that they were too low. The pilots were confused about their location and were trying to figure it out based on reports from ATC, the flight computer and a portable GPS device. According to the final investigation report, they also ignored automatic altitude readouts that started at above ground level and continued every . Nine seconds before the impact, the pilot contacted ATC to ask if they were off course, still concentrated on aligning the aircraft with the runway and not on its altitude. The pilots made no effort to stop the descent.
The aircraft crash-landed in a birch forest at 23:35 local time, its left wing broke off, and the hull broke into two. There was no fire. Fire services arrived 30 minutes later. All crew members except the flight engineer who was seriously injured, escaped the crashed plane on their own. They could not immediately explain the reason of the crash, saying that it happened too fast. One of the crew members (purser) reached the nearby highway and stopped a car which took her to a hospital. Three other crew members also reached the highway and waited there for an ambulance.
The two pilots suffered serious fractures and concussions; two others were taken to hospital where they were described as being in a satisfactory condition. The four remaining crew members were treated for minor injuries in Domodedovo's medical center. The accident resulted in the first hull loss of a Tupolev Tu-204 and the first hull loss for Aviastar-TU.
Aircraft
The accident aircraft was Tupolev Tu-204-100, msn 1450741364011, registration RA-64011. The aircraft first flew as RA-64011 on 25 March 1993. On 3 September 1993 it entered service with Vnukovo Airlines. In January 2001, it was sold to Sibir Airlines.
Before the crash, the aircraft was involved in two accidents. On 14 January 2002, the aircraft was flying from Frankfurt to Novosibirsk when it had to be diverted to Omsk due to poor weather at the destination. On approach, pilots reported fuel supply problems, followed by a flameout of both engines. The aircraft glided and landed on the runway, overran the runway and collided with the lights after the runway threshold. There were no injuries. The aircraft was repaired and continued service. From August 2006 the aircraft was leased to various Russian airlines – Red Wings Airlines, Aviastar-TU, Interavia Airlines and then Aviastar-TU again.
On 21 March 2010, one day before the crash, the aircraft was flying from Moscow to Hurghada with 210 passengers on board when it had to return to Moscow due to smoke in the cockpit. The accident was caused by a faulty heater in the cockpit, which was promptly repaired.
Investigation
Despite the adverse weather, Russian federal air transport service Rosaviatsia says the aircraft conducted a normal approach and "the crew did not report any failures, malfunctions, or the intention to make an emergency landing." Russia's top investigator said on 22 March that the emergency landing may have been caused by an infringement of safety rules. The method the crew used to navigate the aircraft is a particular avenue of the investigation into the accident.