UTAir Cargo AN74 at Gao on Aug 3rd 2020, total electrical failure, overran runway on landing

Last Update: September 25, 2021 / 17:36:00 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Aug 3, 2020

Classification
Accident

Flight number
UNO-52P

Departure
Bamako, Mali

Destination
Gao, Mali

Aircraft Registration
RA-74044

A UTAir Cargo Antonov AN-74 on behalf and in colours of United Nations MINUSMA operations, registration RA-74044 performing flight UNO-52P from Bamako to Gao (Mali) with 4 passengers and 7 crew, went past the runway while landing at Gao at about 10:15L (10:15Z) coming to a stop on soft ground with all gear collapsed and nose and belly substantially damaged. Two crew received serious injuries, the aircraft sustained substantial damage.

Locals report the aircraft performed a forced landing.

MINUSMA reported the aircraft arriving from Bamako with 7 crew and 4 passengers made a difficult landing at Gao. One occupant received serious injuries, the others minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged.

An airport employee watching the accident reported the aircraft performed an emergency landing and went off the runway.

Local media report the aircraft overran the end of the runway. The pilot received serious injuries, the others on board minor injuries.

On Aug 6th 2020 Rosaviatsia reported based on the testimony of the flight's captain (57, 12,970 total hours): the aircraft was enroute when the electrical generator of the right hand engine failed, the crew decided to start the APU, an in the moment they started the APU the left hand generator failed, too. Two attempts to start the APU were unsuccessful. The crew declared emergency. When the crew selected flaps and gear, neither flaps nor gear reacted and did not extend. The gear was manually lowered. After touchdown the thrust reversers did not operate, too. The aircraft went past the runway end at about 140-160 kph (75-86 knots), the runway was wet. The aircraft received substantial damage.

The Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) reported the investigation has been delegated to them and released a preliminary report in Russian stating that about 70 minutes into the flight there were successive failures of both engine driven generators. Attempts to start the APU failed. The crew continued the flight, after about 20 minutes the batteries were depleted and a complete loss of power occurred. The crew continued the flight to Gao under visual flight rules below the clouds and landed on runway 25, however, overran the runway. The aircraft received substantial damage, the first officer and the navigator received injuries, all other occupants remained uninjured.

The MAK reported that shortly after becoming airborne in Bamako the crew received a brief indication of high vibrations of the left hand engine prompting the captain to instruct a heightened monitoring of the engine and additional tests of the engine. The aircraft subsequently encountered clouds with icing conditions, all anti-ice systems were engaged, the engine anti-ice systems were selected to manual mode. When the aircraft also encountered turbulence the autopilot was turned off and the captain flew the aircraft manually, subsequently the autopilot was repeatedly turned on and off. The right hand generator failed about 70 minutes after departure, 49 seconds after the right hand generator the left hand generator failed. The APU was selected on, the commander decided to leave the icing zone and descended the aircraft from FL250 (7620 meters) to 6000 meters (FL197). After levelling off at 6000 meters several more attempts to start the APU occurred, however, unsuccessful. The crew descended the aircraft to 3000 meters (FL100) and again tried to activate the APU, again without success.

20 minutes after the failure of the left hand generator the batteries were completely discharged, the captain decided to continue the flight to Gao under visual flight rules. Attempts to contact Gao ATC failed due to the depleted batteries, also attempts to contact Gao Tower via cellphone were unsuccessful. The commander decided to lower the gear manually and perform a low approach to Gao, which was in visual meteorlogic conditions, descending to 250 feet. Following the overflight of the runway the commander decided to land on runway 25 with flaps remaining retracted due to the complete loss of electrical power. The aircraft touched down 500 meters/1640 feet past the runway threshold, due to the loss of eletrical power neither thrust reversers nor speed brakes could be used. The aircraft overran the end of the runway and came to a stop 389 meters past the runway end receiving substantial damage and causing serious injuries to the first officer and the navigator.

The flight data recorder was recovered and read out, it contained good data including 23 minutes after the failure of the left generator. The cockpit voice recorder was also recovered, read out and found to contain good data including 19 minutes after the failure of the left generator.

No Metars are available for GAO, the last TAF prior to the accident reads:
GAGO 030500Z 0306/0406 24012KT 8000 SCT025 PROB40 TEMPO 0306/0311 VRB16G26KT 4000 TSRA BKN025 FEW033CB PROB40 TEMPO 0313/0323 VRB16G30KT 4000 TSRA SCT025 FEW033CB=
Aircraft Registration Data
Registration mark
RA-74044
Country of Registration
Russia
Date of Registration
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Certification Basis
Manufacturer
Aircraft Model / Type
An-74TK-100
Serial Number
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Aug 3, 2020

Classification
Accident

Flight number
UNO-52P

Departure
Bamako, Mali

Destination
Gao, Mali

Aircraft Registration
RA-74044

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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