Polar AN26 at Deputatsky on Nov 21st 2012, overran runway
Last Update: August 3, 2013 / 19:07:00 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Nov 21, 2012
Classification
Accident
Aircraft Registration
RA-26061
Aircraft Type
Antonov An-26
ICAO Type Designator
AN26
The cause of the accident was a runway excursion resulting in injuries and damage to the aircraft. The runway excursion occurred because of a combination of following factors:
- an error in piloting technique by the captain continually correcting along the extended runway centerline resulting in touch down at a considerable angle to the runway center line and to the left of the runway center line.
- lack of runway safety areas with slopes of less than 1:10, although demanded by regulations
- due to the landing left of the runway center line the left main gear entered freshly fallen snow of heights between 30 and 50 cm burying both wheels in the snow
Deficiencies identified during the investigation
- the crew rostering was in violation of established procedures
- the actual flight conditions did not meet the requirements of the aerodrome, with the weight of 24.685kg the aircraft required a landing distance of 2400 meters, which exceeded the available landing distance by 300 meters
- the preparation of the aerodrome did not comply with requirements, the runway had not been cleared along the full length and a minimum width of 75 meters although required by regulations
- the cargo aircraft operating procedures used by the operator for the aircraft which was converted from passenger to cargo aircraft, did not match the requirements by the aircraft manufacturer
- the loading of the aircraft did not match recommendations
- after weighing all of the aircraft loading it was established the aircraft took off 2548kg above maximum takeoff weight, the landing occurred at 658kg above maximum landing weight, the center of gravity was out of bounds both on takeoff and landing
- the flight data recorder did not record consistent information due to the failure of electromagnetic coupling
- the cockpit voice recorder failed during the flight
- the width of the runway available was not consistent with the requirements of Class "D" aerodromes
The captain (50, ATPL, 8,845 hours total, 1.150 hours on type) was assisted by a first officer (50, CPL, 2,566 hours total, 245 hours on type), a navigator (51, Navigator License, 14,350 hours total, 3,500 hours on type), a flight engineer (26, FE License, 2,800 hours total, 1,200 hours on type) and a flight operator.
The day before the accident temperatures had reached up to +10 degrees C, hot for the season, on the day of the accident the aerodrome was under the influence of a polar cyclone with temperatures around -20 degrees C and moderate snowfall with varying winds of up to 6-8 knots.
Following an uneventful flight the aircraft descended towards Deputatsky around sunset, the aerodrome controller advising that sunset was imminent. The aircraft continued the descent and approach to grass runway 10 equipped with runway edge lighting, after turning final already in dusk oscillated around the runway centerline being right of the runway center line on short final with the aircraft correcting, touched down to the left of centerline of runway 10, the left hand gear entered snow up to 50cm in height on the left side of the runway that had not been cleared off the runway, the aircraft went left off the grass runway 10 during landing resulting in a serious injury to a passenger, minor injuries to 5 passengers and a minor injury to a crew member. The aircraft received substantial damage.
A GPS unit on board stored data of the flight path showing the aircraft was to the right of the extended runway center line during the final approach. The MAK analysed that 5km out the captain had no clear view of the runway and adjusted the approach trajectory according to the runway edge lights, which increased the complexity and difficulty of the approach due to difficulty judging height, glidepath and alignment from the lights, especially as only a few lights were visible due to the snow fall and resulting limited visual range. The captain said in post flight interviews that he became visual with the first runway lights at about 5km out and decided to continue the landing. About 2000 meters before touchdown the aircraft was determined significantly to the right of the runway center line, the captain initiated a pronounced left turn to correct. The aircraft touched down 410 meters past the runway threshold with the left hand main gear 5 meters to the right of the left boundary of where snow had been cleared to (60 meters width instead of 90 meters width), hence 25 meters to the left of the runway center line. After the left hand gear went into high snow the aircraft veered further the left, exited the runway, went across a ditch about 25 meters off the edge of the runway (where a smooth runway safety area should have been) causing the nose to drop sharply, nose and main gear impacted the opposite side of the ditch (width about 6-7 meters) causing the nose gear to buckle, the right main gear broke away and the right hand engine hit a rock, the aircraft went through a number of bushes causing the left main gear to separate, the aircraft broke through the airport fence causing damage to the left hand propeller before the aircraft came to a stop.
The MAK analysed that the crew had computed their landing weight at 21,417 kg after a takeoff weight of 23,917kg. The actual landing weight however turned out to be 24,685 kg following measuring all of the aircraft loading. The actual landing weight required a landing distance of 2400 meters with 2,090 meters of landing distance available for runway 10.
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Nov 21, 2012
Classification
Accident
Aircraft Registration
RA-26061
Aircraft Type
Antonov An-26
ICAO Type Designator
AN26
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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