RusAir Flight 9605 (operating as RusLine Flight 243) was a passenger flight which crashed near Petrozavodsk in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, on 20 June 2011 while attempting to land in thick fog. The aircraft involved, a Tupolev Tu-134, was operating a RusAir scheduled domestic flight from Moscow. Of the 52 people on board, only 5 survived.
The investigation concluded that the crash was caused by pilot error. After receiving outdated weather information, the crew attempted to land at Petrozavodsk despite worsening weather conditions. The navigator, who was intoxicated but relied upon because of his extensive experience with the Tu-134, unintentionally guided the aircraft off course. As they were trying to line up with the runway, the crew continued descending in an attempt to break through the fog. The absence of callouts from the first officer and the intoxicated navigator caused the crew to remain unaware of their decreasing altitude until the aircraft struck trees and crashed inverted.
Aircraft
The aircraft involved was a twin-engine Tupolev Tu-134A-3, registration RA-65691, c/n 63195, manufactured and first flown in 1980. The aircraft was delivered to Aeroflot for four years before being transferred to flew with the 235th Separate Government Detachment. It was acquired by North Caucasus Civil Aviation Administration for nine years before it was transferred to multiple Russian airlines, including Volga-Aviaexpress and Tatarstan Airlines. RusAir bought the aircraft in March 2011. The 31-year-old aircraft had a total of 40,000 flight hours and 25,000 flights and was equipped with two D-30-III turbofan engines.
Passengers and crew
There were 43 passengers and nine crew members on board. Most of the passengers were Russian, among which was a family of four who held a dual U.S-Russian citizenship. The manifest indicated that there were 4 foreigners on board, including 2 Ukrainians, 1 Dutch and 1 Swede. There were 7 children on board the flight.
Among the passengers were FIFA football referee Vladimir Pettay, as well senior members of Gidropress, including the CEO and chief designer, Sergei Ryzhov; the deputy CEO and chief designer, Gennady Banyuk, also the chief designer of the Russian VVER-1000 for the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in India and Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in Iran, Nikolai Trunov.
The flight crew were consisted of:
- Captain Alexander Ivanovich Fyodorov (44), who was the commander of the flight. He was hired by RusAir in March 2011 and had a total flying experience of 8,501 hours, of which more than 3,100 hours were on the type. He had been flying as a captain of the Tu-134 for 1,627 hours. Before joining RusAir, he had been flying for Aeroflot Nord, Utair, and a local airline in Naryan-Mar. He also had piloted the Mil Mi-8 helicopter and Antonov An-2. During his time at UTair Express, he had been involved in an accident in which the aircraft he was piloting suffered a hard landing in Vnukovo Airport, causing him to resign from the airline.
- First Officer Sergey Nikolaevich Karyakin (40), who was the co-pilot of the flight. He had been working for RusAir since November 2010 and had been a co-pilot of the Tu-134 since 2007. According to his logs, he had acquired a total flying hours of 2,846 hours, 1,099 of them on the Tu-134. Before joining RusAir, he had been flying with Samara Airlines, Izhavia and Adygea Airlines.
- Navigator-instructor Amanberdy Atayev (50), who had the most experience with the Tu-134. He had been flying with RusAir since August 2010 and had a total flying experience of 13,699 hours. Approximately 13,464 hours were on the Tu-134. He had been working as a navigator since 1981.
- Flight Engineer Viktor Evgenievich Timoshenko (56), who was the most senior of the flight. He joined RusAir in July 2005 and had a total flying experience of 11,231 hours, of which 2,494 hours were on the type. Before flying the Tu-134, he had been flying with the Yakovlev Yak-40. His flight logs showed that he had been a flight mechanic on the Tu-134 since 2001.
Accident
Flight 9605 was a chartered domestic passenger flight from Moscow's Domodedovo International Airport to Petrozavodsk "Besovets" Airport in the Northwest of Russia. The flight was originally supposed to be operated by a Bombardier CRJ-200 with RusLine being the operator of the flight, but the airline had to charter RusAir's Tupolev Tu-134 as one of RusLine's CRJ-200s was having problems. The charter was done on short notice, and on that same day the passengers were quickly transferred to the Tu-134. The flight was scheduled to take off at 22:10 local time and was expected to arrive in Petrozavodsk approximately one hour and 10 minutes later.
A total of 46 passengers were supposed to be on the flight; however, three passengers from Sverdlovsk weren't able to board the aircraft due to their late arrival in Moscow. There were 52 people on board, including 9 crew members, consisting of 4 cockpit crews, 3 cabin crews, and 2 flight technicians who were seated in the passenger area. The flight would be commanded by Captain Alexander Fyodorov with his co-pilot, First Officer Sergey Karyakin, as the non-flying pilot.
Before the flight, the crew had received the latest update on the weather information for Petrozavodsk Airport. It was forecasted to be cloudy with light rain and a marginal visibility of 2.1 km. The condition was still allowable for a flight and was not forecasted to worsen, and so the crew decided to proceed with the flight.
At 22:30 local time, after a 20-minute delay, the aircraft took off from Moscow, heading northeast towards Petrozavodsk.
Approach
While the aircraft was entering Petrozavodsk area at a cruising altitude of 9,100 meters (29,900 ft), the ATC in Petrozavodsk relayed the updated weather information in the airport. The report stated that the visibility in the area was 2,100 meters with cloudy skies. As the weather condition met the minimum for a landing, the crew opted to continue their flight.
At 23:14 local time, Captain Fyodorov briefed the crew members on the upcoming landing in Petrozavodsk. The landing weight was calculated, and in case the aircraft failed to land at the intended destination, then it would be diverted to Pulkovo Airport. The estimated fuel on board was still enough for the flight. Each of the crews' duties was reminded and distributed, with Navigator Atayev responsible for charting the course of the flight and taking the flight onto the correct route. Before starting their descent, the crew decided to do another checklist. After finishing their tasks, the aircraft started its descent.
At 23:30 local time, Petrozavodsk ATC relayed the newest weather update to the crew. The information stated that the visibility was at 2,100 meters with haze, solid cloud cover with calm winds, and a cloud base at 560 meters. Flight Engineer Timoshenko then turned on the engine de-icing to prevent the buildup of ice. The autopilot was then disengaged, and the aircraft was flown manually. It kept descending gradually towards Petrozavodsk.
After conducting a series of bends, the aircraft was finally on its way for the final turn to the airport. The ATC commanded the crew to descent to 500 ft and cleared them for an approach with its landing gear extended. However, while telling Captain Fyodorov where to start the turn, he accidentally caused the aircraft to turn later than it was supposed to, causing the aircraft to deviate approximately 4 km from the correct course. Atayev reassured Captain Fyodorov that he would "definitely bring you out here," acknowledging that he was aware of the deviation.
To align themselves with the runway, Atayev instructed the crew to turn the aircraft towards a heading of 30 degrees, flying slightly northeast. At 23:37 local time, the aircraft was finally aligned again with the runway. Atayev then tried to confirm on the landing course, asking, "What is the landing course—12 or 15 degrees?" to which Fyodorov responded, "12 degrees, according to NOTAM." Atayev then asked Flight Engineer Timoshenko to extend the flaps. The aircraft briefly gained altitude due to Fyodorov's late nose-down input following the flaps extension, causing them to fly well over the Non-directional beacon (NDB) at an altitude of 1,440 ft instead of 1,260 ft, which prompted Atayev to order them to increase their rate of descent.
Due to crosswinds blowing from the east, Atayev asked Captain Fyodorov to increase their heading by three degrees, causing the aircraft to drift further east. However, the wind soon died down, and the crew failed to notice the change, leaving the aircraft misaligned with the runway axis. Because the crew's display still showed the airport to the right of the aircraft, Atayev assumed they remained on the correct course and continued the slight turn eastward. None of the flight crew cross-checked the flight instruments, instead relying on Atayev's verbal confirmation that they were on the proper course.
Crash
A few minutes later, as light rain began to hit the aircraft, the crew turned on the windshield wipers. The aircraft then descended way past its proper altitude. The crew expected to break through the clouds, and their attention had shifted towards the outside in order to find the runway. At this point, Atayev should've said "Assessment," which would've prompted Captain Fyodorov to search the runway until the aircraft reached the minimum decision altitude (MDA) of 360 ft, at which point they would've later decided on whether to continue the approach or to go around. Atayev never uttered the word, and the aircraft kept descending further.
The aircraft were flying at 230 ft from the ground and kept descending. Seeing this, Flight Engineer Timoshenko started to do callouts of their altitude in 10-meter increments. At around 60 meters from the ground, the altitude alarm suddenly blared off, warning the crew that they had descended dangerously lower than the minima, which was met with no reaction from the cockpit crews. They were still busy shifting their attention to the outside, attempting to spot the runway.
Atayev then stated that they were only one and a half kilometers away from the runway. Seconds later, while still breaking through the clouds, a huge snap was heard from the right. The aircraft's right-wing tip had struck a 25-meter-high pine tree at a speed of 280 km/h. The collision caught the flight crews by surprise. The aircraft's nose was suddenly raised to 16 degrees, and the aircraft banked heavily to the right. First Officer Karyakin immediately shouted, "Yob tvoyu mat!"
The aircraft continued to strike multiple trees and flew for another 500 meters with a developing right bank before finally crashing inverted onto the A-133 Suoyarvi-Petrozavodsk federal highway, about 1,200 m (3,900 ft) short of the runway, snapping an electric line, which caused a blackout in the local community and at Petrozavodsk Airport. The aircraft broke apart into multiple sections.
The crash triggered a massive explosion that rattled the surrounding area, prompting residents from nearby dachas to rush outside in search of its cause. On the adjacent federal highway, traffic quickly ground to a halt as stunned motorists witnessed the disaster unfold. Several passengers were violently ejected from the aircraft, while others managed to escape the wreckage on their own. Among the survivors was flight attendant Yulia Skortsova, the only crew member to survive, who was initially trapped in the aisle before managing to break free. Local residents pulled several survivors from the wreckage moments before leaking fuel ignited further explosions, engulfing the aircraft in flames. According to rescuers, several of the occupants could be still heard moaning and crying for help, but the rescuers couldn't get near to them due to the fire.
In the airport, ATC workers suddenly lost all contact with Flight 9605. Its blip had disappeared from the radar screen, prompting the controllers to put the airport's emergency team on stand-by. Around 10 minutes after the crash, they received their first call on the crash: a neighbor of one of the workers had phoned him that an airplane had crashed onto his yard. The first firefighter truck was immediately deployed to the site afterwards, followed closely by an ambulance. By 00:30 a.m., a total of 11 ambulances had arrived at the site to evacuate the survivors.