90 AIRLINER WORLD APRIL 2018
Air
Safety
Reports
and details
of recent
incidents.DATE REG'N C/N TYPE OWNER FATALITIES LOCATION NOTES
25 Jan 5N-BTF 180 Gulfstream G200 Nestoil 0 Nigeria Landing gear collapsed on arrival at Abuja
11 Feb R A- 61704 27015040004 Antonov An-148-100B Saratov Airlines 71 Russia Crashed shortly after take-off from Moscow/Domodedovo
16 Feb EP-FQF 14444 Fokker 100 Qeshm Air 0 Iran Forced landing at Mashhad after gear failed to deploy
18 Feb EP -ATS 391 ATR 72-212 Iran Aseman Airlines 65 Iran Impacted terrain while on approach to YasujRussian Tragedy
All 65 passengers and six crew were
killed when Saratov Airlines flight 703
impacted terrain near Ramenskoye,
Russia, on February 11. The flight, oper-
ated by Antonov An-148 RA-61704 (c/n
27 015040004), had taken off from Runway
14R at Moscow/Domodedovo at 2.21pm.
Bound for Orsk, it crashed just six minutes
into the journey, around 25 miles (40km)
northeast of the airport. There was light
snowfall at Domodedovo and the tempera-ture was -5°c at the time of the accident.
Saratov Airlines says the jet, which it
acquired in February last year, passed
a C-check in January which included
“careful inspection” of the wings, engines
and airframe, carried out in conjunction
with Ukrainian firm Motor Sich.
A maintenance inspection, conducted
prior to the ill-fated flight, did not reveal
any concerns.
The An-148 had already carried out threesectors on the day of the accident.
After the crash the airline temporarily
grounded its remaining fleet of five
An-148s, putting them back into service
on February 16 after “extraordinary
technical checks”. Saratov says it will use
“a reinforced crew” on the An-148, which
will include a pilot instructor.
The Aviation Interstate Committee’s inves-
tigation into the crash continues. (Photo
AirTeamImages.com/Alexander Mishin)Fatal ATR Crash
An Iran Aseman ATR 72-210 crashed
into mountainous terrain near Yasuj on
February 18, killing all on board. The
turboprop, EP-ATS (c/n 391), had 60
passengers, two air marshals and four
crew on board and was operating a flight
from Tehran.The Islamic Republic News Agency
reported the aircraft vanished from radar
screens “roughly 50 minutes after taking
off from Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport”.
The incident happened while the aircraft
was descending into Yasuj, with the point
of impact around 7,000ft (2,134m) abovethe airport elevation and 14 miles (22km)
northwest of it. Visibility at the time of
the accident was described as “unlim-
ited”. A seven-man team from France
arrived in Tehran on February 20 to
assist the accident investigation. (Photo
AirTeamImages.com/Mehrad Watson)Forced
Landing
A Qeshm Air Fokker 100 made a forced
landing at Mashhad, Iran, after the left
main landing gear failed to deploy.
The jet, operating flight 1202 from
Tehran/Mehrabad, had entered a
holding pattern while the crew tried
unsuccessfully to overcome the issue.
A forced landing was carried out on
Runway 31R and once on the ground
the aircraft swerved to the left and
departed the paved surface, coming
to rest between Runway 31L and 31R.
Everybody on board was evacuated
safely.
During the recovery operation the
following day, the left wing was lifted by
a crane, however the belt broke causing
additional damage to the airframe.