The fall of Boeing 737 500 OJSC Airline Tatarstan. The pilot should not have flown. The investigation into the plane crash in Kazan has been completed. Airport crash

Below is some background information.

On November 17, 2013, at 19:23 Moscow time, a Boeing 737-500 plane of Tatarstan Airlines crashed during landing at the Kazan airport. All 50 people (six crew members and 44 passengers) on board the aircraft were killed. Among the dead were the son of the President of Tatarstan, Irek Minnikhanov, and the head of the FSB department for Tatarstan, Alexander Antonov.

The crashed airliner was flying on the route Moscow - Kazan. This flight was supposed to be operated by a smaller Bombardier aircraft, but due to the passenger load it was replaced by a Boeing 737.

According to data about the crashed plane, it was operated by seven airlines, including Uganda Airlines (since the summer of 1995). Boeing made its first flight on June 18, 1990. The aircraft was leased from Tatarstan Airlines since December 18, 2008.

Boeing-737-500 took off for Kazan from Moscow Domodedovo Airport. When approaching Kazan International Airport, the crew of the airliner reported to ground services that they were not ready to land and asked permission to go around. During the second approach, the plane lost altitude, fell to the ground 150 meters before the start of the runway and exploded. The wreckage of the plane after the explosion was scattered over a radius of about 500 meters. The area of ​​their spread was 23 thousand square meters.

Emergency services were immediately dispatched to the scene and rescue work began. Significant forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia were involved in eliminating the consequences of the disaster, including the Centrospas detachment, specialists from the Leader center and the 179th Rescue Center, as well as branches of the Volga regional search and rescue team of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia. The total strength of the force group exceeded 1.6 thousand people and 260 pieces of equipment.

On the first anniversary of the tragedy, a memorial stele was unveiled at the Kazan airport on which the names of all 50 dead plane passengers and crew members were engraved.

Upon the fact of the plane crash, the investigative bodies of the Volga Region Investigation Department for Transport of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case on the grounds of a crime under Part 3 of Art. 263 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (violation of traffic and operation safety rules air transport resulting in the death of two or more persons through negligence).

Later, the criminal case was transferred to the main investigative department of the central apparatus of the Investigative Committee.

According to the results of the examination carried out by the investigation, no signs of drug or alcohol intoxication were found in the blood of the pilots.

After deciphering the “black box,” the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) stated that when approaching the runway, the pilots made a number of mistakes, which they tried to correct by diverting the plane to the second circle. One of the two autopilots of the Boeing 737 aircraft was disabled, and the crew of the airliner landed manually. During the second approach, the aircraft crew, gaining altitude, raised the nose of the airliner too much. As a result, the aircraft lost speed. Having reached an altitude of 700 meters, the plane began an intensive dive and collided with the ground with high speed(more than 450 kilometers per hour) and almost vertically (at an angle of 75 degrees to the surface of the earth). About 43 seconds passed from the moment the aircraft began its go-around until the end of the recording on the recorder.

The power plants operated until the plane collided with the ground.

Tatarstan Airlines reported that the commander of the crashed airliner had never performed a go-around maneuver in a real flight before the tragedy.

After the disaster in Kazan, the investigation began studying the training of pilots. It subsequently turned out that the commander of the crashed plane received a diploma in a dubious training center. According to Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, the commander of the crashed plane had a false pilot's certificate. The co-pilot's license was also obtained illegally without the required flight experience.

After the plane crash, the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviation) conducted unscheduled inspections of a number of flight training centers and suspended pilots from a number of airlines, including the largest ones, from flying until the end of the investigation.

Rosaviatsia also checked the activities of Tatarstan Airlines, as a result of which it identified a number of violations and, as of December 31, 2013, canceled its operator certificate. The aircraft fleet was transferred to another Tatarstan carrier - Ak Bars Aero airline.

General Director of Tatarstan Airlines OJSC Aksan Giniyatullin was dismissed from his post by decision of the company’s board of directors.

In May 2014, Tatarstan Airlines filed a claim with the court to declare its own bankruptcy; in June, the court declared the airline bankrupt.

The head of the Tatar Interregional Territorial Directorate of Air Transport of the Federal Air Transport Agency, Shavkat Umarov, resigned after the plane crash, which was accepted. The territorial administration itself lost its independence and became a structural subdivision of the Volga interregional territorial administration of the Federal Air Transport Agency.

In September 2014, the IAC reported that the engineering and technical subcommittee concluded that the recordings of objective monitoring equipment of the Boeing-737 that crashed in Kazan, as well as the surviving parts, components and assemblies of the airframe, engines and systems, including the elevator control system, showed signs of There were no aircraft failures during the emergency flight.

At the end of December 2015, the IAC published the final results of the investigation into the plane crash. The cause of the plane crash was systemic deficiencies in identifying hazards and controlling the level of risk, as well as the inoperability of the airline’s flight safety management system and the lack of control over the level of training of crew members by aviation authorities at all levels (Tatar MTU VT, Rosaviatsia), which led to admission for flights by untrained crew.

On the evening of November 17, 2013, a Boeing 737-500 passenger plane of Tatarstan Airlines, performing regular flight U9363 on the route Moscow (Domodedovo) - Kazan, crashed at the airport during landing. The crash occurred during a missed approach. As a result, 50 people died.

What happened

Transcript of the crew's conversation before the fall:

Co-pilot: Oh, that’s it, here’s the runway below us. No, we're going high.

PIC: We are leaving for the go-around, non-landing position.

Co-pilot: Rustic? Rustic?!

Co-pilot: Where are we going?

After this, an eerie crash is heard and the recording ends. The airliner of Tatarstan Airlines crashed into the ground at a speed of 450 km/h almost at a right angle and caught fire. Those on board had no chance of survival.

As the pilots later explained, the very fact of a missed approach at the airfield in relatively uncomplicated weather conditions could have become a reason for a debriefing of the flight by the airline.

Rumble, screams, fire. The Kazan airport is urgently closed, the relatives of the passengers will learn about what happened in a very short time. There is no hope that anyone survived the plane crash.

The smallest

The youngest passenger on board the crashed Boeing was the 11-year-old stepdaughter of the famous commentator Roman Skvortsov, Dasha. She flew to Kazan with her mother, Ellina Artashina.

Roman met his future wife at the Gagarin Cup final a little more than a year before the plane crash. Long-distance relationships did not frighten the couple: she flew to Moscow, he visited Kazan. At the end of October 2012, we had a magnificent, noisy wedding with 80 guests and moved to Moscow.

The relatives' wives remained in Tatarstan, so Ellina's and Dasha's flights were a regular occurrence. The girl was literally counting down the days until this trip.

Three days - and Kazan.

It’s so fun that you want to cry,” Dasha wrote on her VKontakte page.

Right before the flight, she wrote: “Everything is fine with me.” We took a photo with my mother on board the Boeing and flew off. The flight from Moscow to Kazan takes approximately one and a half hours. Roman was waiting for Belochka (as he affectionately called his wife) to announce the landing, when a call came from her mother.

For some reason the board does not land for a long time. “I’m worried,” the woman said.

I went online and came across a recording about a plane crash in Kazan and the death of 50 people. The first thought, like most people: “Probably the wrong flight.” As it turned out later, that one.

Even a year after the tragedy, the man said that every day he comes home and out of habit says: “Hello, girls, I’m home.” Skvortsov also said that he would never be able to talk about Ellin and Dasha in the past tense.

Kazan prodigy

Among the passengers who were on board the Boeing was Mstislav Kamashev. In 2000, he became famous throughout Russia. The fact is that then 13-year-old Mstislav entered the Kazan State University at the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics, where there was a competition among graduates of five people per place. At the same time, the boy did not look like a nerd at all: he went in for swimming and tennis, loved to play “adventure-shooting games” and hang out with friends. He graduated from university at the age of 18, went to graduate school, and at the same time worked in a bank.

I feel happy. “I have everything I need,” said Mstislav.

A year before the tragedy, the young man got married. Soon his wife, Anastasia, announced that she was expecting a child. There were two weeks left before the birth when the crash occurred. As a result, due to stress in the mother, the child was born prematurely. The boy was named Daniel - the wife chose this name together.

Even death doesn't separate

Abdulla and Maria Sibgatullin lived together for 60 years. They were returning from their grandson from Kyiv on a flight through Moscow. The Sibgatullin couple was known literally throughout Tatarstan, and a few days before the crash they were celebrated as long-living spouses.

Employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are working at the crash site of a Boeing 737 plane of Tatarstan Airlines, which crashed while landing at Kazan airport. November 17, 2013. Photo: © RIA Novosti / Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation

They worked together at the Kazan Powder Factory. The couple had two children and four grandchildren. When they retired, they took care of their upbringing and loved to spend time in “their outlet” - a small garden near the house. Maria sold what she grew at the market. As acquaintances with the Sibgatullins later said, it was not a matter of profit, but rather a desire to talk with peers.

Famous passenger

After the plane crash, a number of media outlets wrote that additional psychological stress on the crew could have been exerted by one high-ranking passenger, whose presence on board was known to the aircraft commander. Whether this is true or not is now impossible to find out, but the son of the head of the republic, Irek Minnikhanov, was actually on the plane, who was flying from a business trip to visit his pregnant wife.

Three months earlier, on August 16, the wedding of Irek and his beloved, Frenchwoman Antonia Guichard, was widely celebrated in Kazan. The young people met in Switzerland while studying, dated for several years, and then decided to legalize their relationship. About the details personal life they didn't like to spread the word. Friends of the couple recalled that even on business they always tried to travel together.

Three months after the plane crash, the head of Tatarstan published on Instagram a photo of little Adriana, the daughter of his eldest son.

"Everything is fine. We're flying"

The ship's commander, Rustem Salikhov, never complained about problems with the plane. “Everything is fine. We’re flying,” he joked with friends who talked about problems at the airline. About problems with aircraft rumors about the carrier spread far beyond airports.

He was married for about 20 years, leaving two children in the family. In 2013, the eldest Kamila was 18 years old, and the youngest Lila was 10. We met his wife when he was still a navigator, and she was an airport dispatcher announcing the weather. However, Rustem became a pilot only in June 2010, and an aircraft commander in March 2013. At the same time, he was considered the most experienced pilot in Tatarstan.

The pilot's widow, Lily of the Valley, later recalled that a few days before the tragedy, her husband was especially affectionate - he tried to spend 100% of his time with his family. The day before we slept until noon, which is rare in this family. After that, Rustem got dressed and left, saying that he would return soon.

Lily of the Valley learned that there were “some problems” with the flight from a friend. However, she was not aware of the details of what happened. The woman began methodically calling her superiors, colleagues - everyone she knew. At some point, colleagues confirmed that the plane had crashed, but the details were unknown - “Moscow does not provide information.” The woman began to get ready for the airport when her friends called and demanded that she not get behind the wheel - they would take her themselves.

Even when Lily of the Valley talked to the airline management, she was sure that there was a mistake, Rustem was not on board, he did not take off, he changed. Only when she saw who was “in the outfit” did the woman begin to realize the terrible truth.

Causes

Representatives of the International Aviation Committee in 2015 officially announced the causes of the crash. Initially, investigators pursued all versions - from a technical malfunction to a terrorist attack. As it turned out, the plane with 50 people crashed due to “systemic deficiencies in the work of the crew, the airline and aviation authorities at all levels.”

General Director of Tatarstan Airlines Aksan Giniyatullin admitted after the disaster that in real life Salikhov never went around.

Former general director of Tatarstan airline Aksan Giniyatullin. Photo: © RIA Novosti / Maxim Bogodvid

The PIC had more than 2,500 flight hours on this type of aircraft, of which 1,000 were night flight hours. Co-pilot Viktor Gutsul had 1,900 flight hours on this type of aircraft, more than 900 per night. Weather were not classified as difficult. Well, there were clouds, yes. But the visibility was 5,000 meters, the dry runway, which was also repaired for the Universiade, - in general, the conditions for landing were close to ideal.

Immediately after the crash, the airline began checking all possible levels. Experts identified so many violations by the republican carrier that only one question remained: how could this airline even exist?

Already on December 31, 2013, Tatarstan’s operator’s certificate was canceled, that is, no more airline flights were to be operated.

Employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and law enforcement agencies are working at the crash site of a Boeing 737 plane of Tatarstan Airlines, which crashed while landing in international airport"Kazan". November 18, 2013. Photo: © RIA Novosti / Vladimir Astapkovich

Soon after, bankruptcy proceedings and the sale of the fleet began. The carrier's representatives sold the last "carcass" (Tu-154) at the price of an expensive foreign car - for 2.8 million rubles. In addition to the aircraft there were four engines.

Reference

The Boeing 737 involved in the plane crash, tail number VQ-BBN, first took off on June 18, 1990. The Tatarstan company leased the aircraft in December 2008 from the Greek division of Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services. It was previously operated by companies from France, Uganda, Brazil, Romania and Bulgaria. The aircraft had a flight time of 51,547 hours and 25 minutes and made 36,595 landings since the start of operation.

Investigators have completed their investigation into the crash of a Boeing 737-500 at Kazan airport in November 2013. Then all 50 people on board died. The Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR) came to the conclusion that the pilots Rustem Salikhov and Viktor Gutsul were to blame for the tragedy, but their prosecution was stopped due to their deaths. Charges were brought against the management of Tatarstan Airlines and the former head of the Tatar Directorate of the Federal Air Transport Agency - they allowed an untrained crew to fly the plane. They face up to seven years in prison.

The Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee has completed the investigation of the criminal case regarding the crash of a Boeing 737-500 in Kazan. The investigation found that the pilots' "erroneous actions" led to the crash.

Let us remind you that the disaster occurred at Kazan International Airport on the evening of November 17, 2013. The passenger Boeing 737–500 (registration number VQ-BBN) of Tatarstan Airlines was flying flight 363 from Domodedovo. During the landing approach, the crew had to go around. During landing, the plane suddenly crashed. All 50 people on board - 6 crew members and 44 passengers - were killed. Among the latter were the son of the President of Tatarstan, Irek Minnikhanov, and the former head of the FSB Directorate for Tatarstan, Alexander Antonov. In addition to Russians, the victims were citizens of Ukraine and Great Britain.

After the disaster, the Federal Air Transport Agency canceled the operator’s certificate of Tatarstan Airline. Subsequently, the republican carrier was declared bankrupt. The department's audit showed that the aircraft commander, Rustem Salikhov, and the co-pilot, Viktor Gutsul, could have received fictitious certificates of completion of aviation courses. Experts from the International Aviation Committee called the cause of the tragedy the unpreparedness of the crew, who made a number of mistakes during the go-around approach, as a result of which the plane went into a dive and fell to the ground.

The ICR investigation confirmed that the Boeing commander “did not have sufficient piloting skills and was allowed to carry out passenger transportation on the basis of falsified documents.” According to the investigation, in 2009, Valery Portnov, who held the position of deputy general director of Tatarstan Airlines, sent documents with false information about Rustem Salikhov to the Tatar Interregional Territorial Directorate of Air Transport of the Federal Air Transport Agency. The head of this department (which was abolished in 2014), Shavkat Umarov, “due to negligence, did not organize in September 2009 a verification of the authenticity and reliability of the commercial aviation pilot certificate presented by the airline.” “As a result, Salikhov, without having basic knowledge, skills and experience of a pilot, began to carry out passenger air transportation as an aircraft pilot,” the investigation believes.

In addition, the Investigative Committee established that Valery Portnov and the airline’s chief pilot Viktor Fomin “did not provide adequate training for Mr. Salikhov, but instead sent an untrained pilot to receive the status of an aircraft commander.” As a result, in 2012, Rustem Salikhov became the commander of the aircraft. On November 17, 2013, it was Mr. Salikhov who “put the aircraft into a difficult spatial position.” At the same time, co-pilot Viktor Gutsul “did not take control.” “As a result, Salikhov, in the event of an emergency situation, violating piloting rules, through his actions allowed the aircraft to crash,” the ICR said in a statement.

The criminal prosecution of Rustem Salikhov and Viktor Gutsul was terminated due to their death. Valery Portnov and Viktor Fomin were charged under Part 3 of Art. 263 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (violation of traffic safety rules and operation of air transport, resulting in the death of two or more persons through negligence), Shavkat Umarov - under Part 3 of Art. 93 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (negligence resulting by negligence in the death of two or more persons). The maximum penalty they face is seven years in prison. The criminal case was sent to the Prosecutor General's Office for approval of the indictment.

In 2017, the first decisions were made on claims for compensation for moral damage brought by the relatives of those killed in the plane crash. In all cases, the plaintiffs waived their claims against the American corporation The Boeing Company and a number of other foreign companies. They left Tatarstan Airlines and Ak Bars Insurance LLC as defendants, with whom they entered into a settlement agreement.