Dagestan Airlines Flight 372

Aircraft

The aircraft operating the flight was a Tupolev Tu-154M, registered RA-85744,cn: 92A-927. It had been built in 1992, and was equipped with three Soloviev D-30KU jet engines for propulsion. The aircraft had been completely overhauled in 2009, and met all relevant European safety standards, as it had been used for the transport of the Belgium national football (soccer) team in November 2010, a flight which required it to meet European regulations.

Accident

The plane was flying a scheduled trip from Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow to Uytash Airport in Makhachkala, Republic of Dagestan. Two of the aircraft's three engines failed shortly after take off from Vnukovo Airport at 14:07 local time (11:07 UTC); the pilots reported the loss of engines when the aircraft was at a height of around 9,100 metres (29,900 ft). An emergency landing at Domodedovo International Airport was requested, and as the aircraft was in the process of landing, the third engine failed. The aircraft approached runway 32R from the right at almost right angles, overflying the threshold before turning right at 500 metres (1,600 ft) to the left of the runway and crossing over the runway, flying parallel with but to the right of the runway. The aircraft touched down 88 metres (289 ft) to the right of the runway centerline, and only 350 metres (1,150 ft) short of the end, about a half-hour after its departure, landing in conditions of freezing rain.

The landing caused the plane to sustain major damage, and it was written off shortly after the incident. A passenger on board the plane said that the aircraft broke into three parts after landing. Later reports said that both the cockpit and vertical stabilizer had separated from the aircraft, and that the wings and undercarriage had both been damaged.

Casualties

The emergency landing resulted in 92 injuries (of which 39 were serious) and two fatalities.

One of the two dead was Gadzhimurad Magomedov, the brother of Magomedsalam Magomedov, the president of Dagestan. The other (died of a heart attack) was the mother of a judge of the Constitutional Court of Russia.

The number of people on board the plane was unclear; early reports said that between 163 and 172 people were on board, but a number of 168, eight of which were crew members, was later settled on.

Aftermath

Russian authorities dispatched investigators to the site of the emergency landing, classifying the investigation as a "criminal probe", according to the Russian Investigative Committee. Prosecutor General Yury Chaika was said to be "keeping a watchful eye" over the proceedings. Several hours after the incident occurred, the lead prosecutor in the investigation said that the preliminary results suggested a bird strike was responsible for the loss of engines.

By the day after the incident, investigators had recovered the flight data recorder and a second data-storing device. The Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) said that it had begun analysis of both recovered devices, which were said to be in "satisfactory condition". The cockpit voice recorder was recovered on 10 December. Analysis of the flight data recorder showed that eight minutes after the aircraft took off, at an altitude of 6,500 metres (21,300 ft), the fuel supply to the engines fluctuated, and as the aircraft passed 9,000 metres (30,000 ft), the outer two engines shut down. The crew at this point began a descent towards Domodedovo Airport. The central engine had a "period of instability", but its normal status was "restored and maintained" until the aircraft's landing.

The fuel supply at Vnukovo Airport was confirmed to meet standards. On 1 April 2011, investigators announced that poor fuel quality had been ruled out as a cause of the crash, despite instrument readings that indicated issues with the fuel supply before the aircraft crashed.

On 26 September 2011, the MAK released its report into the incident, concluding that the cause was the flight engineer accidentally shutting off a fuel pump while transferring fuel. As a result, fuel consumption fluctuated, leading to unusual altitude and engine readings before the outer two engines shut down. At this point, the crew chose to bring the plane to Domodedovo Airport. The report said that the crew had not used all available options to deal with the loss of engine power and had not followed procedures for landing with two nonfunctional engines. The report also noted that the crew had not been sufficiently trained to deal with the situation.

On 22 January 2015, the airplane's pilot Zakarzha Zakarzhayev was found guilty in court under article 263.3 of the Criminal Code of Russia (violating safety rules of transportation and air travel, which led by neglect to death of two or more people). He was given a suspended sentence of 3 years and then immediately amnestied.