Kolavia Flight 348

Kolavia Flight 348

RA-85588 seen in Novosibirsk in August 2007.
Accident summary
Date 1 January 2011
Summary Electrical fire
Site Surgut International Airport, Surgut, Russia
61°20′30″N 73°24′10″E / 61.34167°N 73.40278°E / 61.34167; 73.40278Coordinates: 61°20′30″N 73°24′10″E / 61.34167°N 73.40278°E / 61.34167; 73.40278
Passengers 116[1]
Crew 8 (+10 off-duty crew)[1]
Fatalities 3[2][3]
Injuries (non-fatal) 43[4]
Survivors 131
Aircraft type Tupolev Tu-154B-2
Operator Kogalymavia
Registration RA-85588
Flight origin Surgut International Airport
Destination Domodedovo International Airport

Kolavia Flight 348[Note 1][Note 2] was a domestic scheduled passenger flight from Surgut International Airport, Surgut, Russia, to Domodedovo International Airport, Moscow, Russia. On 1 January 2011, the Kogalymavia Tupolev Tu-154-B2 operating the flight caught fire while taxiing for take-off from Surgut. Three people were killed,[2][5] and 43 were injured, four seriously. The aircraft was destroyed in the fire.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Tupolev Tu-154B-2, registration RA-85588,[6] msn 83A/588. The aircraft first flew in 1983. It entered service with Aeroflot as CCCP-85588 and was re-registered RA-85588 in June 1993. It then served with Mavial Magadan Airlines between October 1994 and August 1999, when it began service with Vladivostok Air. Kogalymavia acquired the aircraft in April 2007.[7]

Accident

Flight 348 was carrying eight crew, 116 passengers and 10 off-duty employees of Kogalymavia.[1] As the aircraft was taxiing for take-off from Surgut International Airport, a fire developed in one of the engines and an emergency evacuation was ordered.[1][4][5] It was initially reported that the aircraft had made an emergency landing following an engine flame-out on take-off. The accident occurred at 13:12 local time (08:12 UTC).[6] The METAR in force at the time of the accident was METAR USRR 010800Z 16002MPS 5000 BR FEW006 BKN100 M30/M33 Q1052 TEMPO 2000 BR SCT003 RMK QBB200 QFE784 07////45.[8] Three people were killed,[2][3] and 43 people were injured, from smoke inhalation or burns.[4][6] The aircraft was operating a domestic scheduled flight from Surgut to Moscow.[6] The aircraft was burnt out by the fire,[1][9] which was extinguished by 13:45 local time.[6] Members of the 1990s Russian pop group Na Na were on board the plane at the time.[4] A statement by the Russia's Ministry of Health and Social Development gave figures of 117 passengers and 18 crew.[10]

Aftermath

Following the accident, Russia's Federal Transport Oversight Agency advised airlines that they should stop using the Tu-154B until the accident had been investigated.[11] This would affect 14 aircraft, all other Tu-154s in service are Tu-154Ms. Kogalymavia pledged to pay compensation of руб 20,000 to those passengers involved in the accident. The Russian insurance company Sogaz stated that those injured in the accident would receive between руб 20,000 and руб 2,000,000 compensation. The families of those killed would receive руб 2,000,000 compensation. Authorities in the Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra had allocated руб 10,000,000 to assist the families of those injured in the accident.[12] It was reported on 6 January that all three bodies had been recovered from the wreckage.[1]

Investigation

Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) opened an investigation into the accident.[1][13] A separate criminal investigation was opened to investigate allegations of breaching transport and fire safety rules. The Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder were recovered from the wreckage of the aircraft.[11] Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations stated that the initial investigations pointed towards an electrical short circuit being the cause of the fire, which started in the central area of the fuselage, ahead of the rear-mounted engines.[2][14] The fire started between frames 65 and 68. In a statement issued on 4 January, the MAK ruled out the engines or auxiliary power unit as the cause of the fire.[1]

On 28 September 2011 the MAK released their final report in Russian stating that the probable cause of the accident was "The outbreak of a fire in the right generator panel located between frames 62 and 64 in the cabin The cause of the fire was an electrical arc produced by electrical currents exceeding 10 to 20 times the nominal loads when two generators not synchronised with each other were brought online but got connected together instead of being connected to parallel busses."

Notes

  1. ^ Kolavia was the trading name of Kogalymavia Airlines.
  2. ^ Also referred to as 7K348 (IATA) KGL348 (ICAO) or callsign "KOGALYM348"

See also

Swissair Flight 111 where an in-flight uncontrolled electrical fire and subsequent instrument failure occurred within the airframe in the cockpit area of a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 of Swissair resulting in a crash into the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Halifax International Airport at the entrance to St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia. All aboard wire killed. The similarity relates to evidence of an electrical arc that subsequently caused a fire despite installed protective devices. Following the SR111 incident, metallised Mylar film is no longer approved for use as thermal or acoustic blanketing in airliners and has had to be removed from any affected aircraft at major overhauls and replaced with a safe alternative.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Hradecky, Simon. "Accident: Kolavia T154 at Surgut on Jan 1st 2011, engine fire". Aviation Herald. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Technical failure likely cause of Surgut plane explosion – investigation, RIAN, 3 January 2011
  3. 1 2 Death toll in plane explosion in Siberia reaches three (Update 5), RIAN, 1 January 2011
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Russia pop group Na-Na describe plane fire 'panic'". BBC News. 1 January 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
  5. 1 2 At least three die, over 40 receive injuries as jet in Siberia goes on fire (Wrapup), RIAN, 1 January 2011
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Fatal fire destroys Kolavia Tu-154 at Surgut". Flight International. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  7. ↑ "RA-85888 Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  8. ↑ "History for Surgut, Russia, Saturday, January 1, 2011". Wunderground. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  9. ↑ "Three dead in plane explosion in Siberia". Sky News. 1 January 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
  10. ↑ "Справка по состоянию на 19:00 мск 01 января 2011 о состоянии пассажиров и членов экипажа рейса 7K348, Сургут – Москва, ООО "Авиакомпания Когалымавиа"" (in Russian). Ministry of Health and Social Development. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  11. 1 2 "Russia grounds all Tu-154Bs after fatal fire". BBC News. 2 January 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
  12. ↑ "Russia's transport watchdog urges airlines to ditch Tu-154B passenger jets". RIA Novosti. 2 January 2010. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
  13. ↑ "Ту-154Б RA-85588 1 January 2011" (in Russian). Межгосударственный авиационный комитет. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
  14. ↑ Kaminski-Morrow, David. "Tu-154 fire sparked by electrical short-circuit: ministry". Flight International. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
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