The pilot should not have flown. The investigation into the plane crash in Kazan has been completed

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 remember that the disaster occurred in international airport Kazan on the evening of November 17, 2013. 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 based on 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 the 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.

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 passengers aircraft and crew members.

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 safety rules and operation of 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 at 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 from 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 statement of claim to 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 refusal aviation technology not present in 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.

Last night a tragedy occurred at Kazan airport. The Boeing 737 of Tatarstan Airlines, operating flight U363 on the route Moscow - Kazan, took off from Domodedovo exactly on schedule at 18.25. Landing at the international airport of the capital of Tatarstan was supposed to take place at 19.40. But at 19.25, the plane, while trying to go around, lost altitude, collided with the runway with its nose and exploded. There were 44 passengers and six crew members on board the Boeing. They all died. The investigation is considering several versions of the crash, including pilot error, weather and technical malfunction.

Among the dead are the son of the President of Tatarstan Irek Minnikhanov, the head of the republican department of the FSB Alexander Antonov and the wife of sports commentator Roman Skvortsov Ellina. The death of the son of Rustam Minnikhanov and the chief of the Tatarstan FSB Directorate was confirmed to the RG correspondent by Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan Yuri Kamaltynov.

The plane crash occurred at 19.25. A Boeing flying from Moscow's Domodedovo airport crashed during landing. According to preliminary data, the aircraft hit the take-off runway and exploded.

As the press secretary of the Russian Minister of Emergency Situations, Irina Rossius, told RG, the plane crashed as a result of an explosion. What caused the explosion will be determined by a special expert commission. One of the versions is that the plane hit the ground and the fuel detonated.

The airliner tried to land not three times, as previously reported, but two. The first time we didn’t manage to sit down, we went for the second round. It was on the second attempt that disaster struck. Most likely, the pilots approached the landing strip at too sharp an angle. The plane probably poked its nose into the take-off area and exploded - the pilots most likely did not calculate the glide path.

The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations told the RG correspondent that three disaster medicine teams, 10 ambulance teams and 5 emergency rescue teams worked at the scene of the plane crash. In total - over 300 employees and 100 pieces of equipment. A group of psychologists from the Ministry of Health of Tatarstan arrived at the scene of the emergency to help the relatives of the victims, who had already begun to arrive at the airport. The fire at the crash site has been extinguished.

The official representative of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Vladimir Markin, said that the investigation is considering various versions, including pilot error, technical malfunction and adverse weather conditions.

Condolences

Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to urgently form a commission to investigate the causes of the plane crash in Kazan.

“After receiving the relevant report on the plane crash, the head of state instructed the Russian government to urgently form a government commission to investigate the causes and circumstances of the plane crash,” said presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov. According to him, “the president has given instructions to the relevant ministries and departments to immediately take measures to carry out the search and rescue operation.”

“Putin deeply sympathizes with the families and friends of those killed in this terrible disaster", Peskov emphasized.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev conveyed deep condolences to the relatives of the victims of this tragedy. The Prime Minister instructed Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov to create and head a commission to investigate the causes of the plane crash in Kazan, said the head of government’s press secretary Natalya Timakova. “In the near future, the minister will fly to the scene of the tragedy,” she clarified.

Investigators have already begun examining the scene of the incident. According to him, during the investigation all possible versions will be checked. It is clear that in addition to inspecting the scene of the incident, documentation, samples of fuel and lubricants with which the plane was fueled will be confiscated. They will check the maintenance of the aircraft and conduct a comprehensive technical examination. By the way, the situation center of Roshydromet reported that the weather conditions in Kazan on Sunday evening were favorable and normal for Kazan at this time of year. Visibility was five thousand meters, the runway was dry, there was light rain at times, the temperature was plus 3 degrees. Wind - 8 m/s, pressure 734 mm Hg. Art., humidity - 100 percent.

It is already known that the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin, took personal control of the investigation. On his instructions, a group of investigators and criminologists from the central office of the Investigative Committee with experience in investigating plane crashes was formed. Bastrykin will personally arrive in Kazan on Monday.

Monday in Tatarstan has been declared a day of mourning.

Debriefing

The Boeing had no problems taking off from the capital's Domodedovo airport. Everything was going as normal, RG noted at the Moscow airport. The plane took off at 18:25. According to the schedule, which was published on the website of Tatarstan Airlines (it owned the plane), the plane was supposed to arrive at 19:40, but it arrived 15 minutes earlier. The airline has two Boeings in its fleet.

One of them is the crashed Boeing 737-500 BBN. The total number of seats on the plane is 117, but there were 44 passengers on board.

Boeings of this type are quite popular in the airline fleet; such aircraft take off every five minutes. These aircraft have been operating in our airlines for a long time; there are at least 50 such aircraft.

The liners of this brand are produced in three series: Original, Classic and Next Generation. The first includes Boeing aircraft 737-100 and -200. They have been produced since the 80s. But they have long been discontinued. Numerous complaints about inconvenience forced the developers to improve the machines. The “Classic” series began with the Boeing 737-300, which is still successfully used on Russian airlines. Charter companies were interested in the capacity of the aircraft, so two more versions of the Boeing 737-400 and -500 were developed, here the number of seats and flight range were increased. For carrier companies, vehicles in this series turned out to be the golden mean. Excellent technical characteristics and positive reviews have led to the fact that most machines of this class are still in use Russian airlines. Boeing 737-500 has very good technical characteristics, it reaches a speed of 910 kilometers per hour, experts say.

It is known that the plane touched the runway during the go-around approach and a fire occurred, the Federal Air Transport Agency reported. But if we talk about the reason that forced the pilots to go around, then no one dares to name it yet. In some cases, a missed approach occurs either due to weather conditions or due to a technical malfunction. But the airport was modernized this summer and allows it to receive ships in difficult weather conditions. Most likely, weather conditions on the ground could not have caused the hard landing. The fire started after the plane hit the tarmac. But, apparently, the pilots did not expect such a development of events, experts suggest. This aircraft does not have an emergency fuel dump system. If the crew had any suspicions, they would have tried to use up the fuel.

The reasons for the unsuccessful landing will be officially known after the black boxes are deciphered. But so far at the time of signing the number they had not been found. In addition to recorders, experts of the Interstate Aviation Committee usually take into account the location of the debris at the crash site when determining the causes.

On this moment it is known that the plane was partially destroyed, a lot of small fragments were scattered nearby, but the fuselage was mostly intact. Last night they did not evacuate it from the runway so that experts could recreate the whole picture of the crash. Therefore the airport was closed.

The extent to which the runway itself is damaged will be judged after the debris is evacuated from the airport, the Federal Air Transport Agency noted. Information about an explosion on board has not yet been confirmed.

The plane that crashed was manufactured in 1990; it met aviation safety requirements and had a special certificate. Although, according to some reports, the crashed Boeing had previously had experience emergency landing. However, the Federal Air Transport Agency has not yet confirmed this information either.

The Volga territorial department of the State Aviation Supervision Authority yesterday evening created a commission that began unscheduled inspection activities of Tatarstan Airlines for compliance with legislation regarding flight safety.