Incident Overview

Description
A Russian Yak-40 jet sustained substantial damage during a failed go around at Aktyubinsk Airport (AKX), Kazakhstan. The airplane, operated by Bugulma Air Enterprise, carried out a charter flight from Kazan Airport (KZN), Russia to Aktyubinsk Airport (AKX) — also known as Aktobe, with an intermediate stop at Begishevo (NBC), Russia. The airplane was chartered by the SMP-Neftegaz oil company. The flight was uneventful. Upon landing at Aktyubinsk, the crew felt a movement to the left when the nose landing gear touched the runway. The pilot pulled the nose up. He feared that lowering the nose would result in a loss of directional control again. He ordered a go around and instructed the crew to stow the reversers The undercarriage was retracted at a height of 3-5 m above the runway. The airplane sank back with the tail striking the runway. CONCLUSION (translated from Russian): The accident with Yak-40 RA-87447 was the result of erroneous actions of the crew while trying to execute a go around on landing, damaging the aircraft structure, and resulted from a combination of the following factors: – The crew’s unintended selection of the landing flaps to the fully retracted position shortly after leaving the ground, which led to a decrease in wing lift and subsidence of the aircraft; – Retraction of the undercarriage at a low altitude, which led, in the subsidence aircraft, to the aircraft fuselage contacting the runway surface and further movement on the runway on the nose landing gear and part of the tracted main landing gear wheels; – The crew’s attempt to go around with the engine reversers deployed, resulting in insufficient acceleration during the takeoff. The decision to go around was made by the captain, most likely due to the longitudinal plane imbalance that has arisen in the first seconds of the path of the aircraft and caused erroneous actions of the pilot in the performance of landing.
Primary Cause
Unintended selection of landing flaps to the fully retracted position, leading to a decrease in wing lift and subsequent subsidence of the aircraft.Unintended selection of landing flaps to the fully retracted position, leading to a decrease in wing lift and subsequent subsidence of the aircraft.Share on: