Incident Overview

Date: Sunday 2 February 2014
Aircraft Type: Airbus A320-231
Owner/operator: East Air
Registration Number: EY-623
Location: Kulob Airport (TJU) – ÿ Tajikistan
Phase of Flight: Landing
Status: Substantial, written off
Casualties: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 194
Component Affected: Aircraft Nose Landing Gear & EnginesAircraft Nose Landing Gear & Engines
Investigating Agency: MAKMAK
Category: Accident
An Airbus A320-231, registration EY-623, experienced a serious landing accident at Kulob Airport (TJU) due to adverse weather conditions and runway unpreparedness. The aircraft, operating as East Air flight ETJ704, was cleared for landing on a single runway, 01/19 (3000m), but the runway was inadequately prepared for its operation. Heavy snowfall reduced visibility and created a significant snow berm extending 22 meters wide along the runway’s north and south sides. During final approach, the pilot disconnected the autopilot, initiating manual control. The aircraft subsequently collided with a snow berm, resulting in a loss of control and a slide off the runway. The impact caused significant damage to the aircraft’s nose landing gear and engine shutdown. The incident highlights a critical failure in runway preparation and pilot decision-making.An Airbus A320-231, registration EY-623, experienced a serious landing accident at Kulob Airport (TJU) due to adverse weather conditions and runway unpreparedness. The aircraft, operating as East Air flight ETJ704, was cleared for landing on a single runway, 01/19 (3000m), but the runway was inadequately prepared for its operation. Heavy snowfall reduced visibility and created a significant snow berm extending 22 meters wide along the runway’s north and south sides. During final approach, the pilot disconnected the autopilot, initiating manual control. The aircraft subsequently collided with a snow berm, resulting in a loss of control and a slide off the runway. The impact caused significant damage to the aircraft’s nose landing gear and engine shutdown. The incident highlights a critical failure in runway preparation and pilot decision-making.

Description

An Airbus A320-231, registration EY-623, sustained substantial damage in a landing accident at Kulob Airport (TJU), Tajikistan. The aircraft operated as East Air flight ETJ704 from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport to Kulob. Weather at Kulob was poor due to heavy snowfall. The airport’s single runway, 01/19 (3000 m long, 45 m wide), was cleared of snow on the north side. The south side, from the threshold to the middle of the runway, was partly cleared with path of 21 m wide. On both sides of the path a 50-95 cm high snow berm was present. During final approach to runway 01 the pilot in command disconnected the autopilot and switched to manual control of the airplane. The plane landed on runway 01 at a distance of 230 m from the runway threshold, at a speed of 255 km/h. The wheels of the right hand main gear crossed the border the runway at a distance of about 520 m from the threshold and the aircraft continued along the side of the runway. The wheels left main landing gear remained on the runway. At a distance of 710 m from the threshold both engines quit due to ingress of large amounts of snow. The nose landing gear collapsed and the airplane slid until it stopped 1190 m from the beginning of the runway. There was no fire and none of the occupants were injured. CONCLUSION (translation from Russian): The cause of the accident with the aircraft A320-231 EY-623 was the aircraft collision with a snow berm while landing on an unprepared runway, which was cleared by a width of about 22m (runway width being 45m), and where there were snow berms at a height of 50-95cm along the borders. The aircraft’s right main gear contacted a snow berm, which led to the destruction of the nose landing gear and self-termination of engines and the aircraft moving off the runway to the right. The accident was the result of a combination of the following factors: – decision by the flight director to receive an aircraft on an unprepared runway; – the unreadiness of the runway at the time of arrival of the aircraft and the failure to make a corresponding entry in the “Journal of the state of the airfield” with the runway measures.

Primary Cause

Inadequate runway preparation and pilot decision-making regarding landing on an unprepared runway, compounded by the presence of a snow berm.Inadequate runway preparation and pilot decision-making regarding landing on an unprepared runway, compounded by the presence of a snow berm.

Share on:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *