Red Wings Airlines Flight 9268

Red Wings Airlines Flight 9268

RA-64047, the Tu-204 involved in the accident, photographed in June 2011
Accident
Date	29 December 2012 (2012-12-29)
Summary	Runway overrun on landing due to braking system failure and pilot error
Site	Vnukovo International Airport, Moscow, Russia 55°35′2″N 37°15′18″E / 55.58389°N 37.25500°E / 55.58389; 37.25500Coordinates: 55°35′2″N 37°15′18″E / 55.58389°N 37.25500°E / 55.58389; 37.25500
Total injuries	4
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Tupolev Tu-204-100B
Operator	Red Wings Airlines
IATA flight No.	WZ9268
Registration	RA-64047
Flight origin	Pardubice Airport, Pardubice, Czech Republic
Destination	Vnukovo International Airport, Moscow, Russia
Occupants	8
Passengers	0
Crew	8
Fatalities	5
Injuries	3
Survivors	3
Ground casualties
Ground injuries	1

Red Wings Airlines Flight 9268 was a Tupolev Tu-204-100 passenger jet that on 29 December 2012 crashed on landing at Moscow Vnukovo Airport, Russia, following a repositioning flight from Pardubice Airport, Czech Republic. There were no passengers on board, but 5 of the 8 crew members were killed when the aircraft hit a ditch and highway structures after overrunning the runway.^[1]

The accident marked the second hull-loss of a Tupolev Tu-204, as well as the type's first fatal accident since its introduction in 1989.^[2]

Accident[]

According to Vnukovo airport authorities, there were eight crew members onboard and no passengers.^[3] There were five fatalities.^[4] At 16:35 local time (12:35 GMT), the aircraft overran runway 19, splitting into three sections upon running into a ditch between the airport fence and the M3 highway, with parts of it scattering onto the road; included were parts of the aircraft's interior, seat assemblies and two of the aircraft's wheels hitting the underside of the runway's approach lighting system scaffolding and impacting an automobile. The crash was recorded on video by a dashcam mounted on another automobile.^[5] The cockpit section of the aircraft became detached from the rest of the airframe.^[6]

It had been snowing prior to the accident and there was a significant cross wind with gusts of up to 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph).^[2]

The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (МВД) reported that the captain, first officer, flight engineer and one flight attendant were killed on impact. Of the remaining four crew members, a female subsequently died of her injuries while the other three were in serious condition.^[2]

The 29 December accident was the second runway overrun involving a Red Wings operated Tu-204-100B in nine days. A Moscow Vnukovo to Novosibirsk flight on 20 December 2012 (operated by a Tupolev Tu-204 registered as RA-64049) overran runway 25 at Tolmachevo Airport by 1,150 feet (350 meters) when its brakes failed on landing. All 70 people on board survived uninjured and damage to the aircraft was minor. As a result of that incident, on 24 December the Federal Air Transport Agency of Russia (Rosaviatsia) issued a mandatory Airworthiness Directive requiring Red Wings and all other operators of the Tu-204 to inspect and apply extra lubrication to the braking system drive mechanism limit switches, located on the main landing shock absorber, "before next departure".

On 28 December, the day before the fatal Vnukovo accident, Rosaviatsia also formally notified Tupolev, the aircraft's manufacturer, that malfunctioning brakes had caused the Red Wings Tu-204 overrun accident at Novosibirsk.^[7][8] On 30 December Rosaviatsia chief Alexander Neradko announced that a preliminary examination of the aircraft's flight data recorder indicated that the flight had touched down in the proper landing area but, as in the 20 December incident in Novosibirsk, the braking system on RA-64047 appeared to have failed in the fatal Moscow overrun accident as well.^[9]

Aircraft and crew[]

RA-64047, the Tu-204 involved, photographed over Poland at 08:32am GMT, on the accident flight

The aircraft, a Tupolev Tu-204-100B (reg RA-64047, c/n 1450743164047, s/n 047) was built in 2008.^[10] The airframe had accumulated 8,672 flight hours in 2,482 cycles, while the captain, 58-year-old Gennady Dmitrievich Shmelev, had more than 14,500 hours of total flying experience, of which more than 3,000 hours were on the Tu-204.^{[11]: 12–17 [12][13]} The first officer, 52-year-old Evgeny Ivanovich Astashenkov had more than 10,000 flight hours, including more than 500 hours on the Tu-204.^{[11]: 17–19} The flight engineer, 54-year-old Igor Nikolaevich Fisenko, also had more than 10,000 flight hours, with nearly 1,600 of them on the Tu-204.^{[11]: 20–22} The accident was the first hull loss for Red Wings Airlines since its founding in 1999.^[2]

Sequence of events during landing[]

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The approach was carried out on runway 19 at Vnukovo Airport with length of 3060 m. The captain was the pilot-in-command (PIC). Before entering the glide path, the aircraft was in landing configuration with flaps deployed at 37°, slats at 23°, and the landing gear down. Decision height was calculated to be 60 m. Landing weight of the aircraft was approximately 67.5 tons, center of gravity (CG) location at appx. 26.5%, which does not exceed the limits set by the flight manual (AFM). During preparation for landing the captain had determined the landing speed as 210 km/h, and specified that the speed of at least 230 km/h has to be maintained. Approach was done in the director mode with autothrottle disabled with an average indicated airspeed of about 255 km/h and vertical speed -3 m/s ... -5 m/s.

The approach was performed without significant deviations from the glide path. Flyby of the neighboring (to the runway) homing beacon was performed at an altitude of 65  ...70 m. Runway threshold was passed at the height of 15 meters at an airspeed of 260 km/h. 5 seconds after the throttle had been retarded to idle, the aircraft landed with the speed of 230 km/h, distance from the runway threshold of 900 m ... 1000 m and left bank of 1° ... 1.5°. At this point the signal of left gear strut compression was sensed. During the landing the right side wind gusts reached up to 11.5 m/s. The maximal value of the vertical acceleration during touchdown was recorded as 1.12g. About 10 seconds have passed from the moment of passing the 4 m altitude point and the touchdown. 3 seconds after touchdown nose gear strut was compressed. At this stage the right gear strut compression signal had not yet been sensed. Almost simultaneously with the touchdown of the nose landing gear the crew moved the engine controls to the Maximum Reverse position at one sweep and applied mechanical brakes.

The aircraft wreckage

Actuation of the valves of reversing systems on both engines did not happen. Airbrakes and spoilers also were not activated automatically and the crew did not attempt to activate them manually. After thrust levers were moved to the Maximum Reverse position an increase of forward thrust (up to 90% Nvd) was recorded on both engines. The pressure in the hydraulic system of wheel brakes of the left (compressed) landing gear was up to 50 kgf/cm², whereas there were no pressure in the wheel brakes of the right (not compressed) landing gear. The minimum airspeed to which the aircraft slowed 7–8 seconds after landing was 200 km/h ... 205 km/h at appx. 0° pitch and 1° left roll. After that the speed began to increase. 2 seconds after the thrust levers were moved to the Maximum Reverse position the flight engineer reported that reversers had not been deployed. Thrust lever had been maintained in the Maximum Reverse position for about 8 seconds and were stowed after. During this time the airspeed increased to 240 km/h. The increase in speed led to further unloading of the main landing gear. With fluctuations in roll (from 4.5° to the left to 2.6° to the right) compression signals were produced alternately on the left and right landing gear struts. The signal of simultaneous compression of both struts (required for thrust reversers deployment) was not produced. Almost simultaneously with the reversers being stowed, the brake pedal was pushed by the captain to 60°. As before, the braking was inefficient since by design the hydraulic pressure in the wheel brake is only applied after sufficient compression of the gear strut. 5 seconds after reversers were deactivated, after the flight engineer shouted "Reversers! Deploy reversers!" the pilots moved the controls to the Maximum Reverse position again. As during the first attempt, reverser deployment did not happen, both engines started to produce forward thrust again (at Nvd appx. 84%). Braking of the aircraft again did not happen, and the airspeed was increased to 230 km/h ... 240 km/h. The reversers were deactivated 4 seconds later. At the time of reverser reactivation the aircraft was at a distance of about 950 m ... 1000 m from the runway far side threshold. 6 seconds after the deactivation of the reversers the crew attempted to apply automatic braking, as evidenced by the crew conversation and transient appearance of commands Automatic Braking on for the primary and backup subsystems. When the aircraft passed the exit threshold thrust levers were in Idle Reverse position.

The aircraft skidded off the runway 32 seconds after landing, being almost on the axis of the runway with an air speed of about 215 km/h. In the process of skidding off at the command of the captain the flight engineer switched off the engines by means of the emergency shut down. The plane continued to roll out of the runway, slowly decelerating due to road bumps and snow cover. At this point the compression on both landing gear struts happened which led to the activation of airbrakes and spoilers. The plane collided with the slope of a ravine at a ground speed of about 190 km/h.^[14]

See also[]

• TAM Flight 3054

References[]

Further reading[]

• Kaminski-Morrow, David. "Pilots killed as Red Wings Tu-204 crashes on Moscow highway." Flight International. 29 December 2012.
• Kaminski-Morrow, David. "Crashed Tu-204 powered forward as pilots tried reversing thrust." Flight International. 24 January 2013.

External links[]

• Ту-204 RA-64047 29.12.2012 - Interstate Aviation Committee (Official investigation) (in Russian) (Archive)
  • Final report (Archive) (in Russian)
• EMERCOM of Russia
  • "In accordance with an order of Emergency Ministry’s Head Vladimir Puchkov all necessary emergency response and recovery operations are continued." 29 December 2012. Print, PDF, Word
  • "Minister Vladimir Puchkov held an operational teleconference on the crash of Tu-204 airliner and gave instructions to all relevant services." 29 December 2012. Print, PDF. Word
• Red Wings Airlines (Archive, Archive 2) (in Russian)
• Airliners.net Flight 9268 preparing for departure in a photo by Karel Bohac, 29 December 2012
• Dashcam footage of the impact on YouTube