Siberian Light Aviation Flight 42

Siberian Light Aviation Flight 42

RA-28728, the Antonov An-28 involved in the crash, in January 2021
Accident
Date	16 July 2021 (2021-07-16)
Summary	Engine failure; under investigation
Site	Bakcharsky District, Tomsk Oblast, Russia
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Antonov An-28
Operator	Siberian Light Aviation
Registration	RA-28728
Flight origin	Kedrovy, Tomsk Oblast, Russia
Destination	Bogashevo Airport, Tomsk, Russia
Occupants	18
Passengers	14
Crew	4
Fatalities	0
Injuries	11
Survivors	18

Siberian Light Aviation Flight 42 was a domestic Russian scheduled passenger flight from Kedrovy to Tomsk, both in Tomsk Oblast in Siberia. On 16 July 2021, the Antonov An-28 operating the flight suffered a dual engine failure 10 minutes into the flight and crash landed in a remote area in the Vasyugan Swamp in the Bakcharsky District.^[1] The pilot suffered a broken leg requiring surgery, but all of the remaining passengers and crew escaped with only minor injuries.

Background[]

The town of Kedrovy, where the flight originated, does not have a year-round road connection with the rest of Russia, so flights into the city are the only method of ferrying passengers and cargo, especially in the summer when the surrounding peatlands are not frozen. Local authorities established a subsidized flight schedule between Kedrovy and Tomsk in 2019, with the cost of a ticket set at 2,000 rubles. Tickets sell out quickly and empty seats on the flights are rare.^[2] On July 16, 2021, the flight from Kedrovy to Tomsk was delayed up to ten hours due to poor weather conditions.^[2]

The aircraft involved in the accident in 2007, while still in service with Region Avia Airlines

Antonov An-28 aircraft (registration number RA-28728, plant number 1AJ007-13, serial number 07-13), was built on December 19, 1989, at the PZL-Mielec plant (Mielec, Poland). In April 1990 it was transferred to the Soviet Aeroflot under the tail number СССР-28728 (USSR-28728). Until 1991, it was operated in the Kyrgyz UGA of Aeroflot, later transferred to the Airways of Kyrgyzstan (Russian: Авиалинии Киргизстана). In 1999, it was purchased by the Russian airline Region Avia. In 2012, it was transferred to "SiLA", who was operating it at the time of the incident.^[3]

Crew[]

On this flight were 4 members of crew.

• Pilot in command - Pryzhkov Anatoly Yakovlevich, 56 years old, employee of "SiLA" since 2015.
• First officer - Khasanov Farukh, 32 years old, employee of "SiLA" since February 2021.
• Aircraft maintenance technician - Minayev Nikita
• Flight engineer - Feldenstein Alexander

Accident[]

Flight SL 42 departed from the airport of the city of Kedrovy behind schedule at 3:58 p.m. local time. Ten minutes into the flight, at an altitude of 3,000 metres (10,000 ft) and 70 kilometres (40 mi) from its origin airport, both engines of the aircraft failed.^[4][2][5] The pilots attempted to restart the engines, but were unsuccessful.^[4]

In interviews after the accident, the pilot reported that after the aircraft entered thick cloud, icing occurred in the engines, causing both to fail. The passengers prepared for a crash landing and the pilots attempted to touch down in an area where the trees were the least dense, but after touching down the aircraft sank into the mud and the pilot realized that the chosen landing site was actually a soft peat bog.^[6][7] After striking the soft surface, the aircraft rolled over onto its roof and the passengers were suspended upside down in their seats.^[7]

Aftermath[]

When the aircraft crashed, it disappeared from radar screens and the crew did not respond to air traffic control's radio requests.^[2] Shortly afterward, the COSPAS-SARSAT system detected an emergency beacon signal in the Bakcharsky District. Based on this signal, Emercom of Russia dispatched three Mi-8 helicopters to search for the missing aircraft.^[2]

On the ground, crew members were concerned about the possibility of an explosion in the inverted aircraft, and quickly evacuated the passengers from the aircraft.^[2] Not expecting to be rescued quickly, the survivors began to set up a shelter for the night.^[2] The crash site was located by helicopters that spotted a long path of fallen trees, the overturned aircraft, and smoke from a fire at the camp.^[2] All-terrain vehicles made the trip across the difficult terrain and arrived about an hour later.^[8]

Injuries[]

After the crash, twelve of the occupants evacuated by helicopter from the crash site to Tomsk, but six passengers refused to fly again and were taken to the nearest road by all-terrain vehicle, then transferred to a bus.^[9][2] The pilot in command suffered a broken leg that required surgery, and a 17-year-old passenger was treated for a concussion.^[10][6] The rest of the passengers and crew members received minor injuries, but there were no fatalities.^[10][9] In the days after the incident, the airline reported that it was providing 100,000 rubles (approximately $1,300 / £980 / €1,150) in compensation to each of the passengers of the flight.^[4]

Investigation[]

Crash investigators announced that they would be investigating four possibilities of the cause of the accident, including problems with the fuel, equipment malfunction, extreme weather, and pilot error, with a preliminary report expected around late August 2021.^[4] On July 19, investigators revealed that they had recovered the flight data recorder and that the data was being recovered.^[11]

In the days following the accident, a source close to the investigation told reporters that the main theory of the cause of the crash was that the aircraft entered a region of high humidity, which led to the air intakes of the engines becoming obstructed with ice. Still unknown was why the anti-icing systems aboard the aircraft failed to prevent the buildup and why the flight took off in the conditions in the first place.^[1] Another source indicated that there was a possibility that the pilots had failed to pay attention to the fuel levels in the aircraft, pointing to the severe damage to the aircraft and the fact that the fuel did not leak out and cause a fire or explosion in the crash.^[8] On July 16, 2021, the investigative authorities of the Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case on the grounds of a crime under Art. 263 Criminal Code of Russia (violation of traffic safety rules and operation of air transport).^[12] However, if the investigation finds that the accident was caused by something outside the control of the pilots, the crew can count on awards for skill and courage in safely guiding the stricken aircraft to the ground.^[8]

On 28 July 2021, a source told reporters that the flight data showed that the aircraft had leveled off at 3,100 metres (10,200 ft), which was lower than the assigned altitude.^[13] About a minute after leveling off, the engines failed, about three seconds apart.^[13] The automatic icing warning system did not indicate that the plane was suffering from icing, and the anti-ice system of the engines and airframe did not start.^[13] Investigators also revealed that they were looking into the work and rest schedule of the flight crews at the airline, after they discovered that the crew involved with the crash had performed ten flights totaling 12.5 hours in the previous 24 hours before the crash.^[14]

Federal Service for Supervision of Transport decided to conduct an unscheduled inspection of the airline.

References[]