Flight Safety Information March 19, 2016 - No. 056 In This Issue All 62 aboard Dubai airliner killed in crash in southern Russia Accident Preliminary Information All 62 aboard Dubai airliner killed in crash in southern Russia FlyDubai jet crashes in Russia A Dubai airliner with 62 people on board crashed and caught fire early Saturday while landing in strong winds in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, killing all aboard, officials said. A list published by Russia's Emergencies Ministry showed the Boeing 737-800 operated by FlyDubai was carrying 55 passengers, most of them Russian, and seven crew members, whose nationalities were not immediately known. The Emergencies Ministry said that all had been killed. It was the budget carrier's first crash since it began operations in 2009. In a statement, FlyDubai confirmed that Flight 981 crashed on landing and there were no survivors. Four children were among those killed, it said. "Our primary concern is for the families of the passengers and crew who were on board. Everyone at FlyDubai is in deep shock and our hearts go out to the families and friends of those involved," said CEO Ghaith al-Ghaith. Vasily Golubev, the governor of the Rostov region some 600 miles south of Moscow, was quoted by Russian news agencies as telling local journalists that the plane crashed about 800 feet short of the runway. The cause of the crash was not immediately determined, but Golubev said: "By all appearances, the cause of the air crash was the strongly gusting wind, approaching a hurricane level." The Russian Emergencies Ministry said the plane clipped the ground with a wing and caught fire. According to the weather data reported by Russian state television, winds at the moment of the crash at an altitude of 1,640 feet and higher were around 67 mph. Ian Petchenik, a spokesman for the flight-tracking website Flightradar24, told The Associated Press that the plane missed its approach, then entered a holding pattern. According to Flightradar24, the plane circled for about two hours before making another attempt to land. According to its data, the plane began climbing again after a go-around when it suddenly started to fall with vertical speed of up to 21,000 feet per minute. The CCTV footage showed the plane going down in a steep angle and exploding in a giant fireball. Some Russian aviation experts said the steep descent appeared to indicate that the crash most probably was caused by a gust of wind. "It was an uncontrollable fall," Sergei Kruglikov, a veteran Russian pilot, said on Russian state television. He said that a sudden change in wind speed and direction could have caused the wings to abruptly lose their lifting power. Another seasoned pilot, Viktor Zabolotsky, said a gust of wind probably caused the airliner to lose speed and crash as the pilot was making an attempt to go around. President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to the victims' families and top Russian Cabinet officials flew to the crash site to oversee the investigation. Officials said the plane and bodies of the victims were pulverized by the powerful explosion, but investigators already have found one of the Boeing's flight recorders. FlyDubai was launched in 2008 by the government of Dubai, the Gulf commercial hub that is part of the seven-state United Arab Emirates federation. Its first flight took to the skies in 2009. It has been flying to Rostov-on-Don since 2013. It shares a chairman with Dubai's government-backed Emirates, the Middle East's biggest airline, though the two carriers operate independently and maintain separate operations from their bases at Dubai International Airport, the region's busiest airport. FlyDubai's fleet is dominated by relatively young 737-800 aircraft, like the one that crashed. The airline says it operates more than 1,400 flights a week. The airline has expanded rapidly in Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union. Dubai is a popular tourist destination for Russian visitors, who are attracted by its beaches, shopping malls and year-round sunshine. Many Russian expatriates live and work in Dubai, a city where foreigners outnumber locals more than 4-to-1. FlyDubai has a good safety record. In January 2015, one of its planes was struck on the fuselage by what appeared to small-arms fire shortly before it landed in Baghdad. That flight landed safely with no major injuries reported. On Oct. 31, a Russian airliner blew up in the air over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 aboard. Investigators determined it was destroyed by a bomb onboard. http://www.latimes.com/wires/la-na-russia-says-airline-from-dubai-crashes-20160318- story.html Back to Top Accident Preliminary Information Status: Preliminary Date: Saturday 19 March 2016 Time: 03:41 Type: Boeing 737-8KN (WL) Operator: flydubai Registration: A6-FDN C/n / msn: 40241/3517 First flight: 2010-12-21 (5 years 3 months) Engines: 2 CFMI CFM56-7B27 Crew: Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7 Passengers: Fatalities: 55 / Occupants: 55 Total: Fatalities: 62 / Occupants: 62 Airplane damage: Destroyed Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: Rostov Airport (ROV) ( Russia) Phase: Initial climb (ICL) Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Dubai Airport (DXB/OMDB), United Arab Emirates Destination airport: Rostov Airport (ROV/URRR), Russia Flightnumber: FZ981 Narrative: A Boeing 737-800 aircraft, operated by FlyDubai as Flight FZ981 from Dubai, impacted airport terrain during a second approach attempt in bad weather to Rostov-On-Don Airport in Southern Russia. The airplane was destroyed and the 55 passengers and 7 crew fatally injured. Flight 981 departed Dubai at 18:37 hours UTC on March 18. At 22:43 UTC (01:43 local time) the aircraft aborted the approach to runway 22 at Rostov Airport and began circling the area until it entered a holding pattern at 23:25 UTC. The flight left the holding pattern at 00:28 UTC (03:28 LT) and descended towards Rostov for another attempted approach to runway 22. The aircraft crashed on airport terrain during this attempt. ADS-B data recorded by Flightradar24 show the aircraft descending to an altitude of 1550 feet when it began to climb again at 3 NM (5,6 km) short of the runway. It reached about 3975 feet until the airplane entered a steep descent before impacting airport terrain. Timeline of events (times in UTC): 18:22 FZ981 pushed back from Stand E18 at Dubai Airport 18:37 FZ981 commences takeoff from runway 30R at Dubai Airport 19:14 FZ981 reaches cruising altitude of FL360 22:16 FZ981 commences descent from FL360 22:23 S71159 (an Airbus A319 from Moscow-Domodedovo) lands after it's first approach to runway 22 22:28 U62758 (an Airbus A320 from Khudzhand) lands after it's first approach to runway 22 22:39 FZ981 commences final approach to runway 22 at Rostov Airport 22:42 FZ981 aborts first approach at 1725 ft, 6.7 km short of the runway 22:49 FZ981 reaches 8000 feet and heads towards the northeast of the airport 22:54 SU1166 (a Sukhoi Superjet 100-95B from Moscow-Sheremetyevo) aborts the first approach to runway 22 23:07 SU1166 aborts the second approach to runway 22 23:17 SU1166 aborts the third approach to runway 22 23:20 SU1166 diverts towards Krasnodar 23:27 FZ981 enters holding pattern at 15000 feet to the southeast of the airport 00:28 FZ981 leaves the holding pattern and descends for a second approach 00:36 FZ981 intercepts the runway 22 localizer at 10 NM from the runway 00:40 FZ981 aborts second approach at 1550 ft, 5.6 km short of the runway 00:41 FZ981 impacts airport terrain after a steep descent from 3975 feet Sources: METAR Weather report: 00:00 UTC / 03:00 local time: URRR 190000Z 24010MPS 8000 -SHRA SCT017 BKN040CB OVC100 06/03 Q0998 WS R22 R22/290046 TEMPO 25015G20MPS 1000 SHRA BR SCT003 BKN020CB RMK QFE741/0988 00:30 UTC / 03:30 local time: URRR 190030Z 24012G19MPS 6000 -SHRA SCT018 BKN036CB OVC100 06/04 Q0998 R22/290046 TEMPO 25017G25MPS 1000 SHRA BR SCT003 BKN020CB RMK QFE741/0988 Wind 240 degrees, 12 m/s gusting to 19 m/s; Visibility 6000m; light rain showers; Scattered couds at 1800 feet, broken Cumulonimbus clouds at 3600 feet, overcast at 10000 feet; Temperature 6°C; Dew point 4°C 22:30 UTC / 01:30 local time: URRR 182230Z 25011G17MPS 4200 -SHRA SCT016 BKN033CB OVC100 06/03 Q1000 R22/290046 TEMPO 25015G20MPS 1000 SHRA BR SCT003 BKN020CB RMK QFE742/0990 Wind 250 degrees, 11 m/s gusting to 17 m/s; Visibility 4200m; light rain showers; Scattered couds at 1600 feet, broken Cumulonimbus clouds at 3300 feet, overcast at 10000 feet; Temperature 6°C; Dew point 3°C 23:00 UTC / 02:00 local time: URRR 182300Z 24009G15MPS 4500 -SHRA SCT017 BKN036CB OVC100 05/03 Q0999 WS R22 R22/290046 TEMPO 25015G20MPS 1000 SHRA BR SCT003 BKN020CB RMK QFE742/0989 23:30 UTC / 02:30 local time: URRR 182330Z 24012MPS 3900 -SHRA SCT019 BKN036CB OVC100 06/03 Q0999 WS R22 R22/290046 TEMPO 25015G20MPS 1000 SHRA BR SCT003 BKN020CB RMK QFE741/0989 https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20160319-0