SCAT Airlines Flight 760 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from
Kokshetau
Kokshetau (; , ; rus, Кокшета́у, p=kəkʂɛ'taʊ; ), formerly known as Kokchetav (; ) between 1868 and 1993, is a lakeside city in northern Kazakhstan and the capital of Akmola Region. It stretches along the southern shore of Lak ...
to
Almaty
Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population exceeding two million residents within its metropolitan area. Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains ...
, Kazakhstan, operated by a
Bombardier CRJ200
The Bombardier CRJ100 and CRJ200 (previously Canadair CRJ100 and CRJ200) are regional jets designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace between 1991 and 2006, the first of the Bombardier CRJ family.
The ''Canadair Regional Jet'' (CRJ) pr ...
twinjet that on 29 January 2013 crashed in thick fog near the village of Kyzyltu, while on approach to Almaty. All 16 passengers and 5 crew on board were killed.
The subsequent investigation determined that the aircraft had descended abruptly after pitching nose-down, but was unable to establish the cause of the sudden manoeuvre.
Aircraft, passengers and crew
The aircraft involved was a
Bombardier CRJ200
The Bombardier CRJ100 and CRJ200 (previously Canadair CRJ100 and CRJ200) are regional jets designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace between 1991 and 2006, the first of the Bombardier CRJ family.
The ''Canadair Regional Jet'' (CRJ) pr ...
registered as UP-CJ006 with
serial number
A serial number (SN) is a unique identifier used to ''uniquely'' identify an item, and is usually assigned incrementally or sequentially.
Despite being called serial "numbers", they do not need to be strictly numerical and may contain letters ...
SCAT Airlines
SCAT Airlines, legally PLL SCAT Air Company, is an airline from Kazakhstan with its head office at Shymkent International Airport in Şymkent. It operates services to all major cities of Kazakhstan and neighboring countries. Its main base is Şymk ...
had operated the aircraft since 22 September 2012.
The aircraft was carrying 16 passengers and 5 crew members. The passenger manifest released by SCAT Airlines indicated all on board were Kazakhs.
The captain was 55-year-old Vladimir Nikolaevich Evdokimov, who had been working for SCAT Airlines since 2001 and had logged 18,194 flight hours, including 1,227 hours on the CRJ200. The first officer was 43-year-old Alexander Vladimirovich Sharapov, who had been with the airline since 2006 and had 3,507 flight hours, with 132 of them on the CRJ200.
Accident
The airliner operating the flight was on
final approach
In aeronautics, the final approach (also called the final leg and final approach leg) is the last leg in an aircraft's approach to landing, when the aircraft is lined up with the runway and descending for landing.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of A ...
to
Almaty International Airport
Almaty International Airport is an international airport in Almaty, Kazakhstan. It is larger than Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport (NQZ) in Astana and is the main international gateway into the country. It is a airline hub, principal ...
in thick fog and poor visibility when it crashed short of the runway near the village of Kyzyltu at 13:13 local time (07:13
UTC
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...
), 14 seconds after initiating a
go-around
In aviation, a go-around is an aborted landing of an aircraft that is on Final_approach_(aeronautics), final approach or has already touched down. A go-around can either be initiated by the pilot flying or requested by air traffic control for var ...
. All 16 passengers and 5 crew members aboard were killed.
According to the deputy head of Almaty's emergencies department, "there was no fire, no explosion. The plane just plunged to the earth."
Investigation
Shortly after the accident, a commission headed by Bakytzhan Sagintayev, the first deputy prime minister of Kazakhstan, was set up by Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov to investigate the cause of the crash.
Maulen Mukashev, the deputy mayor of Almaty, visited the crash site and told reporters that the preliminary cause of the crash was bad weather. Mukashev also added: "Not a single part of the plane was left intact after it came down."
On 2 March 2015, the
Interstate Aviation Committee
The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC; ) is an executive body of the Civil Aviation and Airspace Use Council of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and was formed in 1991missed approach
Missed approach is a procedure followed by a pilot when an instrument approach cannot be completed to a full-stop landing.
Initiation
A missed approach may be either initiated by the pilot or instructed by air traffic control (ATC).
The instru ...
procedure, initiated due to weather conditions being below minimal, a nose-down
elevator
An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...
deflection was recorded, resulting in a steep dive and impact with the ground. The investigation was unable to determine the cause of the elevator deflection, but did not find evidence of any system malfunction or external factors.
However, the IAC's final report did state a possible scenario that could have led to the elevator deflection; Captain Evdokimov (who was the pilot flying) may have experienced a heart attack during the go-around (the final report noted that a postaccident autopsy on Evdokimov revealed that he had coronary artery disease), becoming incapacitated and collapsing onto the yoke, pushing the aircraft's nose down. The scenario also stated that First Officer Sharapov was focusing on radio communications during the upset until the enhanced ground proximity warning system activated.
SCAT Airlines
SCAT Airlines, legally PLL SCAT Air Company, is an airline from Kazakhstan with its head office at Shymkent International Airport in Şymkent. It operates services to all major cities of Kazakhstan and neighboring countries. Its main base is Şymk ...