4K-AZ55, the aircraft involved, seen at Cologne Bonn Airport in 2005
| |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 6 July 2011 (2011-07-06) |
| Summary | Under investigation[needs update] |
| Site | Ghorband District, approx. 40 km SW of Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Ilyushin Il-76TD |
| Operator | Silk Way Airlines |
| Registration | 4K-AZ55 |
| Flight origin | Heydar Aliyev International Airport, Baku, Azerbaijan |
| Destination | Bagram Airfield, Bagram, Afghanistan |
| Occupants | 9 |
| Crew | 9 |
| Fatalities | 9 |
| Survivors | 0 |
On 6 July 2011, a Silk Way Airlines Ilyushin Il-76TD cargo aircraft on a flight from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, crashed into a mountainside at an altitude of 3,800 metres (12,500 ft) while descending at night towards Bagram. All nine people on board were killed.[1]
Despite initial claims by Taliban rebels that they had shot down the aircraft, no evidence was found of external interference, while analysis of the flight recorders suggested the crash was a case of controlled flight into terrain.[2][3]
The Il-76 had taken off from Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku at 21:26 local time (16:26 UTC) on 5 July, with 18 tonnes of cargo destined for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Bagram. It was scheduled to land at Bagram at 01:40 local time on 6 July (21:10 on 5 July UTC).[4][5]
Shortly before arriving at Bagram, the flight disappeared from radar. An air traffic controller in the Afghan capital Kabul, around 40 km (25 mi) away from Bagram, reported seeing a flash in the sky at an altitude of about 4,000 m (13,000 ft) some 25 km (16 mi) away.[5]
It was later confirmed that the aircraft had struck a mountainside at around 3,800 metres (12,500 ft) of altitude. No distress call was received from the crew before contact was lost.[5] The same aircraft had recently flown from Kuwait to Baku without any problem.[6]
The wreckage of the Il-76 was located the following day in the Ghorband District, around 50 km (31 mi) north-west of Kabul. All nine people on board had perished.[4][6][7]
The aircraft involved was an Ilyushin Il-76TD with Azerbaijani registration 4K-AZ55, serial number 2053420680.[8] Built in 2005, it was operated by Silk Way Holding, a company linked to Azerbaijan Airlines. The aircraft received its last full technical inspection in February 2011 and had passed a regular technical inspection one month prior to the crash.[5]
Reports on the nationality of the crew varied, with some reporting five Azerbaijanis and four Uzbeks,[9][10][11] while others six Azerbaijanis and three Uzbeks.[12][4] The captain had logged over 4,500 flying hours at the time of the accident.[5]
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid stated that the aircraft had been shot down by Taliban rebels who believed it was carrying a shipment of weapons,[4] but Afghan local authorities denied any Taliban involvement.[5]
Despite ISAF stating that no Taliban activity had been reported in the affected area at the time of the crash, several attempts to reach the crash site were met with gunfire.[5][13] The Azerbaijani ambassador to Afghanistan and Pakistan considered that reports indicating technical problems with the aircraft were not true, and that in his opinion the Taliban were responsible for its loss.[14]
Silk Way Airlines temporarily halted its operations to Afghanistan following the accident, resuming them on 21 July.[15][9]
An investigative commission was set up by the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority, assisted by Azerbaijani authorities and by Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC).[13][2]
On 25 July, the remains of the crew members were delivered to the Association of Forensic Medical Examination and Pathological Anatomy of the Ministry of Health of Azerbaijan in Baku.[3]
On 15 August, the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) was sent to Moscow. Members of the IAC and representatives of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan successfully downloaded the recorded information. Analysis of the CVR suggested that at the time of the crash, the aircraft was under the captain's command, and that contrary to normal practice, he was flying visually and without assistance from Bagram air traffic control.[3]
The vice-president of the investigative commission also stated that the aircraft had deviated from the established route.[3]
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Aviation accidents and incidents in 2011 (2011)
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Jan 1 Jan 9 Feb 10 Feb 14 Central American Airways Flight 731 Mar 5 Garbuzovo Antonov An-148 crash Mar 21 Apr 1 Apr 4 Apr 19 May 7 Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 8968 May 18 May 18 Omega Aerial Refueling Services Flight 70 Jun 20 Jul 4 Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 crash Jul 6 Jul 8 Jul 11 Jul 13 Noar Linhas Aéreas Flight 4896 Jul 26 Royal Moroccan Air Force C-130 crash Jul 28 Jul 29 Jul 30 Aug 6 Aug 9 Aug 14 South Africa Piaggio Albatross crash Aug 20 Sep 2 Sep 6 Sep 7 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl charter plane crash Sep 16 Sep 25 Sep 29 Nusantara Buana Air Flight 823 Oct 13 Oct 14 Oct 18 Nov 1 Nov 11 Dec 10 Manila Beechcraft Queen Air crash | |
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Aviation accidents and incidents in Afghanistan
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See also: List of aviation accidents and incidents in the war in Afghanistan, List of Soviet aircraft losses during the Soviet–Afghan War |
Azerbaijan
Afghanistan
