UTair Flight 120

UTAir Flight 120

250px UTair ATR 72–201 (VP-BYZ) shown departing Vnukovo Airport in 2009
Accident summary
Date	2 April 2012
Summary	Lost height on climb-out, impacted ground and burst into flames due to atmospheric icing
Site	Tyumen, Russia
Passengers	39
Crew	4
Injuries (non-fatal)	10
Fatalities	33
Survivors	10
Aircraft type	ATR 72–201
Operator	UTair Aviation
Registration	VP-BYZ
Flight origin	Roschino International Airport, Tyumen, Russia
Destination	Surgut Airport, Surgut, Russia

UTair Flight 120 was a domestic passenger flight from Tyumen to Surgut, Russia. On 2 April 2012, the ATR72-201 operating the flight crashed shortly after take-off from Roschino International Airport, killing 33 of the 43 people on board.

Aircraft

The accident aircraft was an ATR72-201, manufactured by the French-Italian ATR and registered in Bermuda as VP-BYZ. The aircraft, msn 332, was manufactured in 1992 and first flew on 20 October of that year. It was delivered to TransAsia Airways on 16 December 1992 and subsequently served with Finnair and Aero Airlines before entering service with UTair Aviation in July 2008.

Accident

Accident location shown within Russia

The aircraft crashed shortly after take-off from Roschino Airport, Tyumen. The accident occurred at 07:35 local time (01:35 UTC), about 1 nautical mile (2 km) south west of the end of the main runway, near the village of Gorkovka. The crew attempted an emergency landing about one mile from the airport. There were 31 fatalities and 12 survivors from the 43 people on board. One source states that all four flight crew were killed, although another states that the first officer survived. All twelve survivors sustained critical injuries. They were taken to the hospital in Tyumen. The number of victims soon increased to 33 (10 survivors).

UTair had sold 40 tickets for the flight, but a passenger from Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug failed to arrive on time. Nikolay Medvedev, a member of the board of Surgutneftegaz, was among the passengers.

Investigation

Officials said investigators were focusing on the possibility of a technical malfunction as an eyewitness reported seeing smoke coming from the plane's engines as it came down. The aircraft's flight data recorder was recovered in good condition.

The Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) released their final report on 16 July 2013. They determined the cause of the accident to be that the aircraft departed without having been de-iced, though the crew were aware snow and ice had accumulated, and, as a result, stalled on climb-out. The crew did not realise the aircraft had stalled. The report also identified a number of contributing factors that had to do with the airline's safety and training deficiencies.

In November 2015, the court sentenced mechanic Andrey Pisarev and maintenance manager Anatoly Petrochenko to five years and one month in prison. Captain Sergey Antsin who died in the crash was also found guilty of the accident.

External links

• UTair
  • "UTair Aviation Official Statement." (Archive)
  • "Официальное сообщение ОАО «Авиакомпания «ЮТэйр»." (Archive) (Russian)
• Ministry of Emergency Situations
  • "ATR-72 plane crashed on April 2, 2012, at 5:50 a.m."
• Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile
  • "Accident on 2 April to the Flight UT 120 ATR 72–201 registered VP-BYZ." (Archive)
  • "Vol UT 120 du 2 avril 2012 ATR 72–201, immatriculé VP-BYZ." (French) (Archive)
• Interstate Aviation Committee: "2 апреля ATR-72 № VP-BYZ." (Russian)
• Ministry of Health and Social Development: "На встрече с Президентом РФ Министр Татьяна Голикова рассказала об оказании медицинской помощи пострадавшим при крушении пассажирского самолета под Тюменью." (Archive) (Russian)
• Photograph of wreckage number 1
• Photograph of wreckage number 2
• Photograph of wreckage number 3