Aviastar Airlines Flight 051
{{Short description|1993 aviation accident in Iran}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox aircraft occurrence
| image = RA-82081_-_Volga-Dnepr_Airlines_-_Antonov_An-124-100M_-_9773051462165_-_VGHS.jpg
| image_upright = 1.15
| alt =
| caption = An Antonov An-124, similar to the one involved
| occurrence_type = Accident
| date = {{Start date|1993|11|15|df=y}}
| summary = Controlled flight into terrain mainly caused by pilot error
| site = 35 km east of Kerman, Central District, Iran
| coordinates = {{coord|30|11|44.5|N|57|23|0.6|E|type:event_region:Iran|display=inline,title}}
| aircraft_type = Antonov An-124-100
| operator = Aviastar Airlines
| ICAO = FUE051
| tail_number = RA-82071
| origin = Dubai International Airport, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
| stopover0 = Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani Airport, Kerman, Iran
| destination = Tashkent International Airport, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
| occupants = 17
| crew = 14
| passengers = 3
| fatalities = 17
| survivors = 0
}}
On 15 November 1993, Aviastar Flight 051, an Antonov An-124-100 returning from Dubai International Airport, United Arab Emirates, where it had operated a cargo flight previously that day, to Tashkent International Airport, Uzbekistan, crashed on a mountain 35 km east of Kerman, Iran, while performing an holding pattern on approach to Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani Airport, where a refueling stopover was planned. All 14 crew members and three passengers on board were killed.
The accident was found to have been caused mainly by errors of the crew, which failed to identify their actual position, deviated from the flight path and didn't used properly the on board radar, the pilots were also unfamiliar with the airport. Bad weather, air traffic control errors and the surrounding mountainous terrain also played a factor in the crash.{{cite web |url=https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/325127 |title=Accident Antonov An-124-100 Monday 15 November 1993 |publisher=Aviation Safety Network |date= |author= |accessdate=April 23, 2025 |archive-date= |archive-url= }}
Background
The aircraft involved was an Antonov An-124-100 registered as RA-82071, manufactured in 1993, and operated by the Russian airline Aviastar Airlines. Aviastar Airlines was the airline division of the aircraft factory Aviastar-SP, the same parent company of the airline Aviastar-TU, which operated between 1993 and 2004.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}
On board the aircraft, there were 14 crew members and three passengers. The crew members were captain Anatoly Lubyanitsky, first officer Vladimir Lubyanitsky, the two navigators Ivakh S.N. and Sysoev A.V., the flight engineers Tarasenko G.K, Romanenko A.I., Starodubtsev A.I., Gavrilov N.L., Kislyuk V.N., Chentsov E.M. and the technicians Dubrovsky S.L., Goncharov V.V., Aitov V.P. and Kuznetsov R.V.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}
Accident
The aircraft took off from Dubai International Airport, United Arab Emirates, and it was scheduled to fly to Tashkent International Airport, Uzbekistan; a stopover to refuel the plane was planned at Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani Airport in Iran. While the aircraft was approaching its stopover in Kerman, the air traffic control instructed the crew to enter an holding pattern. The crew entered the pattern, but failed to mantain the correct route. The aircraft then deviated in a northern direction, while being at about 47 km from the airport, and started the descent from flight level FL270 (8200 m) to flight level FL170 (5200 m).
At a distance of 45 km from the airport, Flight 051 was cleared to land on runway 34 at Kerman Airport, even though the visibility there was under the miniumum established for continuing the approach. This resulted in the crew making a turn and starting to descend to flight level FL110 (3300 m). But the aircraft then passed the airport, without the crew noticing, and continued its descent.
At 7:04 pm local time, Flight 051, at a speed of nearly 400 km/h, impacted mountainous terrain at an altitude of 3400 m. All 17 people on board were killed. After the crash, the aircraft also caught fire. Initial accounts of the accident reported the crashed aircraft to be Canadian, and operated by the airline Atlantair.{{cite web |url=https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/325127 |title=Accident Antonov An-124-100 Monday 15 November 1993 |publisher=Aviation Safety Network |date= |author= |accessdate=April 23, 2025 |archive-date= |archive-url= }}{{cite web |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/11/16/Canadian-cargo-plane-crashes-in-Iran-all-on-board-killed/1956753426000/ |title=Canadian cargo plane crashes in Iran, all on board killed |publisher=UPI |date=November 16, 1993 |author= |accessdate=April 23, 2025 |archive-date= |archive-url= }}{{cite web |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1993/11/16/wreckage-of-largest-plane-in-iran/ |title=WRECKAGE OF 'LARGEST PLANE' IN IRAN |publisher=Chicago Tribune |date=November 16, 1993 |author= |accessdate=April 23, 2025 |archive-date= |archive-url= }}{{cite web |url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/64954 |title=В понедельник вечером в горном районе на юге Ирана разбился российский грузовой самолет Ан-124 ("Руслан"), принадлежащий предприятию "Авиастар" Ульяновского авиационного завода. |publisher=Kommersant |date=November 17, 1993 |author=Katya Dayan |accessdate=April 23, 2025 |archive-date= |archive-url= }}
Investigation
The investigation found out that the main cause of the crash was pilot error, which led to a controlled flight into terrain. The crew in fact failed to identify correctly the actual position of the aircraft, and this caused them to deviated from the planned flight path without noticing it, the air traffic control don't noticing them of this also contributed to the crash. Other contributing factors were the crew misusing the on board radar of the plane, their inexperience with Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani Airport and its surroundings and the weather at the airfield.{{cite web |url=https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/325127 |title=Accident Antonov An-124-100 Monday 15 November 1993 |publisher=Aviation Safety Network |date= |author= |accessdate=April 23, 2025 |archive-date= |archive-url= }}