Belavia Flight 1834

{{Infobox aircraft occurrence

| Type = Loss of control following stall shortly after take-off

| occurrence_type = Accident

| image = Belavia EW-101PJ wreckage.jpg

| caption = Wreckage of the CRJ100 after the accident

| Date = {{start-date|February 14, 2008|14 February 2008}}

| Site = Zvartnots International Airport, Yerevan, Armenia

| Fatalities = 0

| Injuries = 7{{Reference page|page=12}}

| plane1_image = Belavia Bombardier CRJ-100ER Ates-1.jpg

| plane1_caption = EW-101PJ, the aircraft involved in the accident

| aircraft_type = Bombardier CRJ100ER

| Operator = Belavia

| IATA = B21834

| ICAO = BRU1834

| callsign = BELAVIA 1834

| tail_number = {{airreg|EW|101PJ}}

| Occupants = 21

| Passengers = 18

| Crew = 3

| Survivors = 21

| alt =

| coordinates =

| origin = Zvartnots International Airport
Yerevan, Armenia

| destination = Minsk National Airport
Minsk, Belarus

}}

Belavia Flight 1834 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Yerevan, Armenia, to Minsk, Belarus, operated by Belavia. On the morning of February 14, 2008, the Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet carrying 18 passengers and three crew crashed and burst into flames shortly after take off from Zvartnots International Airport near Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. All on board survived, with at least seven people being injured.

Background

= Aircraft =

The aircraft involved was a Bombardier CRJ100ER, MSN 7316, registered as EW-101PJ, that was built by Bombardier Aviation in 1999. It had logged approximately 15563 airframe hours and 14352 takeoff and landing cycles. It was also equipped with two General Electric CF34-3A1 engines.{{Cite web |title=Loss of control Accident Canadair CL-600-2B19 Regional Jet CRJ-100ER EW-101PJ, Thursday 14 February 2008 |url=https://asn.flightsafety.org/asndb/321773 |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=asn.flightsafety.org}}

= Passengers and crew =

The flight was carrying 18 passengers and 3 crew members. The 18 passengers consisted of a citizen each from Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia, along with five Georgians and ten Armenians.{{cite news |title="Черные ящики" самолета компании "Белавиа" доставлены в Москву |trans-title=Belavia plane's black boxes delivered to Moscow |url=https://www.panorama.am/ru/news/2008/02/16/moskva/1350272 |access-date=20 February 2025 |work=Panorama.am |date=16 February 2008 |language=ru-AM}}

The captain was 50-year-old Viktor Shishlo, who had logged 9,215 flight hours, including 461 hours on the CRJ100. The first officer was 44-year-old Alexander Mukhin, who had 9,454 flight hours with 405 of them on the CRJ100.{{cite web |date=2009-06-04 |title=Final Report of Belavia Flight 1834 |url=https://mak-iac.org/upload/iblock/d30/report_ew-101pj.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200619075020/https://mak-iac.org/upload/iblock/d30/report_ew-101pj.pdf |archive-date=2020-06-19 |access-date=2009-08-31 |publisher=Interstate Aviation Committee |language=ru}}{{cite news |url=http://alaskareport.com/news28/z49113_yerevan_plane_crash.php |title=Plane crashes in Armenia's capital |work=Alaska Report |date=2008-02-14 |access-date=2008-02-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080217172338/http://alaskareport.com/news28/z49113_yerevan_plane_crash.php |archive-date=17 February 2008 |url-status=live}}

Accident

During takeoff, at 04:18 AMT and at a height of around {{Convert|5|m|ft}}, the aircraft banked left. The pilot attempted to counter the banking by straightening the aircraft towards the right. The aircraft's wing subsequently entered in contact with the ground and crashed, catching fire and splitting into two.{{cite news |last1=Grigorieva |first1=Natalia |title=Первая крупная авария самолета авиакомпании "Белавиа" |trans-title=The first major accident involving a Belavia airline plane |url=https://www.dw.com/ru/первая-крупная-авария-самолета-авиакомпании-белавиа/a-3127909 |access-date=20 February 2025 |work=Deutsche Welle |date=14 February 2008 |language=ru}}

Fire and rescue crews were reportedly on-site within 50 seconds after the crash. The passengers also helped the crew members out of the cockpit.{{cite news |url=http://www.panorama.am/en/society/2008/02/14/armenians/ |title=Black Boxes Being Transcribed |work=Panorama.am |date=2008-02-14 |access-date=2008-02-15}} After the crash, the aircraft, badly damaged by fire, laid in an inverted position.{{cite news |title=Plane crashes in Armenian capital |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2008/2/15/plane-crashes-in-armenian-capital |access-date=20 February 2025 |work=Al Jazeera |date=15 February 2008 |quote=After the crash, it lay upside-down at the airport, much of the fuselage blackened and gutted by fire.}}{{cite news |last1=Kaminski-Morrow |first1=David |title=PICTURE: Belavia Bombardier CRJ crashes at Yerevan |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/picture-belavia-bombardier-crj-crashes-at-yerevan/78747.article |access-date=20 February 2025 |work=FlightGlobal |date=14 February 2008 |quote=… images from the scene show the aircraft inverted and badly damaged by fire, with its undercarriage deployed.}}

None of the 21 occupants were killed, although seven passengers received serious injuries.{{Reference page|page=12}}

Investigation

Initial speculation pointed to icing on the wings which caused the left wing to stall upon lift-off. Icing conditions were reported at the airport during the crash, and the CRJs are very prone to wing contamination and icing since they do not have any leading edge devices.{{Cite book |url=http://www.sae.org/technical/papers/2007-01-3286 |contribution=The effect of Wing Leading Edge Contamination on the Stall Characteristics of aircraft |last=Tanner |first=Clinton E. |title=SAE Aircraft and Engine Icing International Conference, Session: Airplane De / Anti-icing Operations - Part I |doi=10.4271/2007-01-3286 |date=September 2007 |publisher=SAE |place=Seville, Spain}}

Investigation teams from the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia, from Belarus, and from Bombardier participated in the investigation to determine the probable cause of the accident.

{{cite web |last=Kaminski-Morrow |first=David |date=2008-02-15 |title=Crashed Belavia CRJ rolled left after becoming airborne |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/02/15/221595/crashed-belavia-crj-rolled-left-after-becoming-airborne.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219163502/http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/02/15/221595/crashed-belavia-crj-rolled-left-after-becoming-airborne.html |archive-date=19 February 2008 |access-date=2008-02-15 |website=Flight Global}}

References

External links

"[https://mak-iac.org/rassledovaniya/crj-100lr-cl-600-2b19-14-02-2008/ CRJ-100LR (CL-600-2B19) 14.02.2008]." ([https://web.archive.org/web/20170328054334/https://mak-iac.org/rassledovaniya/crj-100lr-cl-600-2b19-14-02-2008/ Archive]) Interstate Aviation Committee {{in lang|ru}}
[https://mak-iac.org/upload/iblock/d30/report_ew-101pj.pdf Final Report] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20200619075020/https://mak-iac.org/upload/iblock/d30/report_ew-101pj.pdf Archive]) {{in lang|ru}}
"[https://web.archive.org/web/20080319062853/http://belavia.by/belru/incedent.html Пресс-релиз Национальной авиакомпании «Белавиа»]." Belavia. 14 February 2008. {{in lang|ru}}
[http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?cnsearch=7316&distinct_entry=true Photos of the aircraft involved at Airliners.net]
[http://airlineworld.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/belavia-airlines-accident-in-yerevan-21-injured/ Belavia Airlines Accident In Yerevan, 21 Injured]
[http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=1d157a11-df86-409a-9413-2aa23ad9a3da& Reports: No Fatalities in Armenian CRJ Takeoff Crash 2008-02-14]
[http://avherald.com/h?article=4020f387/0018 Crash: Belavia CRJ100 at Yerevan on Feb 14th 2008, wing tip strike during takeoff]
{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/14/armenia.plane.ap/index.html |title=Plane crashes in Armenia's capital |work=CNN |access-date=2008-02-15 |date=2008-02-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080217194548/http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/14/armenia.plane.ap/index.html |archive-date=2008-02-17 |url-status=dead}}
{{cite news |url=http://www.inform.kz/showarticle.php?lang=eng&id=160575 |title=Plane crashes in Armenian capital |work=KazInform |date=2008-02-14 |access-date=2008-02-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080904173320/http://www.inform.kz/showarticle.php?lang=eng&id=160575 |archive-date=September 4, 2008}}
{{cite news |url=http://www.a1plus.am/en/?page=issue&iid=57568 |title=Passenger are in Stress |work=A1+ |access-date=2008-02-18 |date=2008-02-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517163516/http://www.a1plus.am/en/?page=issue&iid=57568 |archive-date=2011-05-17 |url-status=dead}}