Kolavia Flight 348

Accident

On the morning of 1 January 2011, Flight 348 was preparing to depart at Surgut International Airport for a flight to Moscow. At 10:00 local time (05:00 UTC), as the aircraft was being pushed back and was starting its engines, a fire developed in the centre section of the fuselage, quickly spreading inside the passenger cabin.

The engines and the APU were immediately shut down and the emergency slides were deployed. Within four minutes, fire engines reached the Tupolev and started dousing the flames with foam, but were hampered by the presence of survivors near the aircraft. By 10:20, the aircraft was completely ablaze, with aviation fuel leaking and spreading the flames across the apron.

The fire was brought under control at around 10:40; by then, only the tail section and the outer portion of the wings had survived the blaze. Three passengers were killed and 43 were injured, four critically, from smoke inhalation or burns.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a tri-jet Tupolev Tu-154B-2, registration RA-85588, msn 83A/588. The aircraft first flew in 1983. It entered service with Aeroflot as CCCP-85588 and was re-registered RA-85588 in 1993. It then served with Mavial Magadan Airlines between 1994 and 1999, when it began service with Vladivostok Air. Kogalymavia (trading as Kolavia) acquired the aircraft in 2007.

Passengers and crew

The aircraft was carrying 116 passengers, 8 crew, and 10 off-duty employees of Kogalymavia, Among the passengers were members of the 1990s Russian boy band Na Na, who managed to evacuate safely from the plane.

Aftermath

Following the accident, Russia's Federal Transport Oversight Agency advised airlines that they should stop using the Tu-154B until the accident had been investigated.

Investigation

Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) opened an investigation into the accident. A separate criminal investigation was opened to investigate allegations of breaching transport and fire safety rules. Both flight recorders were recovered and analysed.

In September 2011, the MAK released its final report in Russian, confirming that the probable cause of the fire was an arc occurring in an electric panel on the right side of the fuselage hosting the generator contactors. Shortly after engine start, the crew connected the generators to the electrical network as usual, but the badly worn out contactors failed to operate properly, resulting in an abnormal circuit configuration that produced currents 10 to 20 times higher than their nominal values, giving rise to an electrical arc. The MAK determined that no maintenance schedule existed for the electric board in question.

References

References

1. Hradecky, Simon. (1 January 2011). "Accident: Kolavia T154 at Surgut on Jan 1st 2011, engine fire".
2. (1 January 2011). "Fatal fire destroys Kolavia Tu-154 at Surgut". [[FlightGlobal]].
3. (1 January 2011). "Three dead in plane explosion in Siberia". [[Sky News]].
4. "RA-85888 Accident description". Flight Safety Foundation.
5. "Справка по состоянию на 19:00 мск 01 января 2011 о состоянии пассажиров и членов экипажа рейса 7K348, Сургут – Москва, ООО "Авиакомпания Когалымавиа"". [[Ministry of Health and Social Development]].
6. (1 January 2011). "Russia pop group Na-Na describe plane fire 'panic'". [[BBC News]].
7. (2 January 2011). "Russia grounds all Tu-154Bs after fatal fire". BBC News.
8. "Ту-154Б RA-85588 1 January 2011". Interstate Aviation Committee.
9. Kaminski-Morrow, David. "Tu-154 fire sparked by electrical short-circuit: ministry". [[FlightGlobal]].