UTair Flight 120 crash

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

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.