Belavia Flight 1834

Infobox Airliner accident
Name = Belavia Flight 1834
Type = Ground impact
Date = February 14, 2008
Site = Zvartnots International Airport, Yerevan, Armenia
Fatalities = 0
Injuries = 10
Aircraft Type = Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-100ER
Operator = Belavia
Tail Number = airreg|EW|101PJ
Passengers = 18
Crew = 3
Survivors = 21 (all)

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 3 crew crashed and burst into flames shortly after take off from Zvartnots International Airport near the capital city of Yerevan, in the country of Armenia.

The jet hit its left wing on the runway during takeoff, crashed to the ground, flipped over, and came to rest inverted near the runway. All passengers and crew managed to escape the aircraft before it erupted into flames, partly due to the timely response of the fire and rescue crews.

There were no fatalities, but between 4 and 10 people were taken to hospital for treatment.

Aircraft and crew

The aircraft involved, airreg|EW|101PJ (MSN 7316), was a 50-seat Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-100ER.cite web |url=http://www.armradio.am/news/?part=soc&id=11878 |title=CRJ-100 plane of Belavia burns at Zvartnots airport |accessdate=2008-02-15 |date=2008-02-14 ] It was a fairly new member of the fleet since it was leased by the airline and delivered in February 2007.Fact|date=February 2008

Passengers

It was initially reported that 16 of those on board were Armenian nationalscite web |url=http://www.inform.kz/showarticle.php?lang=eng&id=160575 |title=Plane crashes in Armenian capital |date=2008-02-14 |accessdate=2008-02-15 ] , but CAGD later reported that there were 10 Armenians, 5 Georgians, a Russian, a Ukrainian, and a Belorussian among the passengers.cite web |url=http://www.panorama.am/en/society/2008/02/14/armenians/ |title=Black Boxes Being Transcribed |date=2008-02-14 |accessdate=2008-02-15] A list with the names of 16 of the passengers was subsequently published.cite web |url=http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=24853 |title=List of crashed plane passengers published |date=2008-02-14 |accessdate=2008-02-18]

Crash

Gayane Davtyan, a spokeswoman for the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia said that the jet, operated by the Belorussian airline Belavia, hit its left wing on the runway during takeoff and erupted into flames.cite web|url=http://alaskareport.com/news28/z49113_yerevan_plane_crash.php |title=Plane crashes in Armenia's capital |accessdate=2008-02-15 |date=2008-02-14 ]

Eyewitness reports stated that the aircraft banked sharply to the left right after rotation when it was only 3 to 5 meters airborne, clipped its left wing on the runway, crashed to the ground and rolled many times until coming to a stop inverted near the runway.Fact|date=February 2008

It seems that one of the passengers was able to open the door and everyone got out quicklyFact|date=February 2008 partly due to the timely intervention of the fire and rescue crews, which were reportedly on site within 50 seconds. The passengers also helped the crew members out of the cockpit.

Aftermath

Artyom Movsesyan, the general director of the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia stated that 10 people were hospitalized with various injuries including burns & concussions. Gevorg Abramian, a spokesman for the airport said that none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.cite web|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/14/armenia.plane.ap/index.html |title=Plane crashes in Armenia's capital |accessdate=2008-02-15 |date=2008-02-14 ] A local official also confirmed that there were no fatalities, and stated that 4 people were taken to hospital with serious burns. Gayane Davtyan also stated that nearly everyone on board received burns of various degrees. A list of 6 injured passengers and their respective injuries was subsequently published by A1+.cite web|url=http://www.a1plus.am/en/?page=issue&iid=57568 |title=Passenger are in Stress |accessdate=2008-02-18 |date=2008-02-14 ]

Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport was temporarily closed after the crash, which took place at 4:15 am local time. As of 10:30 local time, the airport was still closed while arrivals were being diverted to Gyumri's Shirak Airport. The first plane expected to land at Zvartnots was from Tehran at 11:30 local time.

Investigation

Probable cause

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. For more reference consult: Tanner, Clinton., "The effect of Wing LEading Edge Contamination on the Stall Characteristics of aircraft", SAE International paper 2007-01-3286, 2007.Fact|date=February 2008

Russian investigators from the Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) stated that the aircraft began to roll left immediately after liftoff, inverting before crashing. cite web |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/02/15/221595/crashed-belavia-crj-rolled-left-after-becoming-airborne.html |title=Crashed Belavia CRJ rolled left after becoming airborne |author=David Kaminski–Morrow |date=2008-02-15 |accessdate=2008-02-15] Investigation teams from the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia, from Belarus, and from Bombardier are participating in the investigation to determine the probable cause of the accident.

References

See also

* Air safety
* Lists of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners
* General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia

External links

* [http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?cnsearch=7316&distinct_entry=true Photos of the aircraft involved at Airliners.net]
* [http://www.airliners.net/discussions/general_aviation/read.main/3843918/ Belavia CRJ-100 Crashed At Erevan]
* [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]