Belavia Flight 1834

Belavia Flight 1834

Wreckage of the CRJ100 after the accident
Accident
Date	14 February 2008 (2008-02-14)
Summary	Loss of control following stall shortly after take-off
Site	Zvartnots International Airport, Yerevan, Armenia
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Bombardier CRJ100ER
Operator	Belavia
IATA flight No.	B21834
ICAO flight No.	BRU1834
Call sign	BELAVIA 1834
Registration	EW-101PJ
Flight origin	Zvartnots International Airport Yerevan, Armenia
Destination	Minsk National Airport Minsk, Belarus
Occupants	21
Passengers	18
Crew	3
Fatalities	0
Injuries	7
Survivors	21

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.

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 seven people were taken to hospital for treatment.

Aircraft and crew

EW-101PJ, the aircraft involved in the accident.

The aircraft involved, EW-101PJ (MSN 7316), was a 50-seat Bombardier CRJ100ER. It was a fairly new member of the fleet since it was leased by the airline and delivered in February 2007. The aircraft was built in 1999.

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.

Crash

Gayane Davtyan, a spokeswoman for the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia said that the jet, operated by the Belarusian airline Belavia, hit its left wing on the runway during takeoff and erupted into flames.

Fire and rescue crews were reportedly on site within 50 seconds. The passengers also helped the crew members out of the cockpit.

Yerevan's Zvartnots airport was temporarily closed after the crash, which took place at 04:15 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.

None of the 21 occupants were killed, although seven passengers received serious injuries.

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.

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.

See also

• Aviation safety
• List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft

External links

• "CRJ-100LR (CL-600-2B19) 14.02.2008." (Archive) Interstate Aviation Committee (in Russian)
  • Final Report (Archive) (in Russian)
• "Пресс-релиз Национальной авиакомпании «Белавиа»." Belavia. 14 February 2008. (in Russian)
• Photos of the aircraft involved at Airliners.net
• Belavia Airlines Accident In Yerevan, 21 Injured
• Reports: No Fatalities in Armenian CRJ Takeoff Crash 2008-02-14
• Crash: Belavia CRJ100 at Yerevan on Feb 14th 2008, wing tip strike during takeoff
• "Plane crashes in Armenia's capital". CNN. 2008-02-14. Archived from the original on 2008-02-17. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
• "Plane crashes in Armenian capital". KazInform. 2008-02-14. Archived from the original on September 4, 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
• "Passenger are in Stress". A1+. 2008-02-14. Archived from the original on 2011-05-17. Retrieved 2008-02-18.