Tbilisi

On approach to Tbilisi Airport by night, the aircraft's speed was excessive while passing over the inner marker at a height of 204 feet. Upon landing, the aircraft hit the ground with a positive aerodynamic force estimated between 1,81 and 1,97 G. The aircraft bounced several times and eventually hit the ground with a positive aerodynamic force of 4,82 G. The nose gear collapsed and punctured the cockpit floor. Then the aircraft slid for few dozen metres before coming to rest. There were no injuries while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

The four engine aircraft was completing a cargo flight from Tbilisi to Omsk, carrying three passengers, six crew members and a load of 10,400 kilos of various goods. On final approach to Omsk-Severnyy Airport, the crew encountered poor visibility due to bad weather conditions. On short final, the captain continued below the minimum descent altitude when the aircraft struck trees and crashed in a wooded area located 2,130 meters short of runway threshold, bursting into flames. The aircraft was totally destroyed by fire and all nine occupants were killed.

En route from Tbilisi to Batumi, while in cruising altitude, seven hijackers (young Georgian people) elected to divert the aircraft to Turkey. Hijackers opened fire in the cabin and cockpit but the copilot was able to make sharp maneuvers, forcing the hijacker to leave the cockpit. The crew was able to return to Tbilisi Airport where security forces stormed the aircraft. Seven occupants, three crew members and four passengers (among them three hijackers) were killed. At least 63 bullets holes were found in the fuselage and the aircraft was considered as damaged beyond repair due to serious deformation of the structure caused by excessive g loads during an emergency descent.

On the leg from Volgograd to Tbilisi, while flying by night, both primary and emergency hydraulic systems failed. Only the nose gear could be lowered while stabilizers and flaps remained in neutral position. The aircraft landed on its belly at a speed of 250 km/h and the nose gear touched down 1,264 meters past the runway threshold. Unable to stop within the remaining distance, the airplane overran at a speed of 165 km/h, struck the localizer antenna, a concrete wall and came to rest in a ravine, broken in three. All 30 occupants were injured, three of them seriously.

The airplane departed Tbilisi Airport at 1039LT on a cargo flight to Yerevan, carrying five crew members and a load of various goods for a total weight of 2,394 kilos. The assigned altitude of 3,000 meters was reached 17 minutes later and the crew continued to the south under VFR mode. The airplane passed over Idzhevan VOR at 1108LT and six minutes later, the crew was cleared to descent to 1,800 meters by the approach ATC. Between 1116LT and 1119LT, the crew reported twice that the weather conditions deteriorated with low clouds and requested the permission to return to Tbilisi under VFR at 3,000 meters. A minute later, while cruising at the altitude of 2,265 meters, the left wing struck the west slope of Mt Getantag. The airplane continued for 130 meters then crashed in flames. The flight engineer was seriously injured while four other occupants were killed. Few hours later, the only survivor died from his injuries.

The aircraft departed Tbilisi Airport at 0655LT bound for Kutaisi on flight SU051F. The crew was cleared to climb to 2,700 meters and while approaching the region of Surami, he encountered poor weather conditions with snow falls and a visibility reduced to 50-500 meters. Following successives errors on part of ATC based in Kutaisi, the crew was cleared to descend from 2,700 to 2,100, 1,500 and then to 1,200 meters successively. In zero visibility, the twin engine aircraft struck the slope of a snow covered mountain located near Surami. The wreckage was found a day later at the altitude of 980 meters. Three crew members and four passengers were killed while eight other people were seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed but there was no fire.

The airport of Mineralnye Vody was closed since three days due to poor weather in all the Caucasus region. Thus, many flights were cancelled and more than 500 passengers were blocked at Tbilisi Airport. In the afternoon of December 31, the airport of Mineralnye Vody was reopened to trafic and two IL-18 aircraft were chartered for the stranded passengers. The boarding process was disorganized and chaotic. Tickets were not checked and too many passengers boarded the plane. There were 84 passenger seats, so 26 passengers stood or sat on their luggage in the aisles as well as in the galley. The maximum rear centre of gravity was exceeded by 1%. Nevertheless, the flight to Mineralnye Vody was uneventful but on approach, weather conditions were still marginal with a visibility limited to 2 km, a cloud base at 120 meters, light rain and mist. On final approach to runway 12, at an altitude of 250 m and heading 117°, as the pilot-in-command was unable to locate the runway nor the approach lights, he decided to make a go around and increased power on all four engines. The crew turn right heading 188° but failed to gain height. Shortly later, the airplane struck obstacles and crashed in flames 3 km southwest of the airfield. The aircraft was destroyed by a post crash fire and 32 occupants were killed, among them two crew members. All 87 other occupants were evacuated.

The crew departed Moscow-Vnukovo Airport at 0520LT on a flight to Tbilisi with an intermediate stop scheduled at Rostov-on-Don. Due to the deterioration of the weather conditions and the presence of a storm between Krasnodar and Sukhumi, the crew decided to modify his route and obtained the permission from ATC to divert to Krasnodar. The crew and the passengers waited for few hours at Krasnodar Airport and the aircraft took off at 1507LT bound for Tbilisi. While cruising under VFR at an altitude of 2,400 meters, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with thunderstorm activity, heavy rain falls, turbulence, hail and lightning. Within few minutes, the aircraft was hit by lightning and suffered heavy turbulence so went out of control and entered a dive. At an altitude of 300 meters, the crew elected to regain control but high g forces exceeded the design of the wings that were torn off. Out of control, the airplane crashed in flames in a wooded and hilly terrain located near the village of Grigorishi, about 15 km northeast of Zugdidi. The aircraft was totally destroyed and all 18 occupants were killed.

On a circular training flight in Tbilisi-Alekseyevka at night with 6 unauthorized passengers on board when the trainee pilot deviated from the approach pattern and glide path, so the aircraft hit the top of a hill (175 metres but not indicated on the flight map) located some 4.8 km northwest of the airport, broke up, came to rest on the slope of the hill and caught fire. Three crew and a passenger were killed while all six other occupants were slightly injured.

About one hour after departure from Baku-Bina Airport, while flying some 250 km north of the capital city, weather conditions worsened. Due to poor reception of local beacon transmission, the captain decided to return to Baku but was unable to locate his position with certainty. While cruising at an altitude of 3,000 meters in poor visibility, the aircraft hit the slope of a mountain. SAR operations were conducted but eventually suspended after few days as no trace of the aircraft nor the 10 occupants was found.