Date & Time:
Dec 25, 2012 at 1854 LT
Type of aircraft:
Antonov AN-72
Operator:
Kazakhstan Border Guards
Registration:
UP-72859
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Government
Survivors:
No
Site:
Mountains
Schedule:
Astana - Shymkent
MSN:
36576092859
YOM:
1990
Country:
Kazakhstan
Region:
Asia
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
7
Pax on board:
20
Pax fatalities:
20
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
27
Circumstances:
The aircraft was completing a flight on behalf of the Kazakh Border Guard Corp. While approaching Shymkent in low visibility due to the night and heavy snow falls, the aircraft hit a mountain slope located 21 km from the airport and was destroyed by impact forces. All 27 occupants were killed, among them Tourganbek Stambekov, Chief of the Kazakhtan Border Guards. It appears that the automatic pilot system failed shortly after take off from Astana and the captain decided to continue the flight. Two minutes and 40 seconds later, the radio altimeter failed as well and the crew continued the flight, referring to the barometric altimeter. But these suffered a momentary failure 19 minutes later and several differences were observed with the altitude parameters. During the descent to Shymkent in poor weather conditions, the captain failed to set the correct pressure in the barometric altimeters so the setting he was taking for reference was wrong. At the time of the accident, the aircraft was 385 meters too low and as a result, the Board concluded that the accident was the consequence of a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT).
Probable cause:
Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT).
