Landing (descent or approach)

The aircraft departed São Paulo-Congonhas Airport for a local training flight, carrying two pilots under supervision and two instructors. Weather conditions were marginal with ceiling down to 300 metres, horizontal visibility 3 km with rain. After touchdown on wet runway 17R, the aircraft was unable to stop within the remaining distance. It overran, went down an embankment and came to rest. All four occupants escaped uninjured while the aircraft was destroyed.

On approach to Aguadilla-Rafael Hernández, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with heavy rain falls and thunderstorm activity. On final, the aircraft was struck by lightning. The crew was able to continue the descent but the aircraft landed hard, bounced and came to a halt on the main runway. All four occupants escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Completing a flight from Istanbul to Southampton, the aircraft flew a procedural ILS and landed on runway 20. The crew report that they encountered wind shear on the final approach and they increased power to compensate for a loss of 10 knot of airspeed. The aircraft landed some 500 feet into the runway and, after touchdown, maximum braking appeared to be ineffective. The crew suspected aquaplaning and activated reversed thrust but they report that correct deployment was not indicated on the flight deck and so they assumed that it was not operating. Despite weaving along the remaining 1,500 feet of runway they were unable to prevent the aircraft from over running the end. The aircraft came to rest some 75 metres into the grass area beyond. Debris, consisting of earth and stones was ingested by the engines and the right wing tank was punctured. An inspection of the runway 10 minutes previously showed that, although the runway was wet, there was no standing water. A runway friction test was carried out at 1646 hrs and this gave the friction on the first, second and third runway segments as 0.67 Mu, 0.66 Mu and 0.57 Mu respectively.

During a 2 hour and 40 minute training mission, the pilot maintained a low power setting with the fuel mix at full rich. After the mission, the pilot climbed the airplane to 9,000 feet agl to clear obstacles between his location and his destination. During the descent, the pilot said he reduced power more rapidly than usual and descended faster than normal at about 180 kias. About 800 to 1,000 feet agl, in the traffic pattern, the pilot applied power. Both engines lost total power. He set up an 85 kias glide; competed emergency procedures; and retracted the landing gear. The engines did not restart. He did not feather the propellers. He extended the landing gear prior to touchdown. The pilot said he did not flare the airplane during landing which resulted in the airplane colliding with the ground. The engine manual and the poh recommend adjusting the fuel mixture for cruise. An engine manual note states long descents at low power should be avoided because the engines may cool excessively and may not accelerate satisfactorily when power is reapplied. The poh recommends feathering propellers and gliding at 120 kias for dual engine failure. Soot was noted on all spark plugs during engine exam. Both engines started and ran normally from idle to full acceleration during the exam.

After liftoff from Manaus-Eduardo Gomes Airport runway 28, while in initial climb, the right main gear struck an element of the approach light system. An alarm sounded in the cockpit, informing the crew about landing gear problems. As the crew was unable to raise the landing gear, the captain informed ATC about the situation and was cleared to return for an emergency landing. Upon touchdown on runway 28, the right main gear collapsed. The aircraft slid for few dozen metres then veered off runway and came to rest in a ravine. All five occupants escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

The descent to Kano-Mallam Aminu Kano Airport was completed by night and marginal weather conditions due to a sand storm. On short final, the aircraft was too low, struck the ground and crashed near military barracks located 3,2 km short of runway 06 threshold. All four occupants were rescued while the aircraft was destroyed by a post crash fire. At the time of the accident, the runway 06 ILS and DME systems were inoperative.

At a distance of 40 km from the airport, at an altitude of 7,800 feet, the crew was cleared to make a visual approach and to descent to 7,000 feet. Three minutes later, the aircraft went out of control and crashed on a mountain slope (1'600 metres high) located 27 km south from runway 36. The aircraft was totally destroyed and all 141 occupants were killed. It was reported that the captain attempted to level off the plane by raising its nose. The autothrottle responded by advancing the throttles. The n°2 power lever however remained at idle. The crew apparently did not notice this. With the right engine at idle, the autothrottle further advanced the left engine power lever in order to obtain the correct airspeed. The asymmetrical power condition was not corrected and the airplane rolled to the right and crashed.

Twelve minutes after departure, the left engine began to run rough and vibrate. The pilot said he could not correct the problem and shut the left engine down. No emergency was declared and the pilot told ATC that he would continue to his destination, 210 nm and 1.5 hours away. The pilot overflew 5 airports with runways over 5,000 feet long and a mountain range. The pilot executed a VOR approach and entered an extended downwind pattern. On short final the pilot executed a go around because he did not get any gear down indications. He then maneuvered for a downwind landing on runway 12. The aircraft hit the ground 100 yards short of the runway, then collided with a ditch and the airport fence. An FAA inspector said there were three clear tire tracks from the point of touchdown to the ditch, where the gear was sheared off. He found no problems with the gear system. Exam of the left engine revealed a left magneto internal failure due to lack of lubrication and wear, which caused cylinder cross firing.

The approach to Krasnodar-Pashkovsky Airport was completed by night and heavy rain falls. The aircraft landed hard, bounced several times and eventually landed on its nose, causing the nose gear to be partially torn off. It slid on runway for few dozen metres and came to rest. All 20 occupants escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

While on a VOR approach to runway 26 at Puerto Plata-Gregorio Luperón Airport, the crew decided to make a circling visual approach to runway 08. While turning, the four engine aircraft struck the Peak Isabel de Torres located 14 km west of runway 08 threshold. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and all 34 occupants were killed.