Date:	Wednesday 12 September 2012
Time:	12:20
Type:	Antonov An-28
Owner/operator:	Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Air Enterprise
Registration:	RA-28715
MSN:	1AJ006-25
Year of manufacture:	1989
Total airframe hrs:	11947 hours
Cycles:	8891 flights
Engine model:	Glushenkov TVD-10B
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 10 / Occupants: 14
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	11 km SW of Palana Airport -   Russia
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:	Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Airport (PKC/UHPP)
Destination airport:	Palana Airport (UHPL)
Investigating agency:	MAK
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
An Antonov 28 passenger plane, operated by Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Air Enterprise, was destroyed in an accident near Palana Airport, Kamchatka peninsula, Russia.
Flight 251 was operating on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan. Weather at the destination airport Palana included a visibility of 6000 m and a cloud base at 470 m. This was within limits for an approach and landing at Palana. The crew were cleared for an approach to runway 11. The approach to Palana consists of a flight to the NDB beacon above the minimum safe altitude of 2150 m, followed by entering a holding pattern, and a descent for the approach. The crew did not fly to the NDB. The flight was 22 km from the NDB when the crew reported being overhead.
Descent was initiated until the airplane struck trees at 320 m above sea level on the wooded slope of Mount Pyatibratka.

Cause of the accident aircraft involving An-28 RA-28715 was a violation by the crew of the established approach procedures at the airport Palana, by carrying out a premature descent to below the minimum safe altitude when flying in mountainous terrain, weather conditions, precluding sustained visual contact with ground reference points, which led to a crash of the aircraft with the mountainside, its destruction and the death of the crew and passengers.
Alcohol was discovered in the blood of both crew members.
Contributing factors were:
- a low level of discipline of personnel and unsatisfactory flight methodical work in the aviation enterprise in terms of the lack of control over pre-flight preparation by the crew and execution of the approach procedures;
- inaction by the crew after the altimeter alarm when reaching a dangerous altitude;
Availability on the An-28 aircraft of a ground proximity warning system (GPWS), could possibly have prevent the accident.

ITAR-TASS
Ministry of Emergency Situations (MChS) of Russia
MAK Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC)

photo (c) Interstate Aviation Committee; 11 km SW of Palana Airport; September 2012

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