02 April 2012 - UTair 120

UTair Flight 120 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Tyumen to Surgut, Russia. On 2 April 2012, the ATR-72 turboprop aircraft operating the flight crashed shortly after take-off from Roschino International Airport, killing 33 of the 43 people on board. Investigation carried out by the Russian MAK revealed that the aircraft had not been de-iced prior to its take-off, even though it had been parked for hours in snowy condition. The crew of the flight were aware that ice and snow had accumulated on the aircraft, but decided not to de-ice it.

Flight 120 departed with 39 passengers and 4 crew members on board at 07:33 local time. The weather was "snow-mixed rain" at the time and the temperature was at around 0 °C.
At around 600 ft, the autopilot was engaged and the flaps were retracted.

Almost simultaneously with the completion of flap retraction, the First Officer expressed surprise, and the Captain was recorded asking "what is this?" The aircraft began an uncommanded roll to the right, while the First Officer asked "what's this buffeting?" The crew immediately disengaged the autopilot. Within 3 seconds, the angle of the roll reached 40 degrees. The crew counteracted the right roll by applying ailerons and rudder, but were unable to counteract the subsequent left roll.

As Flight 120's movement became more erratic, it also began to lose its altitude. As intermittent stall warnings appeared, the crew appeared increasingly confused; when the Captain asked the First Officer to report their situation to the tower, the First Officer replied with "Report what? Shit! What's the failure?" in a tone suggesting high levels of stress. At a left bank of 55 degrees and a nose-down angle of 11 degrees, the plane then crashed onto an open field near the runway at 07:34 local time and burst into flames. The aircraft broke into several pieces. The accident occurred at about 1 nautical mile (2 km) south west of the end of the main runway, near the village of Gorkovka.

There were 31 fatalities and 12 survivors from the 43 people on board. One source states that all four flight crew were killed, although another states that the first officer survived. All twelve survivors sustained critical injuries. They were taken to the hospital in Tyumen. The number of victims soon increased to 33 (10 survivors).

Transcript of the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR)

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