Bek Air Flight 2100

Bek Air Flight 2100 was a domestic passenger flight from Almaty to Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, operated by a Fokker 100 that crashed on 27 December 2019 while taking off from Almaty International Airport.[3] Of the 98 people on board – 93 passengers and five crew,[1][4] 13 died in the crash and 66 were injured.[4][5] The Kazakh government started investigations the same day.[5]

Bek Air Flight 2100
The aircraft involved in the crash pictured in 2018, one year before the crash
Accident
Date27 December 2019 (2019-12-27)
SummaryCrashed on takeoff in icy weather
SiteNear Almaty International Airport, Almaty, Kazakhstan
43°21′55″N 77°04′17″E
Aircraft
Aircraft typeFokker 100
OperatorBek Air
IATA flight No.Z92100
ICAO flight No.BEK2100
Call signBEKAIR 2100
RegistrationUP-F1007
Flight originAlmaty International Airport, Kazakhstan
DestinationNursultan Nazarbayev International Airport, Kazakhstan
Occupants98[1]
Passengers93
Crew5
Fatalities13[2]
Injuries66
Survivors85

Aircraft and crew

The aircraft involved was a Fokker 100, built in 1996, which previously was flown by Formosa Airlines, Mandarin Airlines, Contact Air, and OLT Express Germany, before joining the Bek Air fleet in 2013 as UP-F1007. The aircraft was leased to Kam Air in September 2016, then returned. The aircraft was also leased to Safi Airways in February 2017, returned to Bek Air, and finally leased to Air Djibouti in December 2018, before being returned again. The aircraft remained in service with Bek Air until the day of the accident, which destroyed it.[6][7] The airworthiness certificate of the aircraft had been renewed on 22 May 2019.[8]

The captain was 58-year-old Marat Ganievich Muratbaev and the first officer was 54-year-old Mirzhan Gaynulovich Muldakulov.[9]

Accident

The aircraft crashed into a building just after takeoff from Almaty International Airport in Kazakhstan. The plane took off from runway 05R and lost altitude shortly afterwards; during take-off, its tail was reported to have hit the runway twice.[1][10] It reportedly turned to the right and hit a concrete perimeter fence, before impacting a two-story building in a residential area, close to the perimeter track, around 7:22 am local time.[1] The front of the aircraft broke away from the main fuselage, sustaining significant damage, and the tail broke off at the rear.

One of the survivors, businessman Aslan Nazarliev, stated he had seen ice on the wings. In a telephone conversation, he said, "The left-wing jolted really hard, I noticed that then jolted the right, and the plane began swinging as a boat."[10] Nazarliev continued, "When we took off, the plane began to shake very hard and I knew it was going to fall ... All the people who stepped on the wing fell, because there was ice. I cannot say that [before taking off] the wings were not sprayed with antifreeze, but the fact is that there was ice."[11] The temperature at the time was −12 °C (10 °F) and visibility was 1,000 m (3,300 ft), with thick fog close to the scene.[7][12]

Victims

Thirteen people, including the captain and first officer, who died in hospital nearly a month after the accident, were killed, and 66 were injured.[2] The passengers consisted of 85 adults, five children, and three infants; there were five crew.[1][8]

Nationality Passengers Crew Total
Kazakhstan 89 5 94
Kyrgyzstan 1 0 1
China 1 0 1
Ukraine 2 0 2
Total93598

Aftermath

The president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, declared the following day, 28 December, a national day of mourning and said, "all those responsible will be severely punished in accordance with the law".[8][13] Kazakh authorities suspended Bek Air's flight authorization after the accident.[14]

In late January of 2020, the Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan (AAK) revealed serious safety violations at the airline. The AAK found that Bek Air pilots routinely neglected to perform a walk-around and inspect for airframe ice before take-off, and had skipped these procedures on the accident flight, in violation of operations manuals from both the aircraft manufacturer and the airline. Despite flying in a region with severe winters, the airline conducted no special training for winter operations. Bek Air mechanics routinely swapped parts between aircraft without keeping detailed records, and data plates had been removed from aircraft engines and other parts, hindering verification of service histories. The condition of the airline's fleet was assessed as poor.[15]

On 17 April 2020, citing the airline's failure to correct the safety violations discovered during the investigation, the AAK recalled the company's air operator's certificate and the airworthiness certificates of its remaining Fokker 100 aircraft.[16]

On May 2021, the Talgar District Court of Almaty sentenced a real estate agent and five building officials—including the former head of the Department of Land Relations of Talgar—to prison for the illegal and fraudulent sale of building sites close to the airport. Bek Air had said that the crash would have been less severe if building restrictions around the airport had been enforced.[17]

See also

References
  1. Hodge, Nathan; Renton, Adam; Britton, Bianca (27 December 2019). "Kazakhstan flight with almost 100 onboard crashes, killing at least 12 people". CNN. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  2. "Accident: Bek F100 at Almaty on Dec 27th 2019, lost height shortly after takeoff and impacted building after two tailstrikes". www.avherald.com. The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  3. Troianovski, Anton; Nechepurenko, Ivan; Matsnev, Oleg; Victor, Daniel; Tarabay, Jamie (26 December 2019). "Kazakhstan Plane Crash Kills at Least 12 People". The New York Times. Moscow and Hong Kong. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  4. Мейирим, Смайыл (28 December 2019). "Путаницу с количеством жертв при крушении самолета Bek Air признали чиновники" [Misunderstanding of the number of victims of the Bek Air plane crash acknowledged by government officials] (in Russian). Tengri News. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  5. "12 killed, dozens hurt after jetliner crashes in Kazakhstan". AP News. 27 December 2019. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  6. "Bek Air UP-F1007 (Fokker 70/100 – MSN 11496) (Ex B-12292 D-AFKC)". www.airfleets.net. Airfleets aviation. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  7. "Bek Air flight Z92100 crashes shortly after take off from Almaty". Flightradar24. 27 December 2019. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  8. Boon, Tom (27 December 2019). "Fokker 100 Crashes In Kazakhstan Leaving At Least 15 Dead". Simple Flying. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  9. "Стали известны имена пилотов разбившегося самолета Bek Air" [The names of the pilots of the crashed Bek Air plane became known]. www.inform.kz (in Russian). KAZINFORM. 27 December 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  10. Chadwick, Lauren (27 December 2019). "Survivor describes moment jet crashed into building in Kazakhstan". euronews.
  11. "Al menos 12 muertos en un accidente de avión de pasajeros en Kazajistán: "Supe que se iba a caer"" [At least 12 dead in a plane crash in Kazakhstan: "I knew it was going to fall"]. ELMUNDO (in Spanish). 27 December 2019. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  12. "Dozens survive Kazakhstan plane crash". BBC News. 27 December 2019. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  13. "President Tokayev declares 28 December a national day of mourning". www.inform.kz. 27 December 2019.
  14. "Bek Air grounded after fatal Fokker 100 accident at Almaty". FlightGlobal. 27 December 2019. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  15. Sadikhova, Nargiz (21 January 2020). "Kazakhstan's Aviation Administration Reveals Violations in Kazakh Bek Air Operations". en.trend.az. Baku, Azerbaijan: Trend News Agency. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  16. Sadikhova, Nargiz (17 April 2020). "Operations certificate of Kazakhstan's Bek Air recalled following plane crash". en.trend.az. Baku, Azerbaijan: Trend News Agency. Retrieved 23 April 2020. "Since Bek Air JSC failed to fulfill instructions to rectify violations issued by AAK and the Main Transport Prosecutor's Office, the operator certificate of Bek Air JSC is recalled," the report said... AAK together with the Main Transport Prosecutor's Office conducted an unscheduled audit of the Bek Air... extreme violations of the law were identified that impacts flight safety.
  17. Smakova, Amina (12 May 2021). "The court handed down a verdict in the case of illegal land transfer near Almaty airport, where the Bek Air crash occurred". informburo (in Kazakh). Retrieved 12 December 2022.
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