Polar Airlines Flight 2283

On November 6th, 2011, an Antonov An-26 operating as **Polar Airlines Flight 2283**, crashed after taking off from Irkutsk International Airport at approximately 6:38 AM Irkutsk Standard Time. All 36 passengers and 6 crew members on board were killed.

## Accident

### Summary

Crashed on takeoff due to malfunction of the de-icing systems.

### Site

Irkutsk International Airport, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia

## Flight

### Flight Origin

Irkutsk International Airport, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia

### Flight Destination

Yakutsk International Airport, Sakha Republic, Russia

## Background

### Aircraft

The aircraft involved in the accident was a 31-year-old Antonov An-26-100, it was registered as RA-26538. It had accumulated about 16,730 hours of flight time before crashing and being written off.

### Crew

Among the aircraft were 6 crew members. They were:

• Captain Lev Andrei, 39 years old. He was one of the more experienced crew members on board. He has 10,630 hours of flight time or 10,638 to be exact, 7,848 of them were on the An-26.

• Joining the captain was 30-year-old first officer Valerian Yuli Arkhip Bolshakov, he had 5,467 hours of flight time on the An-26.

• 49-year-old flight engineer Zinovy Dorofei Volkov and he had 8,987 hours on the An-26. He was the most experienced crew member on board.

• Navigator Vasiliy Oleg Petrov, 49 years old.

• 37-year-old flight operator Ruvim Gorokhov.

• 20-year-old flight attendant Ruf Inessa Fedorova.

### Flight

At 5:14 Irkutsk Standard Time, the aircraft arrived at Irkutsk International Airport from Bratsk Airport to prepare for a new flight, and the old passengers left the plane. The plane started refueling for a new flight to Yakutsk International Airport. By 6:15, most flight preparations were done and passengers started boarding the plane. The plane was cleared to taxi to runway 12 for takeoff.

Nothing was out of the ordinary. The crew members completed all checklists with no errors.

## Accident

After taxiing to runway 12, Irkutsk Tower granted Flight 2283 permission to take off and climb to 1,500 meters (about 5,000 feet). The captain set the throttles on 92.5% and the plane started its takeoff roll, as heard on the Cockpit Voice Recorder.

The plane struggled to lift off the runway but it lifted off the runway about 63.2 meters before overrunning, it still struggled to climb and crashed. Witnesses reported fires at the crash site. Firefighters and first responders arrived at the scene 2 minutes after the crash. No one survived the crash and the Antonov An-26 was written off.

## Investigation

The Interstate Aviation Commission (IAC) investigated the accident.

After examining the crash site, investigators found out that the de-icing systems were not deployed in their regular configuration, as a result, overall lift on the airfoil was decreased. Further investigation found out the aircraft's de-icing system had just broken down from the last flight due to aircraft wearing. An inquiry cleared all members of the crew of any blame.

### Conclusions

The IAC concluded that the crash was due to "a malfunction of the de-icing systems." The IAC recommended regular maintenance after the accident to avoid any further accidents.