Aeroflot Flight 521 was a scheduled passenger flight from Sheremetyevo International Airport to Dubai International Airport that, on 21 September 2001, belly landed at Dubai after the crew members forgot to activate the landing gear circuit breaker. Out of all 322 occupants on board, none were harmed.[1]
Aircraft
The accident aircraft was an Ilyushin Il-86 (registration RA-86074, serial number 51483205041). It first flew and also entered service in 1985. By the time of the accident, it had logged 23,711 flight hours with 7,132 pressurization cycles.[2]
The crew consisted of four pilots and 11 flight attendants:
Captain V. I. Ivochkin with 16,501 flight hours, of which 6,080 hours were on the Il-86
First officer S. K. Sevastiyanov with 8,920 flight hours, of which 1,126 were on the Il-86
Flight engineer E. A. Malinin
Navigator S. N. Afanasyev.
Accident
The flight from Moscow was uneventful.[3] During the approach to Dubai, the crew switched off the landing gear circuit breaker for the flaps to be extended before landing gear extension, as this was a non-standard procedure meant to reduce noise. The flight engineer, Malinin, extended the gears, but they forgot to activate the landing gear circuit breaker before.[1] Malinin violated the rules and did not realise the landing gears were still up.[3]
At 20:09, Flight 521 landed at Runway 30R with the landing gears still retracted. The Il-86 skid for a few dozen metres before coming to a stop. Engine two, three, and the rear cargo compartment caught fire.[1][3] The firefighters at the airport quickly extinguished the fire, and all 322 occupants were evacuated safely.
Investigation
The Interstate Aviation Committee, Federal Air Transport Agency, Ilyushin, and Aeroflot took part in the investigation.[4] The investigation concluded that the pilots initiated a poor approach configuration and violated several laws. The poor coordination and crew resource management contributed to the accident.[3]
Aftermath
Aeroflot had to pay each passenger an amount of money equivalent to 400 dollars as compensation. They also indemnified the Dubai International Airport 10 million dollars due to the airport halting operations for 13 hours as the Il-86 obstructed Runway 30R. The pilots lost their certificates,[5] and the captain was fired.
The accident Il-86 was written off and sank at the Persian Gulf.[5]
