Hans Griffioen Editor

Air Crash Investigations Captain in Panic the Crash of Armavia Flight 967 Hans Griffioen Editor

On 2 May 2006 Armavia Flight RNV 967, an Airbus A320, was on its way from Zvartnots (Yerevan, Armenia) to Adler (Sochi, Russia). There were 113 occupants on board: 105 passengers (including 5 children and 1 baby), 2 pilots,1 aircraft engineer and 5 flight attendants. Upon approaching Sochi there was confusion in regard to the weather for the scheduled landing. Finally the captain decided to return to Zvartnots, a short while later he reconsidered his decision and started the approach to Sochi after all. Just before final landing air traffic control told the captain to abort the landing. At 22:13 the aircraft struck the water, it broke up on impact, killing all aboard. The investigation concluded that the crash of Armavia Flight 967 was a Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT), specifically water, while conducting a climbing manoeuvre, after an aborted approach, along with inadequate control inputs from the Captain to Sochi airport at night with weather conditions below landing minimums for runway 06.