 The wreckage of Flight 1007 | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 23 November 2001 (2001-11-23) |
| Summary | Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error |
| Site | NearKärdla Airport,Hiiu County, Estonia 58°58′27.1″N22°51′12″E / 58.974194°N 22.85333°E /58.974194; 22.85333 |
 | |
| Aircraft | |
 An Enimex An-28, similar to the one involved | |
| Aircraft type | Antonov An-28 |
| Operator | Enimex forELK Airways |
| IATA flight No. | S81007 |
| ICAO flight No. | ELK1007 |
| Call sign | ELKA 1007 |
| Registration | ES-NOV |
| Flight origin | Tallinn Airport,Harju County, Estonia |
| Destination | Kärdla Airport,Hiiu County, Estonia |
| Occupants | 17 |
| Passengers | 14 |
| Crew | 3 |
| Fatalities | 2 |
| Injuries | 14 |
| Survivors | 15 |
On 23 November 2001,ELK Airways Flight 1007, anAntonov An-28 leased fromEnimex, crashed on approach toKärdla Airport,Hiiu County, after a domestic flight in Estonia fromTallinn Airport. Two of the aircraft's 17 occupants were killed. The investigation on the accident found out that the crash was a case ofcontrolled flight into terrain, caused mainly by the crew's decision of switching from aninstrument approach tovisual approach, a decision that was made to avoid icing conditions.[1] The accident is the only fatal passenger plane crash in the history of independent Estonia.[2]
The aircraft involved in the accident was anAntonov An-28 registered as ES-NOV and manufactured in 1986. The aircraft was owned by the Estonian airlineEnimex and leased toELK Airways to perform its scheduled services betweenTallinn andHiiumaa island.Aircraft leasing was one of the activities in which the airlineEnimex was specialized.[1] On board there were three crew members, the two pilots and a flight attendant. The 46 years old male captain Aleksandr Nikolaev had a total of 4494 flight hours, of which 1437 on the An-28, he was said to be an experienced pilot, who also flew on other soviet planes like theTupolev Tu-134, theYakovlev Yak-40 and theAntonov An-72. The other two crew members were the 23 years old malefirst officer Alexander Golovko and the 27 years old female flight attendant Leena Stefutina.[3]
Flight 1007 departedTallinn Airport at around 6:05 pm local time, headed for a short domestic flight toKärdla Airport onHiiumaa island. On board there were three crew members and 14 passengers, of which 13 were Estonian nationals and one was a Norwegian national.[4] The aircraft took off and climbed normally toflight level FL060. The aircraft contactedKärdla Airportair traffic control at 6:19 pm, and requested weather information. Winds were pretty high, with peaks of 44 km/h, visibility was good, at around 8 kilometers,cloud ceiling was at around 370 meters and temperature at 0 degrees Celsius. Icing conditions were highly possible due to the low temperature and high humidity levels. Soon after the aircraft was instructed to descend to flight level FL014. During the continuation of the approach the crew of Flight 1007 switched from continuing aninstrument approach to avisual approach, to avoid the icing conditions present in the area. At 6:03 pm the aircraft impacted treetops and crashed into amarshland located about one and a half kilometers south-est of the airport runway.[5] The marsh absorbed some of the impact forces and prevented more blunt force fatalities and the development of a post-crash fire, since the aircraft fuel tanks didn't rupture. A 49 years old passenger died on impact, and 15 of the 16 survivors were injuries, of which two, the first officer and a 10 years old boy, were serious.[6] Five of the injured were airlifted toTallinn, including two children that were brought to a pediatric hospital, and five were brought to an hospital inKärdla.[4] The 10-year-old boy, who initially survived in serious conditions, died of his injuries in hospital on November 29, bringing the final death toll of the crash to two.[7]
In the afternoon of November 23, theGovernment of Estonia met in an extraordinary session, summoned by the ministerToivo Jürgenson, to discuss about the accident, and during which a government commission on the investigation of the crash was formed. Tõnu Naestema, vice secretary of the Ministry of roads and communications, was appointed as the commission president.[4]Kärdla Airport, soon after the crash, issued a hotline phone number for the relatives of those on board Flight 1007.Estonian presidentArnold Rüütel expressed his condolences to the victims of the accident, and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.[4] Nearly 92000estonian kroons were donated to the victims of the accident.[7] TheEstonian Civil Aviation Administration grounded allAntonov An-28s registered in the country from November 24 to November 26 for checks.[6]
The final report on the crash was released by theEstonian Civil Aviation Administration just over two months after the accident, in February 2002. The report found out that soon after takeoff the aircraft anti-ice system activated, sending alarms to the cockpit, and remained in this state for most of the flight. In the meantime the ice was melted by the aircraft anti-ice system, but the captain thought that it was still present, so during approach he switched from aninstrument procedure to avisual procedure to avoid areas with worse icing condition, and so the eventual further accumulation of ice.[3][1][8] The report was sent to theLääne County attorney to analize it, and find eventual responsibilities of the accident.
A trail against pilot Aleksandr Nikolaev was initiated in March 2004 by the General Attorney of Estonia, which accused him of violating the air safety norms, resulting in the crash. After a years-long trial the case archived in 2011, since there was no more interest in the continuation of it, and Nikolaev was subsequently acquitted.[9]