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Flydubai Flight 981 (FZ981/FDB981] was a scheduled international passenger flight from Dubai, United Arab Emirates to Rostov-on-Don, Russia. On 19 March 2016, the Boeing 737-800 made two unsuccessful landing attempts at Rostov-on-Don Airport in inclement weather. It reached an altitude of 4,000 feet (1,200 m) (during its second go-around), but then suddenly went down and crashed into the ground at a high speed.All 62 people onboard the aircraft were killed in the crash. It was Flydubai’s first fatal incident in the seven-year history of the airline.
Flight FZ981 was scheduled to depart from Dubai International Airport at 21:45 local time (UTC+4) on 18 March 2016 and arrive at Rostov-on-Don Airport at 1:20 local time (UTC+3) the next day. It departed from Dubai at 22:20 local time (18:20 GMT). At 1:41 local time, the aircraft aborted its first landing attempt in poor visibility and was placed in a holding pattern near the airport for nearly two hours. Between Flight 981’s first and second landing attempts, another aircraft made three landing attempts before diverting.Flight 981 crashed during a go-around after aborting its approach during its second attempt to land on runway 22.] At 3:42 local time the air trafic controller of the airport alerted the local emergency services about the crash.
According to ATC communications published online, before the aircraft was established on the localizer, the instrument which indicates the centerline of the runway when pilots are landing using instruments rather than visually, pilots reported to ATC that in case they will need to make another go-around, they will climb to flight level 80—approximately 8,000 feet (2,400 m).[They then reported that they were established on the localizer and continued their descent.[At 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi) before the runway threshold, when the aircraft was at 1500 feet, it started climbing again. After reaching the altitude of 4,050 ft (1,230 m), it began a rapid descent with a vertical speed reaching more than 21,000 ft/min[non-primary source needed][contradiction] and crashed close to the runway less than a minute later, at 03:42 local time.ATC records appeared to show that the aircraft was going around moments before it crashed. Pilots reported their intention to abort the landing with "Going around, Skydubai[c] 981". ATC advised Flight 981 to switch to another air traffic controller ("Skydubai 981, contact Rostov Radar on 121.2"). Flight 981 acknowledged this with "121.2, bye-bye", which was their final transmission.
According to the official reports, the aircraft crashed 253 metres (830 ft) left of the runway.During a press conference, the local MES chief stated that "the plane completely disintegrated at the very beginning of the runway." The Federal Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that the aircraft struck the ground with its wing before the crash. A CCTV video uploaded online shortly after the crash shows an aircraft making a steep descent into the ground, followed by an explosion,although the video’s authenticity has not been confirmed.Several witnesses report having seen a flash of light several seconds before the crash, which is also seen in the video.
Wreckage of FZ981 strewn across Runway 22 at Rostov-on-Don Airport
At the time of the crash, wind speed in the vicinity ranged from 14–22 m/s (27–43 kn; 31–49 mph). [ Just before the crash, ATC reported to Flight 981 that wind direction was 230 degrees, wind speed 12 m/s (23 kn; 27 mph) with gusts to 18 m/s (35 kn; 40 mph), and visibility was 3,500 m (11,500 ft), according to the ATC records published on YouTube.[10] Earlier in the same ATC recording, another flight reported icing conditions.While Flight 981 was in the holding pattern, Aeroflot Flight 1166 from Moscow made threeunsuccessful landing attempts at Rostov and diverted to the nearby Krasnodar Airport. Within the same timeframe, two other flights landed successfully at Rostov, S7 Flight 1159 and Ural Airlines Flight 2758.
The aircraft involved was a 5-year-old Boeing 737-8KN,[registered as A6-FDN,[4] MSN 40241, equipped with two CFM International CFM56 engines.Its first flight was on 21 December 2010, and it was delivered to Flydubai on 24 January 2011.
