Kazakhstan Border Guards

Antonov AN-26

Following an uneventful flight from Nursultan Nazarbayev Airport on behalf of the National Security Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the crew was approaching Almaty Airport runway 23R in marginal weather conditions with a ceiling at 300 feet and a visibility limited to 5 km in freezing drizzle. On short final, the aircraft struck the ground and crashed 600 metres short of runway, bursting into flames. Two crew members were rescued while four others were killed. Those killed were: Major Gabit Esimdaevich Barlykbayev, Captain Doszhan Galymbekovich Baimuratov, 1st Lt Mukhtar Hadzhimukanovich Sagimbayev, Sgt Vasilkov Evgeny Borisovich.

Antonov AN-72

The aircraft was completing a flight on behalf of the Kazakh Border Guard Corp. While approaching Shymkent in low visibility due to the night and heavy snow falls, the aircraft hit a mountain slope located 21 km from the airport and was destroyed by impact forces. All 27 occupants were killed, among them Tourganbek Stambekov, Chief of the Kazakhtan Border Guards. It appears that the automatic pilot system failed shortly after take off from Astana and the captain decided to continue the flight. Two minutes and 40 seconds later, the radio altimeter failed as well and the crew continued the flight, referring to the barometric altimeter. But these suffered a momentary failure 19 minutes later and several differences were observed with the altitude parameters. During the descent to Shymkent in poor weather conditions, the captain failed to set the correct pressure in the barometric altimeters so the setting he was taking for reference was wrong. At the time of the accident, the aircraft was 385 meters too low and as a result, the Board concluded that the accident was the consequence of a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT).