Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 217

Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 217 was a scheduled passenger flight between Baku and Aktau, Kazakhstan that crashed into the Caspian Sea at ca. 22:40 on 23 December 2005.^[1] The flight was operated by an Antonov An-140.

Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 217

4K-AZ48, the aircraft involved in the accident
Accident
Date	23 December 2005 (2005-12-23)
Summary	Controlled flight into water
Site	Caspian Sea, near Nardaran, Azerbaijan 40°35′22.1″N 50°02′03.2″E
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Antonov An-140-100
Aircraft name	Yevlakh
Operator	Azerbaijan Airlines
IATA flight No.	J2217
ICAO flight No.	AHY217
Call sign	AZAL 217
Registration	4K-AZ48
Flight origin	Baku Airport, Azerbaijan
Destination	Aktau Airport, Kazakhstan
Occupants	23
Passengers	18
Crew	5
Fatalities	23
Survivors	0

Accident

Around five minutes after a night-time departure from Baku Airport, the crew reported a systems failure. Heading over the Caspian Sea at night without flight instruments made it difficult for the crew to judge their flight parameters. Whilst attempting to return to Baku, the aircraft crashed shortly afterwards on the shore of the Caspian Sea, killing all 23 passengers and crew on board.^[2][3]

Aftermath

Azerbaijan Airlines suspended flights operated by its remaining Antonov An-140s and cancelled plans to order two more aircraft of the same make.^[4]

Investigation

It seemed the aircraft had taken off "with caged gyro horizons".^[5] Investigations from the Kharkiv State Aircraft Manufacturing Company found that during the climb, the aircraft's three independent gyroscopes had failed and were not providing stabilised pitch, roll, heading, and altitude performance information to the crew.^[6][7]