Statuts:	Préliminaire
Date:	25 OCT 2000
Heure:	ca 18:15
Type/Sous-type:	Iliouchine 18D
Compagnie:	Russian Air Force
Immatriculation:	RA-74295
Numéro de série:	187010602
Année de Fabrication:	1968
Heures de vol:	15256
Cycles:	7694
Equipage:	victimes: 11 / à bord: 11
Passagers:	victimes: 72 / à bord: 72
Total:	victimes: 83 / à bord: 83
Dégats de l'appareil:	Perte Totale
Conséquences:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Lieu de l'accident:	18 km (11.3 milles) E of Batumi-Chorokh Airport (BUS) (Georgie)
Phase de vol:	En approche (APR)
Nature:	Passager Militaire
Aéroport de départ:	Chkalovsky Airport (CKL), Fédération de Russie
Aéroport de destination:	Batumi-Chorokh Airport (BUS/UGSB), Georgie

Détails:
Due to bad weather (low clouds, rain) the crew attempted to land from the north-east (usually planes landing at Batumi approach from the seaside, i.e. from the west). When descending from 3000 m, the plane struck Mtirala mountain at the 1336 m level.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "A considerable departure of the plane from the assigned trajectory of descent and a landing approach to Batumi airport. This has caused the plane to lower to the altitude below permissible and fly into a mountain. Four factors continued to the accident: First, a navigation error made by the crew in the final stage of landing approach: second, a mistake made by Batumi air traffic controller who failed to locate the plane and conform it to the crew; third, the air traffic controller and the crew have lost control of the actual position of the plane and failed to cut short a landing approach and fly to a reserve airport. The fourth factor was" erroneous data shown by ground radio-technical facilities at Batumi airport."

Sources:
» Soviet Transports
» Itar/TASS
» Max Kobzev
» Scramble
Sample newspaper article from Newspaperarchive.com