Top U.N. Official Among The Dead

Another tragedy has added to the New Year's rash of airline accidents, as a Yakovlev 40 crashed Tuesday on approach to the airport in Uzbekistan's capital of Tashkent.

A top United Nations (UN) official was on Uzbekistan Airways flight 1154, which claimed the lives of at least 35 passengers.New-York-based U.N. officials later identified the man as Richard Conroy, the United Nations' "resident representative" to the central Asian nation. The plane crashed on approach to the airport in heavy fog while concluding its domestic flight from Termez. Weather at the time of the accident was reported poor with a visibility of 200-350m and a runway 08L RVR (runway visual range) of 600-900m in fog.

The full weather observation reads as follows: UTTT 131400Z 23003MPS 180V250 0350 R08L/0900N FG VV001 01/01 Q1026 TEMPO 0200 FG VV001 08CLRD70=UTTT 131500Z 22002MPS 0200 R08L/0600N FG VV001 01/01 Q1026 NOSIG 08CLRD70=

Several hours after the crash, Tashkent airport officials announced the facility was closed due to bad weather and that arriving flights were being diverted to Samarkand, about 200 miles to the southwest.

The Associated Press reported the three engine aircraft (file photo above) appeared to have hit a stanchion of approach lights and flipped over, eventually hitting the outside of a wall surrounding the runway area. The thirty-two seat Yakovlev 40 design first flew in 1966 with 1,366 aircraft built before production ceased in 1980.

FMI: www.uzbekistanairways.com