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An air ambulance Dassault Falcon 10 that crashed into a snow-covered mountain in Afghanistan in January had attempted to make an emergency landing after running low on fuel, according to a recent safety report from the Russian Interstate Aviation Committee. The 1978 Falcon, which Air Safety Network preliminary information said was registered to Athletic Group (RA-09011), was carrying two crew members and four passengers—two medical workers and two others being transported. The crew and medical workers were injured, while the other two were killed.
The aircraft departed from U-Tapao Airport in Thailand at 1:20 p.m. local time on January 20 for the 3,895-nm journey to Zhukovsky Airport in Moscow. Preliminary information reveals that the aircraft refueled at Gaya International Airport in India and continued at 4:10 p.m. local time toward a second refueling at Tashkent International Airport in Uzbekistan. However, a deviation led to additional fuel consumption, and at about 7:05 p.m., the crew radioed that they were low on fuel. Fourteen minutes later, the crew reported one engine had flamed out; ten minutes later, the second engine had flamed out.
The crew initially hoped to make an emergency landing at Kulob Airport in Tajikistan but instead decided to make an emergency landing in the mountainous area of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and ended up colliding with the mountain slope.
