On December 31st, 29 years ago, more precisely on December 31st, 1994, an airplane accident occurred at the Sarajevo International Airport, but luckily there were no human casualties. Everything happened because of the “Sarajevo approach”.
The plane Ilyushin 76TD, registration number EW-76836, was destroyed in the accident. It is a plane that was owned by the Belarusian company “Belair”, which existed from 1991 to 1999.
Moreover, the plane was completely destroyed in the accident, later it was recycled, but fortunately, there were no human casualties in this accident.
The accident occurred during the flight between Luxembourg and Sarajevo, all because the pilots performed the famous “Sarajevo approach”.
“Due to bad judgment, they landed in the middle of the runway. The rest of the runway was not enough for the plane to stop safely and so it ended up on the grassy surface behind the runway threshold. The weather conditions that marked that day were rain with strong wind. The crew got out of the plane unharmed. The cargo, which, among other things, consisted of wine and champagne planned for the New Year’s Eve celebration was mostly saved,” wrote Jasmin Lokmic, an employee of the Air Navigation Services Agency, on his X account.
Namely, the so-called “Sarajevo approach” is the Sarajevo landing approach, which refers to a tactical approach (25-degree bank) designed to minimize the time the aircraft was exposed to enemy fire during operations on Sarajevo during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
Due to the constant threat of gunfire on the landing plane, when the pilots approached the ground, they performed a “tactical landing” procedure, as a safety measure, which had some specifics.
Along with the information, Lokmic also posted a series of photos on social media that were taken on December 31st, 1994, immediately before and after the accident.
