On Oct. 19, 2012, an An-12BP delivering mail for the U.S. military crashed while trying to land in Shindand, Afghanistan. None of the six crew members was hurt. The plane was operated by Airmark Aviation of Singapore, although it had belonged to Air Armenia (numbered EK-12112).
On Nov. 3, 2008, an An-12BP (registered as EK-11997, operated by the Sudanese Sarit Air Lines) crashed while landing at the airport in Wau, South Sudan. Thirteen people, including four Armenian pilots, were killed. According to witnesses, the plane, transporting food and money, exploded in mid-air. Sudanese separatists, suspected of shooting down the plane, denied it.
On July 2, 2008, an Il-76TD (EK-76400) operated by Click Airways International in Kyrgyzstan was damaged when flying from Afghanistan to the United Arab Emirates. A fire in one of the engines spread, forcing the nine-member crew to land at Zahedan Airport in Iran.
On June 29, 2006, an An-12BP (EK-12305) belonging to Miapet-Avia burned immediately after landing in Bagram, Afghanistan. The cause was attributed to an electrical system damaged by long exposure to hot climate. There were no casualties.
The most serious incident in Armenian aviation happened May 3, 2006, when an Airbus A320-211 (EK-32009) owned by Armavia crashed in the Black Sea while trying to land at Adler airport, Sochi. Eight crew members and 105 passengers were killed. The Interstate Aviation Committee investigated and reported "pilot error" as the cause of the crash.
Two days after that disaster, a fire broke out in a hangar at Brussels Airport. Four airplanes including an Airbus A320-211 (EK-32010) belonging to Armavia and another plane (EK-32001) owned by Armenian International Airlines operated by Air Arabia were damaged. No one was killed.
On March 28, 2006, an An-12BK (registered as EK-46741) belonging to the Armenian airline Phoenix Avia, tried to make an emergency landing immediately after takeoff from Payam airport in Sharjah, UAE. Three out of four engines failed when the plane flew into a flock of birds. The plane broke up and caught fire after landing in a field five kilometers from the airport. No one was killed.
On Jan. 25, 2008, Miapet-Avia's military aircraft, an An-12BP (EK-11660) rented by Aéro-Service, collided with a parked plane at Pointe-Noire Airport in the Congo due to brake failure. Both aircraft were damaged beyond repair. Two people were injured.
In March of 2004, six Armenian pilots were detained in Equatorial Guinea on suspicion of being complicit in a coup d'état attempt. The pilots strongly denied the accusation. They were sentenced to 14-24 years imprisonment but were pardoned by the Equatorial Guinean president and released in November 2005.
Aéro-Service accidents
Airplane crashes and disasters are common for Aéro-Service. Eight are reported on the web site Aviation-safety.net, which is an independent organization formed in 1996 that has a database with detailed descriptions of over 10,000 air incidents.
Aéro-Service was established in 1967 and headquartered in Pointe-Noire Airport. It operates chartered cargo and business passenger flights within Congo and flies to neighboring countries. Since Nov. 26, 2009, Aéro-Service is banned from entering the European Union, along with all other airlines registered in the Congo.
On March 30, 1979, an Aérospatiale SN-601 Corvette belonging to Aéro-Service crashed at Nkayi Airport in the Congo and was damaged beyond repair.
In June 1981, an Aéro-Service BN-2A-8 Islander suffered a crash landing at a location that is not listed on the aviation-safety.net site and was subsequently written off.
On Dec. 13, 1985, a BN-2A-26 Islander crashed in Accra, Ghana.
On March 11, 1994, a SA226-AT Merlin IV flying from Gabon to Pointe-Noire with four passengers and two crew members was damaged beyond repair in a crash landing. The landing gear failed to deploy.
On Dec. 23, 2005, an An-24RV leased from Moldovian Pecotox Air was damaged when it ran off the runway upon landing, but was later repaired.
On Jan. 25, 2008, a Miapet-Avia military aircraft, An-12BP (EK-11660), rented by Aéro-Service, collided with a parked Boeing 727-247 belonging to Sierra Leone’s Teebah Airlines at Pointe-Noire Airport in the Congo. Brake failure was blamed. Both aircraft were damaged beyond repair. Two people were injured.
On June 19, 2010, a CASA C-212-CB Aviocar 100 military aircraft crashed in Cameroon, killing all nine passengers and the two pilots on board.
The last Aéro-Service incident involving the Il-76 that killed 39 people was the second instance involving Armenian aircraft and pilots.