Flydubai Flight 981 was a scheduled international passenger flight that crashed during an aborted landing at Rostov-on-Don Airport, Russia, on March 19, 2016, resulting in the deaths of all 62 passengers and crew on board.
The flight, operated with a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, had originated from Dubai International Airport, in the United Arab Emirates. The weather at Rostov was poor at the time, and the flight was at night. Flight 981 aborted its first landing attempt and went into a holding pattern for nearly two hours before making a second landing attempt. After aborting the second attempt, the aircraft climbed sharply during the go-around procedure then descended rapidly and crashed onto the runway.
All 62 people on board, 55 passengers and 7 crew members, died in the crash. Of the passengers, 44 (including four children) were Russian citizens. Eight other passengers came from Ukraine, two from India and one from Uzbekistan. Thirty of the passengers were tourists on a package tour from Natalie Tours, one of the largest Russian tour operators.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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