Lithuania to release final report of Swiftair Boeing 737 crash within months
It has been more than a year since the Swiftair Boeing 737-400 crashed on approach to Vilnius Airport (VNO).
The Safety Investigation Division (SID) of the Ministry of Justice of Lithuania has released an interim statement about its investigation of the fatal accident of a Swiftair Boeing 737-400 converted freighter, which crashed on approach to Vilnius Airport (VNO) in November 2024.
In the interim statement, SID said that the final report should be finalized “over the course of the next few months,” with the report consisting of a “detailed analysis of the facts, conclusions, and causes, as well as safety recommendations.”
It noted that it published the update due to the fact that, per European Union (EU) regulations, safety investigation authorities are required to release an interim statement at least on the anniversary of the incident if they are unable to publish a final report within 12 months of the safety event.
The Swiftair 737-400F, registered as EC-MFE, had departed Leipzig/Halle Airport (LEJ) and, on approach at VNO, crashed into a residential area just north of the airport on November 24, 2025.
According to SID, the aircraft, which was operating a flight on behalf of DHL, was destroyed during the accident, and out of the four people who were on board the 737-400F, the captain passed away. Three others walked away with injuries, including serious ones.
🚨 AVIÓN SE ESTRELLA EN ZONA RESIDENCIAL EN #LITUANIA: una cámara de seguridad captó el momento en que un Boeing 737 de Swiftair, contratado por DHL, se estrelló antes de aterrizar en el Aeropuerto de Vilna, Lituania. Una persona murió y tres resultaron heridas. pic.twitter.com/jIGuOEmy1O
— Diario de Yucatán (@DiariodeYucatan) November 25, 2024
While parts of the 737-400F impacted residential buildings, no people on the ground sustained any injuries.
In its preliminary report, SID detailed that four minutes before the crash, the captain requested flaps 5. The cockpit voice recorder’s (CVR) recording indicated that there were several audible clicks, “which were most likely coming from a flap handle movement.” However, the flight data recorder (FDR) showed that flaps were still up.
Two minutes later, while the 737-400F was in its final approach phase, the first officer asked the captain to lower the landing gear and flaps 15. “The captain stated that there were still very fast and that the co-pilot had to reduce speed first,” the preliminary report read.
At 05:27:56 local time (UTC +2), the captain realized that the flaps had been retracted, and immediately after, the stick shaker activated together with the enhanced ground proximity warning system’s (EGPWS) ‘Sink, Rate, Pull Up’ alert. Six seconds later, the crew called to initiate a go-around, with the throttles being pushed to go-around (GA) mode.
At 05:28:07, a ‘too low, terrain’ alert was heard in the cockpit, and one second later, the 737-400F crashed into the ground.
In a statement five days before SID published its preliminary report, the Prosecutor General's Office of Lithuania had concluded that the 737-400F potentially crashed due to the fact that the hydraulic system, powering the flaps, was turned off. The Prosecutor General’s Office attributed it to human error.
SID’s preliminary report stated that “the gated switches for the Engine-Driven and Electric Motor-Driven Hydraulic Pumps for System B on the overhead Panel P5 were found OFF,” while System A’s were ON.
Rytis Beresnevicius
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