On 16 January 2017, the Boeing 747-400F flying the route crashed in a residential area while attempting to land in thick fog at Manas International Airport, Bishkek.

After a two-hour delay, the aircraft took off from Hong Kong at 03:12 local time and would be expected to arrive in Istanbul approximately 6 hours later.

The controller approved their request and ordered the crew to descend to 22,000 ft, which pleased Captain Dirancı as he had been aiming to land in Manas as soon as possible.

This time, their request was approved, and the crew was cleared to descend to flight level 180 and was not allowed to fly lower due to the mountains.

[3]: 58–64 At 07:17 local time (01:17 UTC) on 16 January 2017, the aircraft crashed nearly 1 km (3,300 ft) beyond the end of runway 26 at Manas International Airport,[7]: 11  at a residential area known as Dacha-SU (Kyrgyz: Дача-СУ).

Autopsies report revealed that some of the victims had died from being trapped inside their homes due to the intense post-impact fire, which spread throughout the neighborhood.

Minister of Health Talantbek Batyraliyev reported that by 11:46 a.m. local time, around 56 doctors and psychologists and 14 ambulance crews had been dispatched to the scene.

[23][24] In response to the accident, there have been concerns regarding the presence of houses near the airport, prompting calls for resettlement from multiple government officials.

Concerns began to grow as an impromptu inspection revealed that the houses had been built illegally, as the dachas were only meant for seasonal dwellings during the summer and spring, but the residents opted to stay permanently.

[26] As issues regarding the dachas remained unresolved, the residents held a rally in front of the Bishkek White House to ensure their safety and the status of their homes.

[28][29] Opposition party Ata-Meken was quick to accuse that the aircraft was possibly a part of a corruption scheme and that the cargo actually had belonged to President Almazbek Atambayev, which he denied.

Omurbek Tekebayev, leader of Ata-Meken, criticised the government for trying to conceal information regarding the true owners of the cargo.

The Kyrgyz government announced that those affected by the accident would be fully compensated, including costs of treatment for the injured and funerals for the dead.

[40] Kyrgyzstan's Emergency Situations Minister, Kubatbek Boronov, stated that it was foggy at Manas at the time of the accident, but that weather conditions were not critical.

[41] Deputy Prime Minister Abulgaziyev suggested that the cause may have been pilot error, noting that eleven aircraft had landed safely, despite the same weather conditions, on the previous day.

[4] A technical team from Boeing visited the site to offer help and advice, under the auspices of the American accident investigation body, the National Transportation Safety Board.

The false glideslope was lost 15 seconds after it was acquired and AP CAUTION and FMA FAULT 2 events were recorded, meaning that the autopilots would continue to descend the aircraft on a 3-degree slope using inertial guidance.

[3]: 87, 93–94 Since the aircraft was flying at an altitude higher than it was supposed to, its landing system was unable to catch the airport's glideslope signal properly.

[3]: 94–95 The signal was captured at a distance of approximately 0.4 nautical miles from the runway, far too short for a landing as the aircraft was still at 3,400 ft. By this time, they should have been flying at 400 ft above the ground and already descending.

Apparently, the crew was not paying much attention to their instruments as they were too fixated on finding the runway to land as immediately as possible and hence didn't notice that the signal had disappeared.

[3]: 97 The crew's fixation to land as quickly as possible was likely caused by fatigue, as they had been flying for 11 hours straight, aggravated by the fact that at the time of the accident it was early morning when people were usually asleep.

[3]: 106–109 Other than their fatigued state, the cockpit voice recording indicated that the crew also became increasingly stressed during the approach, particularly Captain Dirancı, who was the commander of the flight and the one who was in control.

[3]: 106–109 : 106–109 While human error played a major part in the disaster, investigators of the IAC noted that they were alarmed by the fact that the Boeing 747's autopilot system kept following the false glideslope signal even though it was incorrect.

A test conducted by IAC using the Sukhoi Superjet 100 showed that the aircraft's autopilot immediately stopped engaging when it recognized that it had been following the incorrect glideslope.

[3]: 115–117 On March 3, 2020, the Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) released its final report on the accident, stating that probable cause was the loss of control by the pilots over the aircraft position in relation of the glideslope during the instrumental approach, carried out at night in weather conditions suitable for ICAO CAT II landing.

[47]: 115–117 The cause of the Boeing 747-412F TC-MCL aircraft accident was the missing control of the crew over the aircraft position in relation to the glideslope during the automatic approach, conducted at night in the weather conditions, suitable for ICAO CAT II landing, and as a result, the measures to perform a go-around, not taken in due time with the aircraft, having a significant deviation from the established approach chart, which led to the controlled flight impact with terrain (CFIT) at the distance of ≈930 m beyond the end of the active RWY.Recommendations issued by the IAC include calls for improvements in flight crew and ATC training, changes in the Boeing 747 automation system, and the addition of radar in Manas International Airport.

During the one-year anniversary of the accident, the memorial was unveiled to the public, and a commemoration was held, which was attended by the residents of Dacha SU and several government officials.

[52] As the investigation progressed, approximately 22 personnel who had taken part in the search and rescue operation were charged with theft after being suspected of looting from the accident site.

Various issues including distribution of compensation money, possible misuse of the relief funds, accusations of contraband, and lack of government assistance were raised.

[58][59] In February 2023, it was reported that land plots belonging to Kyrgyz politician Maxim Bakiyev had been handed over to the Presidential Property Management Department for the construction of new homes for the planned resettlement.