Ilyushin II-18 | Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives

While cruising at an altitude of 6,100 meters on a flight from Moscow-Vnukovo Airport to Sochi-Adler Airport, the generator on engine number three failed. Debris punctured a hydraulic line and the fluid caught fire while in contact with high temperature elements of the engine. As the fire extinguishing system failed to work properly, the crew decided to shut down all three other engines and completed a gear up landing in a field. The airplane slid for several yards and came to rest. All 97 occupants were evacuated safely.

Probable cause:

Failure of the generator on engine number 3 for unknown reason. This caused the rupture of a hydraulic line and the fluid caught fire while contacting engine elements. The reason of the dysfunction of the fire extinguishing system remains unknown.

Crash of an Ilyushin II-18V in Forchheim: 52 killed

Date & Time: Mar 28, 1961 at 2009 LT

Type of aircraft:

Ilyushin II-18

Operator:

Registration:

OK-OAD

Flight Phase:

Flight

Flight Type:

Scheduled Revenue Flight

Survivors:

Site:

Plain, Valley

Schedule:

Prague – Zurich – Rabat – Dakar – Conakry – Bamako

MSN:

180 0021 02

YOM:

1960

Flight number:

OK511

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Captain / Total flying hours:

8572

Captain / Total hours on type:

354.00

Copilot / Total flying hours:

11019

Copilot / Total hours on type:

179

Circumstances:

While cruising at an altitude of 20,000 feet over Bavaria, the four engine aircraft disappeared from radar screens at 2009LT and crashed in a field located near Forchheim, north of Nuremberg. The crew was unable to send any distress call prior to the crash. The airplane disintegrated on impact and all 52 occupants were killed.

Probable cause:

In the light of the investigations undertaken, it is probable that the accident occurred in one of the following ways, although the possibility of other causes cannot be ruled out:
a) Forced descent causing the aircraft to exceed the structural stress factor in the approach manoeuvre or during the pull-out owing to:
1) The aircraft falling into an uncontrollable flight position because of a defect in an artificial horizon or an electric instrument of equal importance. In air transport flight incidents throughout the world, where unintentional steep dives have occurred, such incidents can be explained by a defect in an artificial horizon,
2) An unnoticed over control of the electrical rudder or aileron trim adjustment occurring when the automatic pilot was operating with flight movements resulting therefrom after the automatic pilot was disconnected. The automatic pilot was not equipped with a trim servo-indicator to give warning of excessive trim adjustment,
3) Physical incapacity of one or both pilots.
b) Intentional descent owing to the presence of smoke, fire or similar emergency, during which the structural stress factor was exceeded in the approach manoeuvre or in the pull-out.

Final Report:

Crash of an Ilyushin II-18A in Ulyanovsk: 17 killed

Date & Time: Dec 28, 1960 at 1942 LT

Type of aircraft:

Ilyushin II-18

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-75651

Flight Phase:

Landing (descent or approach)

Flight Type:

Training

Survivors:

Site:

Airport (less than 10 km from airport)

Schedule:

Kuybyshev - Ulyanovsk

MSN:

188 0004 05

YOM:

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

144

Aircraft flight cycles:

178

Circumstances:

The crew was completing a training flight from Kuybyshev to Ulyanovsk, carrying 13 crew members (five instructors and eight pilots under supervision) and four employees of the Voronezh aircraft plant. Following an uneventful flight, the pilot started the approach and when the flaps were selected down to 40°, the airplane became unstable. From a height of 120-150 metes, it stalled and crashed in a field located 1,240 meters short of runway threshold. The airplane was destroyed and all 17 occupants were killed.

Probable cause:

The approach was completed in cloud and icing conditions and it is believed that the loss of control was caused by the contamination by ice of critical surfaces such as stabilizers and elevators. The combination of icing conditions and the deployment of the flaps to an angle of 40° caused the aircraft to stall and the distance between the airplane and the ground was insufficient to expect a recovery.

Crash of an Ilyushin II-18B in Tarasovichi: 34 killed

Date & Time: Aug 17, 1960 at 1558 LT

Type of aircraft:

Ilyushin II-18

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-75705

Flight Phase:

Flight

Flight Type:

Scheduled Revenue Flight

Survivors:

Site:

Plain, Valley

Schedule:

Cairo – Moscow

MSN:

189 0017 02

YOM:

Flight number:

SU036

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

407

Aircraft flight cycles:

117

Circumstances:

While flying over the region of Kiev, the crew contacted ATC about a fire on engine number 4 and requested the permission to divert to Borispol Airport. Due to the position of the aircraft, ATC vectored the crew to Zhulyani Airport. Shortly later, while on descent, the engine number four detached and the fire spread to the right wing. Out of control, the airplane entered a dive and crashed in flames in a near vertical attitude in a wooded area located in Tarasovichi, about 41 km north of Zhulyani Airport. The airplane disintegrated on impact and all 34 occupants were killed, among them 4 Yemen, 5 Algerians, one Ugandan and one Afghan. The five Algerians were Mustapha Ferroukhi, ambassador of FLN in Peking travelling with his wife and three children. The Ugandan citizen was John Muhima Kalekezi, president of the Uganda National Congress who was travelling to Moscow for a meeting with Nikita Khrushchev.

Probable cause:

A leak on a fuel injector caused the fuel to flow in the engine nacelle and to ignite while in contact with high temperature equipment. The fire spread to the combustion chamber, causing the engine to catch fire, to fail and eventually to detach.

Crash of an Ilyushin II-18A in Sverdlovsk: 1 killed

Date & Time: Apr 27, 1960 at 2139 LT

Type of aircraft:

Ilyushin II-18

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-75648

Flight Phase:

Landing (descent or approach)

Flight Type:

Training

Survivors:

Yes

Site:

Airport (less than 10 km from airport)

Schedule:

Sverdlovsk - Sverdlovsk

MSN:

188 0004 02

YOM:

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

390

Circumstances:

The crew was completing a local training flight at Sverdlovsk-Koltsovo Airport. Following two landings and two approches, the crew started a new approach by night. During the last segment, at a speed of 260 km/h, the aircraft adopted a nose down attitude and struck the runway with its nose gear first that was sheared off upon impact. The airplane bounced and climbed to a height of about 10 meters before hitting the runway again in a nose down attitude. Upon impact, the airplane went out of control and veered off runway to the right before coming to rest in flames. The flight mechanic was killed while all four other occupants were injured. The aircraft was partially destroyed by fire.

Probable cause:

Wrong approach configuration on part of the instructor who adopted a too high speed on final (260 km/h) and failed to adopt a correct flare configuration, causing the airplane to adopt a nose down attitude and to struck the runway surface nose first, causing the nose gear to fail. It was determined that the rear trunk was loaded with a ballast weighing 600 kg instead of 1,000 kg which contributed to shift the center of gravity forward, causing the airplane to nose down. Analysis were not able to confirm if icing conditions may contribute to the accident or not.

Crash of an Ilyushin II-18B in Moscow

Date & Time: Sep 2, 1959

Type of aircraft:

Ilyushin II-18

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-75676

Flight Phase:

Flight

Flight Type:

Scheduled Revenue Flight

Survivors:

Yes

Site:

Airport (less than 10 km from airport)

MSN:

189 0009 05

YOM:

1959

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

While cruising at an altitude of 10,000 meters over the region of Voronezh, the airplane penetrated cumulonimbus area and suffered updrafts first. It climbed to 10,700 meters then encountered downdrafts and descended to 7,000 meters. The propellers on both engines number one and four were automatically feathered when new downdrafts were encountered. The airplane descended to the altitude of 2,800 meters when the crew was able to recover control of the airplane. The crew contacted ATC and obtained the permission to return to Vnukovo for an emergency landing. Following an uneventful landing, all 56 occupants (some of them injured) were evacuated and the aircraft was later declared as damaged beyond economical repair due to heavy damage to the structure. Also, it was reported that the chemical liquid stored in the toilet compartment leaked and contacted several electrical system, causing short-circuits. Several connectors were down as well as the VHF communication system.

Probable cause:

Emergency landing following in-flight downdrafts and turbulences.

Crash of an Ilyushin II-18 in Moscow: 10 killed

Date & Time: May 7, 1958

Type of aircraft:

Ilyushin II-18

Operator:

Registration:

002 red

Flight Phase:

Landing (descent or approach)

Flight Type:

Test

Survivors:

Site:

Airport (less than 10 km from airport)

Schedule:

Moscow - Moscow

MSN:

18700 01 04

YOM:

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

Aircraft flight cycles:

120

Circumstances:

The crew (five engineers and five test pilots) were engaged in a local test flight out from Moscow-Sheremetievo Airport. Few minutes after takeoff, the engine number two failed. As it was not possible to feather the propeller, the airplane lost height and speed. The crew decided to return to Sheremetievo Airport for an emergency landing but on final, the airplane stalled and crashed in flames 4 km short of runway threshold. The airplane was destroyed and all ten occupants were killed. The test flight was performed on behalf of AKDON – Aviatsionnaya Krasnoznamyonnaya Diviziya Osobogo Naznacheniya, a division of the Soviet Army.

Probable cause:

The aircraft was equipped with four Kuznetsov NK-4 engine that were not fitted with a propeller feathering system. When the engine number two failed, as the propeller could not be feathered, this caused high drag and the aircraft lost speed and eventually stalled.

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