Ilyushin II-18

During an approach to Moscow-Sheremetyevo Airport in marginal weather conditions, the crew initiated a go-around for unknown reason. During the second approach, at a distance of 5 km from the runway 07 threshold, the crew was informed by ATC that his position was 15 meters below the glide. Shortly later, the airplane nosed down then crashed in a huge explosion 4,330 meters short of runway. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and all 25 occupants were killed.

While cruising at an altitude of 6,600 meters, the crew received the permission to descent to 4,500 meters when the automatic pilot system was deactivated. Suddenly, the airplane banked left to an angle of 90° then entered a dive. At an altitude of 2,200 meters, due to excessive g loads, the left wing separated and the aircraft caught fire. Out of control, it crashed at a speed of 840 km/h in an open field located 8,4 km southeast of Buston Station, about 38 km northwest of Leninabad Airport. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and all 79 occupants have been killed.

While approaching Nicosia Airport by night on a flight from Cairo, the crew failed to realize his altitude was insufficient when, at an altitude of 2,600 feet, the four engine airplane struck the slope of Mt Kyrenia located 16 km from runway 14 threshold. The wreckage was found 117 meters below the summit and all 37 occupants have been killed.

Shortly after takeoff from Sochi-Adler Airport, while climbing by night at an altitude of 200 meters, the airplane initiated a right turn according to departure procedures then made a left turn, entered a dive and crashed into the Black Sea, about 10 km offshore. Some debris and dead bodies were found in the evening while the main wreckage sank by a depth of about 1,000 meters. None of the 109 occupants survived the crash and the wreckage was not recovered.

The four engine airplane departed Karaganda Airport at 0831LT on a schedule service (SU558) to Moscow-Domodedovo. En route, while cruising at an altitude of 7,200 meters, the crew informed ATC about smoke in the cabin and cockpit and request to divert to Magnitogorsk Airport for an emergency landing. During the descent, at a speed of 370 km/h, in a flat attitude, gears and flaps retracted, the airplane struck the ground and crashed in flames in an open field located 23 km north of the airport. The aircraft was totally destroyed and all 102 occupants were killed.

On final approach to Arkhangelsk-Talagi Airport, during the last segment, the four engine airplane went through a local bank of fog. The pilot-in-command lost momentarily visual contact with the ground and the decision to go around was taken too late, causing the aircraft to land hard. After touchdown, the airplane went out of control, veered off runway, contacted obstacles and came to rest. All occupants escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Just after liftoff, while climbing by night to a height of 8 meters, the airplane banked left, causing the left wing to struck the runway surface. Out of control, the airplane crashed in flames in a grassy area located on the left side of the runway. Among the debris scattered on a distance of 400 meters, 45 injured people were evacuated while 28 others were killed, among them two crew members and the Bulgarian singer Pacha Hristova who was travelling to Algeria with members of the Bulgarian folklorik band 'Aura'.

Following an uneventful flight from Oslo, the crew started the descent to Copenhagen-Kastrup Airport in marginal weather conditions. The crew was cleared to descend to 5,000 feet then 1,500 feet when he was trying to intercept the ILS of runway 22L. On final, the four engine aircraft nosed down and plunged into the Øresund few hundred yards off the Saltholm Island. Rescuers were able to evacuate 3 passengers while 31 other occupants were killed. Three days later, one of the survivor died from his injuries.

On the leg from Karaganda to Rostov-on-Don of a flight from Almaty to Simferopol when probably the autopilot system failed while the aircraft was flying at a height of 7,800 metres by night. The aircraft banked to the left, entered a dive and was recovered by the crew at a height of some 5,000 metres. The crew managed to land safely at Rostov-on-Don, but the aircraft suffered structural damage during the dive with up to 3.5 g forces, and was damaged beyond repair. There were no casualties. SOC 29sep71 as worn out.

In the afternoon, the airplane departed Paris on flight LZ130 to Sofia, carrying 39 passengers and a crew of eight. While cruising at its assigned altitude vertical to Luxeuil VOR, the captain requested to ATC the permission to divert to Zurich-Kloten Airport. The reason for this rerouting was unknown. The crew was cleared to change his route and continued over south of West Germany before starting a descent to Zurich. The approach to runway 16 at Zurich-Kloten was initiated in poor weather conditions with fog reducing the horizontal visibility to 600 meters and the vertical visibility to 60 meters. On final, the left main gear and the left wing tip struck the ground. The airplane gain a little height then struck the ground, lost its four engines and crashed in flames about 700 meters short of runway threshold, slightly out from the approach path. The aircraft was totally destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire and only two occupants survived the accident, the captain and a boy aged 12. All 45 other occupants were killed. The occupants were respectively 14 West German, 12 Bulgarian (among them 8 crew members), 9 French, 4 Syrians, 2 Lebanese, one Brazilian, one Dutch, one Argentinian, one Austrian, one Finnish and one British.