Ilyushin II-18

The four engine aircraft was completing a charter flight from Berlin to Burgas with an intermediate stop in Sofia, carrying 80 East-German tourists who were flying on holidays to Burgas, on the shore of the Black Sea. While descending to Burgas, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with low clouds, rain falls and thunderstorm activity. On final, the four engine aircraft was too low, struck obstacles and crashed in flames few hundred meters short of runway threshold. Five crew members and 42 passengers were killed while 39 other occupants were injured. The aircraft was totally destroyed.

The crew was completing a local training flight at Moscow-Domodedovo Airport. On final approach, he failed to realize his altitude was too low when the airplane struck power cables and crashed few hundred yards short of runway. The aircraft was destroyed and all five crew members were killed.

While cruising at an altitude of 8,000 metres on the leg from Krasnoyarsk to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the crew sent a short inaudible message of two seconds. Shortly later, the airplane entered an uncontrolled descent and reached the vertical speed of 3,360 - 11,000 feet per minute. Once the altitude of 3,000 meters was reached on descent, the vertical speed increased from 9,850 to 24,600 feet per minute. The airplane then made a turn to the right, got inverted and partially disintegrated at an altitude of 650 meters. Debris crashed at a speed of 890 km/h in an uninhabited area located 13 km northeast of Parchum. Debris scattered on a large zone and miraculously, a passenger was found alive while 83 other occupants were killed.

During the takeoff roll at Donetsk Airport, the crew decided to abort for unknown reason. Unable to stop within the remaining distance, the aircraft overran, lost its undercarriage and came to rest. There were no casualties.

While on approach to Karaganda Airport, the crew was instructed by ATC to divert to Tselinograd as the airfield was closed to traffic. The pilot ignored this message and decided to continue the descent. After it passed through the last cloud layer, the aircraft was too low and the captain decided to make a go-around when the airplane struck the ground and came to rest 700 meters short of runway threshold. All occupants survived while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

After takeoff from Sverdlovsk-Koltsovo Airport, while climbing by night at a height of some 150 meters, one of the engine failed. For unknown reason, the crew was unable to shut down the engine and feather its propeller. Due to high drag, the airplane banked right then started an uncontrolled descent until it crashed at a speed of 440 km/h in a field located 2,900 meters past the runway end. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and debris were found on a distance of 320 meters. None of the 107 occupants survived the crash. The accident occurred one minute after rotation.

Flight 523 was a scheduled international flight from Prague, Czechoslovakia to Havana, Cuba, via Shannon, Ireland, and Gander, Newfoundland. It departed Prague at 1649 hours GMT on 4 September and proceeded to Shannon where it arrived at 2020 hours for a routine servicing stop. It departed Shannon at 2131 hours arriving at Gander at 0326 hours on 5 September following an uneventful flight. The crew which had flown the aircraft from Prague disembarked at Gander and was replaced by a crew which had been off duty in Gander from 3 September. At Gander the aircraft was serviced and refuelled under the supervision of the flight engineer of the outgoing flight. A flight plan to Havana was filed at about 0405 hours and at 0504 hours the aircraft began taxiing to the threshold of runway 14. It was cleared to take-off at 0508 hours. The length of the ground roll was normal, the undercarriage and flaps were retracted, but the angle of climb was abnormally shallow. At 0509 hours the flight advised the tower controller that the aircraft was airborne, the tower controller acknowledged the transmission and advised the flight to contact Air Traffic Control Centre on a frequency of 119.7 MHz. Whilst the radio operator was changing frequency the aircraft struck the ground about 4 000 feet beyond the end of the runway. The accident occurred at 0510 hours GMT. Debris scattered on 1,500 meters and 32 occupants were wounded while 37 others were killed, among them 4 crew members.

The four engine aircraft departed Conakry Airport on an international scheduled flight to Moscow with intermediate stops at Rabat and Prague. While descending to Rabat, the pilot was informed by ATC that it was not possible to land in Rabat due to poor weather conditions and was vectored and rerouted to Casablanca-Anfa Airport. Unfamiliarized with this airport, the pilot-in-command started the approach to runway 21 at an insufficient altitude when he spotted a building in the approach path. He increased power and gain altitude, causing the aircraft to pass over the glide but continued the approach, causing the airplane to land too far down the runway. After touchdown, the airplane was unable to stop within the remaining distance, overran, lost its undercarriage and came to rest 300 meters further. All 102 occupants were evacuated, among them 10 were injured. The aircraft was destroyed and its wreckage caused the airport to be closed to all traffic for three days.

Following an uneventful flight from Krasnoyarsk to Moscow-Domodedovo, the crew was supposed to complete a positioning flight to Moscow-Vnukovo Airport on behalf of the 235th Separate Aviation Detachment for the Soviet Government. Less than two minutes after takeoff from Domodedovo Airport, while climbing by night, the pilot-in-command started a turn to the left according to published procedures when control was lost. The airplane entered a dive and crashed in a huge explosion in an open field located about 3 km past the runway end. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and debris scattered on a distance of 650 meters long by 180 meters wide. All eight crew members were killed.

Suffered a ground accident at Nankin Airport. No casualties. Registration unknown.