Lisunov LI-2

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-L4416

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Site:

Schedule:

Sochi – Krasnodar – Rostov-on-Don – Voronezh – Penza – Kazan – Sverdlovsk

MSN:

184 285 02

YOM:

Flight number:

SU521

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

4169

Circumstances:

The aircraft departed Kazan Airport at 2250LT in good weather conditions bound for Sverdlovsk-Koltsovo Airport. The crew was cleared to climb to 3,000 meters and later, encountered marginal weather conditions with clouds, icing conditions and light snow. In such conditions, the crew requested permission to reduce his altitude and descended to 1,800 meters in icing conditions. The radio operator tried several times to contact ATC in Koltsovo without success. Unable to locate his position due to low visibility and the failure of the radiocompas, the crew lost his orientation and due to a imminent fuel exhaustion, the captain decided to attempt an emergency belly landing. The airplane hit trees and crashed in a prairie located about 70 km west of Sverdlovsk and was damaged beyond repair. All 10 occupants were wounded and the copilot died from his injuries a day later.

Probable cause:

It was determined that the accident resulted from a loss of orientation on part of the crew leading to an emergency landing attempt due to exhausted fuel reserves. The following factors were considered as contributory:
- weather conditions deteriorated en route with icing conditions that were not reported in the weather forecast bulletin transmitted to the crew prior to departure,
- malfunction or failure of the radiocompas and a communication antenna, probably due to icing conditions,
- negligence on part of the crew who failed to follow the procedures for a radiocompas navigation, failed to perform the appropriate heading and tracking calculations and failed to refer to the direction-finding (ADF) values,
- failure of the air traffic controller who authorized the crew to climb to the altitude of 3,000 meters with the presence of severe icing conditions,
- crew fatigue due to a near 14 consecutive hours duty time,
- a copilot was refused on board before departure due to intoxication and the captain decided to do the flight without him. As a result, the flight was started with a limited crew which was also considered as a contributing factor.

Crash of a Lisunov LI-2 near Serkovo: 6 killed

Date & Time: Oct 1, 1951 at 0931 LT

Type of aircraft:

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-L4775

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Site:

Schedule:

Turukhansk – Igarka

MSN:

184 340 04

YOM:

Flight number:

SU033

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

1470

Circumstances:

The crew left Turukhansk Airport in the morning in marginal weather conditions consisting of rain falls and a visibility estimated between 4 and 10 km. About 115 km north of Turukhansk, the visibility dropped to one km and the pilot-in-command modified his route and decided to reduce his altitude to maintain a visual contact with the ground when the aircraft hit tree tops with its left wing. It continued for one km then banked left and crashed in a dense wooded area located about 25 km north of the village of Serkovo. All four crew members and two passengers were killed while 9 other passengers were injured, three seriously.

Probable cause:

It was determined that the crew decided to fly under visual flight rules in IFR conditions and below minima. Also, the pilot-in-command modified his route without prior permission, which was considered as a contributory factor.

Crash of a Lisunov LI-2 in Vilyuisk: 2 killed

Date & Time: Aug 12, 1951 at 0702 LT

Type of aircraft:

Landing (descent or approach)

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-L4314

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Airport (less than 10 km from airport)

Site:

Schedule:

Vilyuisk - Yakutsk

MSN:

18427409

Location:

Vilyuisk

Republic of Yakutia (Sakha)

Country:

Russia

Region:

Asia

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

Shortly after takeoff from Vilyuisk Airport, while climbing, the left engine failed. The crew was able to shut down the engine and to feather the propeller and decided to return to the airport for a safe landing. After completing a circuit, the airplane was approaching the airfield when it stalled and crashed in a field. Two passengers were killed while 14 other occupants were injured. The aircraft was destroyed.

Probable cause:

Failure of the left engine after liftoff due to a technical problem on the regulator. However, it was determined that the crew failed to take the appropriate actions and due to a lack of coordination, completed the approach in a wrong configuration with a too low speed, causing the aircraft to stall. A recovery was impossible due to an insufficient distance between the airplane and the ground. It appears that the captain and the second pilot who was acting as an instructor on this flight and was seating in the right seat did not have sufficient skills to operate in such situation with one engine inoperative.

Crash of a Lisunov LI-2T in Mama: 8 killed

Date & Time: Apr 8, 1951 at 1340 LT

Type of aircraft:

Landing (descent or approach)

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-L4467

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Cargo

Survivors:

Site:

Schedule:

Kirensk – Ust-Kut – Mama – Kirensk

MSN:

4002

YOM:

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

2667

Circumstances:

The crew was performing a cargo flight to Mama, carrying a load of fish. While descending to a height of 1,500 meters, the crew received the permission to complete the final approach visually when the airplane hit tree tops and crashed in a wooded area located 18 km north of the airport. All eight crew members were killed. At the time of the accident, weather conditions were marginal with low clouds, snow falls, turbulences and icing conditions.

Probable cause:

It was determined that the visibility was insufficient at the time of the accident and the pilot in command descended too low without any visual contact with the obstacles. Ground assistance on part of the ATC was not efficient, which was considered as a contributory factor.

Crash of a Lisunov LI-2 in Iskra: 12 killed

Date & Time: Mar 25, 1951 at 0442 LT

Type of aircraft:

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-L4790

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Site:

Schedule:

Irkutsk – Chita – Yakutsk

MSN:

184 341 04

YOM:

Flight number:

SU451

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

1026

Circumstances:

The aircraft left Irkutsk Airport at 0431LT in poor weather conditions with an horizontal visibility of 2 km in snow falls, low cloud base, turbulences and icing conditions. After its departure, the airplane failed to follow the prescribed flight path and few minutes later, at an altitude of 1,500 meters, the right engine caught fire. The crew decided to feather the propeller and to return to the airport. Approximately 10 to 15 seconds later, while losing altitude, the aircraft hit tree tops and crashed inverted in a wooded area located 4 km north of the village of Iskra, about 20 km east of Irkutsk. As the aircraft failed to arrive at destination, SAR operations were conducted and the wreckage was found in an isolated area 10 days later, on April 4. A passenger was found seriously injured while 12 other occupants were killed. The aircraft was destroyed.

Probable cause:

It was determined that the third cylinder of the right engine failed in flight, causing the engine to catch fire. With one engine inoperative and flying in icing conditions and turbulences, the aircraft was unable to maintain height, hit trees and crashed. The board determined that the following factors were considered as contributory:
- lack of visibility due to poor weather,
- icing conditions and turbulences,
- poor maintenance of the right engine regarding the 50 hours periodic inspection procedure,
- poor quality of the third cylinder,
- improper adjustment of the exhaust valve,
- the pilot-in-command voluntarily modified the crew prior to take-off and requested the presence of a copilot who was not licensed to fly a Lisunov LI-2 but only a Polikarpov PO-2,
- because of his inexperience on this type of aircraft, the copilot was unable to assist the captain in a complexe flight situation,
- the crew was tired and intoxicated after consuming alcohols prior to takeoff.

Crash of a Lisunov LI-2 in Sovietskaya Gavan: 2 killed

Date & Time: Feb 1, 1951

Type of aircraft:

Operator:

Registration:

4803

Flight Phase:

Takeoff (climb)

Flight Type:

Training

Survivors:

Airport (less than 10 km from airport)

Site:

Schedule:

Znamenskoye - Znamenskoye

MSN:

48 03

YOM:

1948

Location:

Sovietskaya Gavan-Znamenskoye

Khabarovsk Krai

Country:

Russia

Region:

Asia

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

The crew was engaged in a local training flight. Shortly after takeoff from the Znamenskoye airbase in Sovietskaïa Gavan, while climbing, the pilot in command made a turn to the right to 15-20° to avoid a mountain on its left. Shortly later, while at a height of 340 meters, he completed a 90° turn to the left when the aircraft hit tree tops and crashed in a wooded area located on the southwestern slope of the Mt Kekurnaya. Both pilots were killed while all four other crew members were injured. The aircraft was totally destroyed.
Crew:
Maj Nikitin Mikhail Zuev, pilot,
Cpt Alexei Ivanovich, copilot,
Grigory Mikhaïlovitch Kuznetsov, navigator,
Zagidulin Fatkulbayan,
Hakimovich Popov,
Fedor Ivanovitch,
Grigoryi Evhen.

Crash of a Lisunov LI-2 in Kazan: 6 killed

Date & Time: Jan 9, 1951 at 2248 LT

Type of aircraft:

Landing (descent or approach)

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-L4359

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Cargo

Survivors:

Site:

Airport (less than 10 km from airport)

Schedule:

Lyubertsy – Kazan

MSN:

184 284 06

YOM:

Location:

Kazan

Republic of Tatarstan

Country:

Russia

Region:

Asia

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

3640

Circumstances:

The aircraft left Lyubertsy Airport at 1957LT on a cargo flight to Kazan, carrying five crew members, one passenger and a load of various goods for a total weight of 1,446 kilos. Weather conditions were poor with low visibility and snow falls. The descent to Kazan was started at 2233LT and the pilot in command obtained the permission to reduce his altitude to 1,200 and then 700 meters. While approaching Kazan, the crew encountered clouds and icing conditions when the windshield was covered by ice. At an altitude between 127 and 130 meters, the airplane hit the mast of a radio antenna. On impact, the right wing was sheared off and the aircraft crashed in a field about 250 meters further on. The airplane was destroyed and all six occupants were killed.

Probable cause:

It was determined that the crew decided to continue the approach in marginal weather and icing conditions with an ice covered windshield. Also, the ground assistance provided by ATC was insufficient and the radio antenna hit by the airplane was insufficiently lit. It appears that the 18 meters of the top of the antenna were not equipped with a light and only two lights were fixed on the rest of the mast.

Crash of a Lisunov LI-2 near Karatau: 8 killed

Date & Time: Dec 27, 1950 at 1715 LT

Type of aircraft:

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-L4003

Flight Phase: