Pushkin AFB | Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives

After 33,5 seconds during the takeoff roll, after a distance of 975 metres and at a speed of 210 km/h, the engine n°4 failed and its propeller automatically feathered. For unknown reasons, the crew failed to identify this failure and the pilot-in-command started the rotation (elevator -26°) at an insufficient speed of 238 km/h instead of the recommended 250 km/h. After liftoff, the aircraft started to roll to the right, causing the right wing to struck the ground two seconds after rotation. The went out of control, lost its undercarriage, slid for about 300 metres and came to rest, bursting into flames. All nine occupants escaped with various injuries and the aircraft was destroyed by fire.

Probable cause:

Failure of the engine n°4 due to an incorrect setting of the propeller speed control system.

Crash of a Tupolev TU-104A in Pushkin: 50 killed

Date & Time: Feb 7, 1981 at 1800 LT

Type of aircraft:

Tupolev TU-104

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-42332

Flight Phase:

Takeoff (climb)

Flight Type:

Military

Survivors:

Site:

Airport (less than 10 km from airport)

Schedule:

Pushkin - Khabarovsk – Vladivostok

MSN:

7 66 004 02

YOM:

1957

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

Eight seconds after liftoff from runway 21 at Pushkin AFB, while climbing to a height of about 50 meters in light snow, the airplane banked right, overturned then crashed in a huge explosion near the airport. All 50 occupants were killed. The aircraft was carrying many of the Pacific Fleet's senior officers from Leningrad, where they had been attending meetings with the naval command, to Vladivostok, via Khabarovsk. Among the dead were 16 admirals and generals, including the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Emil Spiridonov and his wife.

Probable cause:

The investigation of the accident revealed that the crew allowed the aircraft to be improperly loaded. Evidence was uncovered that led investigators to believe that some military officers did not comply with seating assignments given by the crew and that these officers pressured the crew to make the flight in an unsafely loaded aircraft. Another factor reported by witnesses was that large rolls of paper were loaded on board and it is believed that these rolled rearward during acceleration on take off, causing the center of gravity (CofG) to shift aft of acceptable limits thereby reducing the stability of the aircraft in pitch, making it impossible for the crew to lower the nose.