Sverdlovsk

Site:

Schedule:

Novosibirsk – Sverdlovsk – Leningrad

MSN:

9 2 08 05

YOM:

Flight number:

SU068

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

1600

Aircraft flight cycles:

789

Circumstances:

After takeoff from runway 27 at Sverdlovsk-Koltsovo Airport, while climbing to a height of 130-150 meters, the right engine failed. This caused severe vibrations and the crew was unable to read the instruments properly. Trying to manipulate the throttle, the flight engineer inadvertently shut down the left engine. Due to a loss of power and insufficient thrust, the airplane lost height and the captain elected to make an emergency landing in a frozen pond located nine km west of the airfield. The aircraft landed at high speed, collided with several obstacles and eventually came to rest, broken in three, after a course of 1,220 meters. Two crew members, three passengers and two people on the ground were killed. 31 occupants were injured and 15 were unhurt. The aircraft was destroyed.

Probable cause:

Due to fatigue cracks, a blade located on the second stage of the compressor failed during initial climb, causing the failure of the right engine and severe vibrations. The inadvertent shut down of the left engine was a contributing factor.

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:

Flight Type:

Training

Survivors:

Site:

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 a Lisunov LI-2 in Didino: 1 killed

Date & Time: Jan 15, 1960 at 1118 LT

Type of aircraft:

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-19405

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Site:

Schedule:

Sverdlovsk – Kazan – Moscow

MSN:

184 194 05

YOM:

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

2310

Circumstances:

The aircraft was recently transferred from the Soviet Air Force to Aeroflot and the crew was en route from Sverdlovsk to Moscow-Bykovo with an intermediate stop in Kazan. Technical modifications should be brought on the aircraft, all documentation should be modified and adapted with a new color scheme on the fuselage. En route, the right engine failed and the captain decided to return to Sverdlovsk but he was unable to maintain a safe altitude. The crew jettisoned some of the cargo but few boxes struck the door and one of them remained partially blocked, causing drag. Losing altitude, the airplane struck trees and eventually crashed in a wooded area located near Didino, about 65 km west of Sverdlovsk-Koltsovo Airport. The airplane was destroyed, three crew members were injured and the fourth occupant was killed.

Probable cause:

Failure of the right engine in flight due to fuel starvation. It was determined that the fuel selector was connected to the left rear tank which was empty. Only 200 liters were added in the tank prior to takeoff and the crew forgot to change the fuel selector in flight to another suitable tank. It is also reported that the crew failed to take the appropriate measures to maintain a safe control of the airplane with one engine inoperative and the captain maintained an insufficient speed of 150 km/h instead of 170 km/h, which contributed to the loss of altitude.

Crash of a Tupolev TU-104 at Savasleyka AFB

Date & Time: Feb 19, 1958

Type of aircraft:

Tupolev TU-104

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-L5414

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Training

Survivors:

Site:

Schedule:

Novosibirsk - Sverdlovsk - Moscow

MSN:

6 35 01 01

YOM:

1956

Location:

Savasleyka AFB

Nizhny Novgorod oblast

Country:

Russia

Region:

Asia

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

The crew was performing a training flight from Novosibirsk to Moscow-Vnukovo Airport with an intermediate stop at Sverdlovsk-Koltsovo Airport. While approaching Moscow, the crew informed ATC that the fuel reserves were insufficient and requested the permission to divert to the Dyagilevo Airbase located 180 km southeast of Moscow. Without checking local conditions, the flight director authorized the crew to divert to Dyagilevo. Upon arrival, the pilot was forced to make a go around due to poor weather conditions and it was then decided to divert to the Savasleyka Airbase located 200 km northeast of Dyagilevo. On final approach to Savasleyka Airfield, both engines stopped simultaneously. The airplane stalled, struck trees and crashed in a wooded area located 1,500 meters short of runway. The aircraft was destroyed and all eight crew members were seriously injured.

Probable cause:

Double engine failure caused by a fuel exhaustion.

Crash of a Lisunov LI-2 in Verkhnyaya Salda: 4 killed

Date & Time: Jun 23, 1954 at 1305 LT

Type of aircraft:

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-I403

Flight Phase:

Takeoff (climb)

Flight Type:

Cargo

Survivors:

Site:

Schedule:

Verkhnyaya Salda – Sverdlovsk – Omsk

MSN:

184 24 03

YOM:

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

9816

Circumstances:

Shortly after takeoff from Verkhnyaya Salda Airport, while climbing to a height of 30-40 meters, both engines failed almost simultaneously. The airplane stalled, hit power cables and eventually crashed in flames in a field located 1,500 meters past the runway end. Three crew members and a passenger were killed while three other occupants were injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The crew was completing a cargo flight from Verkhnyaya Salda to Omsk with an intermediate stop in Sverdlovsk on behalf of the Ministry of Aviation Industry (MAP - Ministerstvo Aviatsionnoi Promyshlennosti).

Probable cause:

It was determined that both engines failed due to a fuel exhaustion. Investigations confirmed that the fuel selector was connected to the left rear fuel tank that was empty. At the time of the accident, one of the passenger was seating at the copilot seat, against the published procedures. Also, it appears that most of the crew members were intoxicated, which was considered as contributory factors.

Crash of a Lisunov LI-2 near Sverdlovsk: 1 killed

Date & Time: Oct 11, 1951 at 0340 LT

Type of aircraft:

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-L4416

Flight Phase:

Flight

Flight Type:

Scheduled Revenue Flight

Survivors:

Site:

Plain, Valley

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 an Ilyushin II-12P in Sverdlovsk: 4 killed

Date & Time: Aug 11, 1950 at 0210 LT

Type of aircraft:

Ilyushin II-12

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-L1706

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Scheduled Revenue Flight

Survivors:

Site:

Schedule:

Khabarovsk – Omsk – Sverdlovsk – Moscow

MSN:

8 301 28 03

YOM:

Flight number:

SU008

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

906

Circumstances:

On the approach to land at Sverdlovsk-Koltsovo Airport by night and foggy conditions, crew dropped below the glide path due to pilot error. Aircraft touched tree tops 900 metres behind the outer marker and 160 metres to the right of the runway's extended centerline and crashed in a meadow 220 metres further on (3,100 metres from the perimeter of the airfield). Two crew and two passengers were killed while all 23 other occupants were injured, one of them seriously.

Probable cause:

Wrong approach configuration, poor discipline and inappropriate decisions on part of the crew who decided to continue the approach in poor visibility. In such conditions, it would be recommended to initiate a go around procedure.

Crash of a Lisunov LI-2 in Sverdlovsk: 19 killed

Date & Time: Jun 7, 1950

Type of aircraft:

Operator:

Registration:

42 red

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Military

Survivors:

Site: