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:
No
Schedule:
Pushkin - Khabarovsk – Vladivostok
MSN:
7 66 004 02
YOM:
1957
Country:
Russia
Region:
Asia
Crew on board:
6
Crew fatalities:
6
Pax on board:
44
Pax fatalities:
44
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
50
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.
