Date & Time:
Jan 3, 1976 at 1005 LT
Type of aircraft:
Tupolev TU-124
Operator:
Registration:
CCCP-45037
Flight Phase:
Takeoff (climb)
Flight Type:
Scheduled Revenue Flight
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Moscow - Minsk - Brest
MSN:
2 35 10 02
YOM:
1962
Flight number:
SU2003
Country:
Russia
Region:
Asia
Crew on board:
5
Crew fatalities:
5
Pax on board:
56
Pax fatalities:
56
Other fatalities:
1
Total fatalities:
62
Aircraft flight hours:
17014
Aircraft flight cycles:
14409
Circumstances:
26 seconds after takeoff from runway 24 at Moscow-Vnukovo Airport, while climbing to a height of 200 metres, the crew retracted the landing gear and reduced the engine power to nominal value. Once the altitude of 250 metres was reached, while at a speed of 340 km/h, the airplane entered a right turn when the crew was cleared to climb to 1,500 metres. The crew failed to acknowledge this clearance when seven seconds later, the airplane entered a left turn, nosed down and crashed at a speed of 550 km/h onto a house located 5,400 meters from the runway end and 1,800 metres to the right of its extended centerline. The aircraft and the house were totally destroyed and all 61 occupants were killed as well as one people in the house. Another person on the ground was injured.
Probable cause:
It was determined that both artificial horizons failed during initial climb for undetermined reasons. The combination of this instrument failure and a limited visibility caused the pilots to suffer a spatial disorientation and then a loss of control.
