Date & Time:
Sep 2, 1964 at 2111 LT
Type of aircraft:
Ilyushin II-18
Operator:
Registration:
CCCP-75531
Flight Phase:
Landing (descent or approach)
Flight Type:
Scheduled Revenue Flight
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Mountains
Schedule:
Moscow – Krasnoyarsk – Khabarovsk – Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
MSN:
180 0024 02
YOM:
1963
Flight number:
SU721
Country:
Russia
Region:
Asia
Crew on board:
9
Crew fatalities:
9
Pax on board:
84
Pax fatalities:
78
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
87
Aircraft flight hours:
1269
Aircraft flight cycles:
358
Circumstances:
Following an uneventful flight from Khabarovsk, the crew received the permission to descend to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Airport but was instructed to maintain a minimum altitude of 600 meters. By night, while in a flat attitude but slightly banked to the right, the airplane struck trees, stalled and crashed in a dense wooded area located on Mt Ufa, some 26 km northwest of the airport. Six passengers (three adults and three children) were seriously injured while 87 other occupants, among them all nine crew members, were killed.
Probable cause:
The crew failed to comply with the published procedures and started the descent prematurely, causing the aircraft to approach below the minimum safe altitude. The following factors were considered as contributing:
- Poor flight preparation,
- Lack of visibility,
- Lack of radar availability at destination airport.
- Poor flight preparation,
- Lack of visibility,
- Lack of radar availability at destination airport.
