Date & Time:
Oct 5, 1952 at 1602 LT
Type of aircraft:
Ilyushin II-12
Operator:
Registration:
CCCP-L1328
Flight Phase:
Landing (descent or approach)
Flight Type:
Scheduled Revenue Flight
Survivors:
No
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Minsk – Leningrad
MSN:
30 054
YOM:
30
Flight number:
SU376
Country:
Russia
Region:
Asia
Crew on board:
5
Crew fatalities:
5
Pax on board:
19
Pax fatalities:
19
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
24
Aircraft flight hours:
2283
Circumstances:
The crew was approaching Leningrad-Shosseynaya Airport and obtained the permission by ATC to descend to the altitude of 1,200 meters via corridor number two. While flying into clouds, the airplane collided with an Aeroflot Douglas TS-62 registered CCCP-L1055 that was performing flight SU381 to Minsk with seven people on board. It just took off from the same airport and its crew received the permission to climb to the altitude of 2,700 meters via the same corridor number two. At the altitude of 1,200 meters, both aircraft collided, dove into the ground and crashed in a field located near the village of Skvoritsy, about 23 km southwest of Leningrad-Shosseynaya Airport. Both wreckage were found 1,200 meters from each other and all 31 occupants were killed.
Probable cause:
It was determined that the collision was caused by an error on part of the ATC services. Despite the fact that both aircraft were tracked on radar screens, ATC based at Leningrad-Shosseïnaya Airport failed to take appropriate actions to ensure a minimum safe separation between both airplanes and failed to realize that they were flying in the same corridor in an opposite direction and at the same altitude. Investigations revealed that the collision was the result of successive errors on part of the ATC who failed to ensure an efficient radar surveillance and transmitted to both crews inappropriate instructions that led both aircraft on the same track.
