Aeroflot - Russian International Airlines

Survivors:

Site:

Schedule:

Leningrad – Vilnius – Minsk – Lviv

MSN:

83012902

YOM:

1949

Flight number:

SU414

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

13706

Circumstances:

After a course of 750 meters at Minsk Airport, the pilot-in-command completed the rotation. Due to an insufficient speed, the airplane climbed with a high angle off attack and was quite immediately in a nose high attitude and in stall conditions. The airplane struck the ground four times then hit power cables before crashing on a truck parking lot. The aircraft was destroyed and all four crew members and four passengers were killed. The rest of the occupants were injured.

Probable cause:

Wrong takeoff configuration on part of the flying crew who started the rotation at an insufficient speed, causing the aircraft to be in a high angle of attack and in stall conditions immediately after liftoff. The fact that the runway was soggy was considered as a contributing factor because this slow down the airplane during the takeoff procedure to due an excessive accumulation of water on the lower part of the wing, reducing the aerodynamic capabilities.

Crash of an Ilyushin II-14M near Syktyvkar: 23 killed

Date & Time: Jul 20, 1960 at 1230 LT

Type of aircraft:

Ilyushin II-14

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-61696

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Site:

Plain, Valley

Schedule:

Leningrad – Cherepovets – Syktyvkar

MSN:

1470 010 35

YOM:

1957

Flight number:

SU613

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

5505

Circumstances:

The flight was performed at 3,000 meters under VFR mode above clouds. But while approaching Syktyvkar, weather conditions worsened with thunderstorm activity. The crew elected to modify his route to avoid this poor weather area when control was lost. The airplane entered a dive, lost its both wings and eventually crashed in flames in a dense wooded area located 87 km southwest of the Syktyvkar Airport. The wreckage was found 11 days later, on July 31. The airplane was completely destroyed and all 23 occupants were killed. The right wing and the right engine were found 80 meters from the main fuselage.

Probable cause:

It was determined that the loss of control was caused by the combination of strong atmospheric turbulences and vertical downdraft encountered while the aircraft was flying in a low pressure area. During the dive, excessive G loads caused the wings to detach and the aircraft became totally uncontrollable. The lack of assistance on part of the meteorology services was considered as a contributing factor as no one transmitted any information to the crew about the deterioration of the weather conditions and the presence of a thunderstorm on the flight path.

Crash of an Antonov AN-2 near Aldan: 3 killed

Date & Time: Jul 5, 1960 at 0445 LT

Type of aircraft:

Antonov AN-2

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-98282

Flight Phase:

Geographical / Geophysical / Scientific

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Republic of Yakutia (Sakha)

Site:

Mountains

MSN:

1101 473 09

YOM:

Location:

Aldan

Country:

Russia

Region:

Asia

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

1896

Circumstances:

The crew was performing a geophysical survey flight in the west part of Aldan, Yakutia. At the end of the mission, the crew was returning to the east and while flying face to the sun at a height of 1,046 meters, the single engine aircraft struck tree tops and crashed in flames in a dense wooded area located about 145 km west of Aldan. The captain and the flight engineer were killed instantly. The flight operator and the navigator were injured and walked away to find help. After four km walk, the navigator died from his injuries and his body was found thirteen days later on July 18. The flight operator eventually find help and was evacuated to a local hospital. At the time of the accident, the visibility was reduced to one km due to clouds.

Probable cause:

It was determined that the crew failed to take into consideration the high OAT ( 23°) and its effect on the rate of climb and the airplane's performances. Also, the following factors were considered as contributing:
- The crew failed to make any reconnaissance flight prior to the mission,
- Flying against the sun,
- Poor flight preparation.

Crash of an Ilyushin II-14P in Tkvarcheli: 31 killed

Date & Time: Jun 10, 1960 at 1055 LT

Type of aircraft:

Ilyushin II-14

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-91571

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Site:

Mountains

Schedule:

Rostov-on-Don – Krasnodar – Sochi – Sukhumi – Kutaisi – Tbilisi

MSN:

7 34 31 07

YOM:

Flight number:

SU207

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

5423

Circumstances:

After his departure from Sukhumi Airport, the crew continued to the southeast bound for Kutaisi at an altitude of 1,200 meters when poor weather conditions were encountered with clouds from 600 to 1,000 meters. Following a navigation error, the aircraft deviated 17 km to the north when it struck trees and crashed in flames on the north slope of Mt Rech (1,436 meters high) located near Tkvarcheli. The wreckage was found a day later. The airplane was completely destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire and all 31 occupants were killed.

Probable cause:

It was determined that the accident was the consequence of a navigation error on part of the crew, causing the aircraft to be off track by 17 km to the north. The following factors were considered as contributing:
- The crew was hastily fixed the day prior to the accident on a complexe routing,
- In spite of this complexity, the operations of the company failed to join a navigator to the crew, either a mechanic,
- Poor flight preparation,
- Poor weather assessment,
- The crew failed to make fix point after his departure from Sukhumi,
- Absence of radio monitoring on part of the Sukhumi services,
- Meteorologists failed to inform the pilots about the wind component and the weather conditions along the route,
- Shortcomings were noted with ATC services as the person in charge to follow the plane was a trainee who was not authorized to work independently. It was noted that for 20 minutes (a period corresponding to a distance of 100 km), the crew did not receive any ATC messages about his position or flight path.

Crash of a Lisunov LI-2 near Enken: 5 killed

Date & Time: May 5, 1960 at 1614 LT

Type of aircraft:

Lisunov LI-2

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-84609

Flight Phase:

Landing (descent or approach)

Flight Type:

Positioning

Survivors:

Site:

Mountains

Schedule:

Nikolayevsk-on-Amur – Okhotsk – Magadan

MSN:

60 02

YOM:

1949

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

10291

Circumstances:

The crew was completing a positioning flight from Nikolayevsk-on-Amur to Magadan with an intermediate stop at Okhotsk. En route, pilots encountered poor weather conditions with turbulences and heavy icing conditions. The airplane lost altitude and eventually dove into the ground before crashing in flames at an altitude of 900 meters on the slope of Mt Dzhugdzhur (1,207 meters high) located in the region of Enken. The burned wreckage was found five days later and all five crew members were killed. At the time of the accident, weather conditions were bad with low visibility, snow falls, severe icing conditions, turbulences, wind from 140° at 100 km/h and an OAT of -18°.

Probable cause:

It was determined that the loss of control was caused by an excessive accumulation of ice on wings, stabs and tail combined to the extreme poor weather conditions. It was considered that the informations transmitted to the crew related to weather were incomplete and did not reflect the truth. Also, ATC assistance was considered as inefficient.

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:

Landing (descent or approach)

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 an Antonov AN-10A in Lviv: 32 killed

Date & Time: Feb 26, 1960 at 1657 LT

Type of aircraft:

Antonov AN-10

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-11180

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Site:

Schedule:

Moscow – Kiev – Lviv

MSN:

9 4 018 01

YOM:

Flight number:

SU315

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

109

Circumstances:

On final approach to Lviv-Snilow Airport in icing conditions, at an altitude of 100 meters, the crew deployed the flaps at 45° when the aircraft stalled and crashed in a swampy area located short of runway threshold. A passenger was seriously injured while 32 other occupants were killed. Excessive ice accumulation on stabs caused the airplane to be unstable and to stall.

Probable cause:

Investigations were able to determine that the cause of the accident was an excessive deployment of flaps during an approach completed in icing conditions. The combination of icing conditions (excessive ice accumulation on stabs) and excessive flaps deployment caused the aircraft to stall. Following this accident, Antonov will provide an update of the flight manuals with a modification of the approach procedures, limiting the flaps deployment to an angle of 15° in icing conditions. Investigations conducted about this accident will be able to determine the cause of a similar accident that occurred at Lviv Airport on 16NOV1959, causing the crash of the same type of aircraft in identical conditions.

Crash of an Antonov AN-2T in Russia

Date & Time: Feb 19, 1960

Type of aircraft:

Antonov AN-2

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-98332

Flight Phase:

Takeoff (climb)

Flight Type:

Site: