Date & Time: Aug 26, 1954 at 1050 LT
Type of aircraft:
Lisunov LI-2
Operator:
Registration:
CCCP-L4679
Flight Phase:
Landing (descent or approach)
Flight Type:
Scheduled Revenue Flight
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Mountains
Schedule:
Khabarovsk – Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
MSN:
68 03
YOM:
1949
Flight number:
SU971
Location:
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
Sakhalin oblast
Country:
Russia
Region:
Asia
Crew on board:
5
Crew fatalities:
5
Pax on board:
22
Pax fatalities:
21
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
26
Aircraft flight hours:
4219
Circumstances:
The crew started the approach to Yuzhno-Sakhalisnk from the southeast in marginal weather conditions due to low clouds. At an altitude of 400 meters, the aircraft hit tree tops and crashed inverted in a wooded area located on the slope of Mt Komissarskaya (714 meters high) located 13,5 km southeast of the airport. The wreckage was found a day later and a passenger was found alive but seriously injured while all 26 other occupants were killed. The aircraft was totally destroyed upon impact.
Crew:
Vasily Trofimovich Degtyarenko, pilot,
Vladimir Parkhomenko, copilot,
Vyacheslav Fedorovitch Eliseikina, mechanic,
Daniel Epifanovich Raznotsvete, mechanic,
Piotr D. Novikov , radio navigator.
Probable cause:
The radio navigator mistook two outer markers when the crew started the approach to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Airport, and referred to the outer marker of the Korsakov Airbase (frequency 684 kHz) instead of the outer marker of the civil airport of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk-Bolchaya Yelan (frequency 670 kHz). Investigations reported that these two outer markers were too close from each other (13,5 km) with close frequency as well, which contributed to the mistake. The following factors were also pointed out: lack of visibility caused by low clouds (the crew failed to distinguish the mountain); the crew failed to use the radio altimeter and an abnormal action on part of the crew regarding the direction finder unit.