Date & Time:
Jan 23, 1943
Type of aircraft:
GVF PS-84
Operator:
Registration:
CCCP-L3443
Flight Phase:
Landing (descent or approach)
Flight Type:
Cargo
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Leningrad - Khvoynaya – Moscow
MSN:
7 5 25
YOM:
1941
Country:
Russia
Region:
Asia
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
3
Pax on board:
3
Pax fatalities:
2
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
5
Aircraft flight hours:
2000
Circumstances:
The airplane departed Leningrad on a cargo flight to Moscow with an intermediate stop in Khvoynaya. On board were three passengers, seven crew members and a load of 1,920 kilos of various goods on behalf of the Elektroprom Company. Following an uneventful flight from Khvoynaya and while approaching the Moscow area, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with fog and snow falls. As the pilot was unable to localize the Airport of Vnukovo, he decided to divert to Tushino but was unable to land there so he completed several circuits above the northwest area of Moscow. Eventually, while flying at low height in bad visibility, the airplane hit a barn and crashed in a field located south of Tushino Airfield, at the border of the sovkhoz owned by the '16th Party Congress'. Three crew members and two passengers were killed while five other occupants were injured. The aircraft was destroyed.
Probable cause:
The immediate cause of the disaster was the impact of the aircraft with the ground, located 30-40 m above the Tushino Airfield.
The following contributory factors were identified:
- The late takeoff from Khvoynaya Airfield (1535LT), which made it impossible to arrive in Moscow before sunset (1642LT on 23 January), which was known to the captain and the person in charge of the flight at Khvoynaya Airfield,
- Bad weather in the Moscow area with snow falls reducing the visibility from 500 to 1,000 metres,
- Loss of altitude during the transfer of controls from to the copilot,
- Poor airmanship on part of the captain who failed to use appropriate ground navigation support and initiated the approach to Moscow with only a radio direction finder.
The following contributory factors were identified:
- The late takeoff from Khvoynaya Airfield (1535LT), which made it impossible to arrive in Moscow before sunset (1642LT on 23 January), which was known to the captain and the person in charge of the flight at Khvoynaya Airfield,
- Bad weather in the Moscow area with snow falls reducing the visibility from 500 to 1,000 metres,
- Loss of altitude during the transfer of controls from to the copilot,
- Poor airmanship on part of the captain who failed to use appropriate ground navigation support and initiated the approach to Moscow with only a radio direction finder.
