Date & Time:
May 24, 1984 at 1834 LT
Type of aircraft:
Tupolev TU-134
Operator:
Registration:
01 (Red)
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Military
Survivors:
No
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Zhdanov - Vorochilovgrad
MSN:
2 35 02 02
YOM:
1972
Country:
Ukraine
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
3
Crew fatalities:
3
Pax on board:
1
Pax fatalities:
1
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
4
Aircraft flight hours:
3173
Aircraft flight cycles:
2370
Circumstances:
Twelve minutes after its takeoff from Zhdanov Airport (Mariupol), while cruising at an altitude of 4,200 meters on a flight to Voroshilovgrad, the crew informed ATC about stability problems while some instruments were unserviceable. The aircraft entered an uncontrolled descent and 38 seconds later, at an altitude of 2,750 meters, it disintegrated in the air and eventually crashed in a field located near Donetsk. All 3 crew members and the sole passenger (the commander of VVVAUSh) were killed.
Probable cause:
The cause of the accident was that the back-up DR-134M yaw damper power wires had been cross wired to the wrong contacts during overhaul at Chelyabinsk facilities and the damper induced yaw instead of damping it when it kicked in during severe atmospheric turbulences, overstressing the airframe after 38 seconds.
