Aeroflot - Russian International Airlines

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-L5000

Flight Phase:

Takeoff (climb)

Flight Type:

Postal (mail)

Survivors:

Site:

City

Schedule:

Moscou – Gorki – Sverdlovsk

MSN:

334 449 02

YOM:

1953

Flight number:

SU031

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

2188

Circumstances:

Shortly after takeoff from Bykovo Airport, while climbing to a height of 20-30 meters, the right engine failed. The aircraft lost height, collided with trees and eventually crashed onto a house located less than one km from the airfield. The airplane burst into flames and was totally destroyed as well as the house. All five crew members were killed while no one on the ground was injured. The owner of the house just left his house three minutes before the accident. The crew was completing a mail flight to Svedlovsk with an intermediate stop in Gorki, carrying a load of 1,989 kilos of mail and newspapers.

Probable cause:

It was determined that the failure of the right engine was caused by an act of sabotage. A nut was found in the fuel line which caused the fuel pump to fail during initial climb. A similar case was detected eight days prior to the crash.

Crash of an Ilyushin II-14 in Irkoutsk: 17 killed

Date & Time: Dec 31, 1954

Type of aircraft:

Ilyushin II-14

Operator:

Flight Phase:

Takeoff (climb)

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Site:

Schedule:

Beijing– Irkutsk – Tashkent – Nicosia

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

Crashed shortly after takeoff from Irkutsk-Intl Airport for unknown reason, killing all 17 occupants.

Crash of an Ilyushin II-12 in Pervomaiski AFB: 1 killed

Date & Time: Dec 5, 1954 at 2055 LT

Type of aircraft:

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-L1320

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Yes

Site:

Schedule:

Almaty – Karaganda – Moscow

MSN:

30 026

YOM:

1947

Flight number:

SU098

Location:

Pervomaiski AFB (Almaty)

Almaty Province

Country:

Kazakhstan

Region:

Asia

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

4645

Circumstances:

Shortly after takeoff from Almaty Airport, while climbing to a height of 80 meters at a speed of 180 km/h, the left engine failed and caught fire. The captain decided to divert to the nearest Pervomaiski Airbase located 4,5 km from his position. On final approach, the aircraft stalled, hit a first building, several trees, two telegraph poles and eventually crashed on a second building. A stewardess was killed while 18 other occupants were injured, some of them seriously. The aircraft was destroyed.

Probable cause:

The left engine failed and caught fire shortly after takeoff due to the failure of the tenth cylinder, apparently due to poor maintenance on part of the company mechanics. Nevertheless, the techniques adopted by the pilot on short final were inappropriate, which contributed to the stall.

Crash of a Lisunov LI-2 in Sverdlovsk: 6 killed

Date & Time: Nov 12, 1954 at 1640 LT

Type of aircraft:

Charter/Taxi (Non Scheduled Revenue Flight)

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-L4519

Flight Phase:

Takeoff (climb)

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Yes

Site:

Schedule:

Leningrad – Moscow-Bykovo – Kazan – Sverdlovsk – Omsk – Novosibirsk

MSN:

184 290 02

YOM:

1948

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

7096

Circumstances:

One minute after takeoff from Sverdlovsk-Koltsovo Airport, while in initial climb, the airplane banked left and right and encountered difficulties to gain height when it stalled and crashed 250 meters past the runway end. The wreckage was spotted 150 meters to the left of the runway centerline. Both pilots and three passengers were killed while ten other occupants were injured. Two weeks after the accident, a passenger died from his injuries.

Probable cause:

It was determined that the flaps were deployed at 25° for takeoff, too much for this procedure. Thus, the aircraft's speed after rotation was too low, deteriorating its stability and its lateral control. Investigations were able to determine that the flying crew failed to identify and eliminate the abnormal behavior of the aircraft during initial climb, probably because his attention was diverted. This situation led the aircraft to stall and the distance between the aircraft and the ground was insufficient to expect a recovery. At the time of the accident, the crew was on duty since 13 hours and 40 minutes and the day before, it observed a ON duty period of 17 hours. Thus, it is believed that fatigue accumulated during these two consecutive days, which could be considered as a contributing factor.

Crash of an Ilyushin II-12 near Krasnoyarsk: 19 killed

Date & Time: Oct 28, 1954 at 0010 LT

Type of aircraft:

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-L1789

Flight Phase:

Flight

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Site:

Mountains

Schedule:

Irkutsk – Novosibirsk

MSN:

9 301 32 06

YOM:

1949

Flight number:

SU136

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

The crew was supposed to fly from Irkutsk to Novosibirsk but weather conditions at destination deteriorated in flight so the crew was diverted to Krasnoyarsk Airport. While approaching the Krasnoyarsk area by night, the crew was cleared by ATC to descend to 1,500 meters. Descending to the altitude of 1,725 meters in poor visibility, the twin engine aircraft hit the east slope of Mt Sivukha (1,807 meters high) located 30 km from the Mana River. As the airplane failed to arrive in Krasnoyarsk, SAR operations were conducted but eventually suspended few days later as no trace of the aircraft nor the 19 occupants was found. The wreckage was found in June 1955, about 132 km south of the intended route. The aircraft was destroyed upon impact and all 19 occupants have been killed, among them nine foreign citizens (one Polish, one Chinese and 4 Cyprus, four UNO emissaries in Vietnam).

Probable cause:

At the time of the accident, the aircraft was off course by 132 km and deviated from the prescribed flight path from 10° due to strong winds blowing from the northwest up to 130 km/h. Poor flight organisation and follow up, letting the crew descending to 1,500 meters while the minimum safe altitude was 2,100 meters in the area and incomplete information transmitted to the crew regarding wind component that did not reflect the truth were considered as contributing factors.

Crash of an Ilyushin II-12P in Novossibirsk: 29 killed

Date & Time: Sep 27, 1954 at 0057 LT

Type of aircraft:

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-L1365

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Site:

Schedule:

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk – Krasnoyarsk – Novosibirsk – Moscow

MSN:

30 086

YOM:

1947

Flight number:

SU010

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

On a night approach to Novosibirsk-Severny Airport, the crew encountered bad visibility due to fog. On final, the aircraft was 300 meters to the left of the glide and the crew failed to have a visual contact with the runway and ground. In such conditions, the captain decided to abandon the approach and made a go around. Few minutes later, the crew started a second approach with a horizontal visibility of 100 meters. Without any visual contact with the ground or the runway, the pilot-in-command continued the approach, passed below the decision height when the airplane hit trees and crashed in a wooded area located few km short of runway. The aircraft was totally destroyed upon impact but there was no fire. All 29 occupants were killed.

Probable cause:

It was determined that the visibility was below minima at the time of the accident. Because the crew failed to establish any visual contact with the ground and did not have the runway in sight, it would be necessary to divert to the alternate airport for a safe landing. Continuing the approach without any visual contact with the ground and passing below the decision height, the crew engaged the aircraft in a controlled flight into terrain.

Crash of a Lisunov LI-2 in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk: 26 killed

Date & Time: Aug 26, 1954 at 1050 LT

Type of aircraft:

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-L4679

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Yes

Site:

Mountains

Schedule:

Khabarovsk – Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk

MSN:

68 03

YOM:

1949

Flight number:

SU971

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

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.

Crash of a Lisunov LI-2 near Tsaghkachen: 6 killed

Date & Time: Jan 27, 1954 at 0717 LT

Type of aircraft:

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-L4105

Flight Phase:

Flight

Flight Type:

Meteorological / Weather

Survivors:

Site:

Mountains

Schedule:

Yerevan - Yerevan

MSN:

184 65 07

YOM:

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

1930

Circumstances:

The crew left Yerevan Airport at 0513LT for a meteorological survey mission and completed several maneuvers between 3,500 and 5,000 meters in cloudy conditions over the region of the Sevan Lake. Following an uneventful mission, the crew decided to return to Yerevan and started the descent from the northeast when, at an altitude of 3,160 meters, the airplane hit the east slope of Mt Kara-Dag (3,231 meters high) located about 12 km west of the village of Tsaghkachen. Rescuers arrived on site a day later and all six occupants have been killed.

Probable cause:

It was determined that the aircraft was, at the time of impact, off course about 18 km due to strong winds. Investigations reported that the crew failed to prepare the mission according to procedures and miscalculated the flight trajectory. Also, it was determined that the crew did not receive any information about the wind component prior to the flight and failed to use the ADF system properly, which was considered as contributory factor. While cruising in clouds, the pilots were unable to distinguish the mountain struck by the aircraft.

Crash of an Ilyushin II-12 in Magdagachi: 5 killed

Date & Time: Nov 4, 1953 at 2155 LT

Type of aircraft:

Operator:

Registration:

CCCP-L1367

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Postal (mail)

Survivors:

Site: