Aeroflot Flight 6502
An Aeroflot Tu-134A, similar to that involved in the accident.
Aviation Accident
Date20 October 1986 (1986-10-20)
SummaryRunway overrun due to pilot recklessness
SiteKuibyshev Airport
Aircraft
Aircraft typeTupolev Tu-134A
OperatorAeroflot
RegistrationCCCP-65766
Flight originKoltsovo Airport
StopoverKuibyshev Airport
DestinationGrozny Airport
Occupants94
Passengers87
Crew7
Fatalities70
Survivors24

Aeroflot Flight 6502 was a Soviet domestic passenger flight operated by a Tupolev Tu-134A from Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) to Grozny, which crashed on 20 October 1986; 70 of the 94 passengers and crew on board were killed. The accident occurred when, on a bet, the pilot attempted to make an instrument-only approach with curtained cockpit windows. Investigators determined the cause of the accident was pilot negligence.[1]

Background

The crew of the Tu-134A aircraft, serial number 62327 manufactured on 28 June 1979, consisted of pilot in command Alexander Kliuyev, co-pilot Gennady Zhirnov, navigating officer Ivan Mokhonko, flight engineer Kyuri Khamzatov, and three flight attendants.[2] Having departed from Koltsovo Airport in Yekaterinburg (then Sverdlovsk) and bound for Grozny, Flight 6502 had one stopover at Kurumoch Airport in Samara (then Kuibyshev).[1]

Crash

While approaching Kurumoch Airport, Captain Kliuyev made a bet with First Officer Zhirnov that he, Kliuyev, could make an instrument-only approach with curtained cockpit windows, thus having no visual contact with the ground, instead of an NDB approach, suggested by the air traffic control.[2] Kliuyev further ignored the ground-proximity warning at an altitude of 62–65 metres (203–213 ft) and did not make the suggested go-around.[2] The aircraft touched down on the runway at a speed of 150 knots (280 km/h; 170 mph) and came to rest upside down after overrunning the runway.[2] Sixty-three people died during the accident and seven more in hospitals later.[2] Among the passengers were 14 children, all of whom survived the accident.[3] The top-secret report of the chairman of Kuibyshev oblispolkom V. A. Pogodin to Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov gave slightly different figures: Of 85 passengers and eight crew members aboard, 53 passengers and five crew members died in the crash and 11 more in hospitals later.[3]

Though Zhirnov made no attempt to avert the crash, he subsequently tried to save the passengers and died of cardiac arrest en route to hospital.[4] Kliuyev was prosecuted and sentenced to 15 years in prison, later reduced to six years served.[5][4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Tupolev Tu-134A CCCP-65766 Kuybyshev Airport (KUF)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Катастрофа Ту-134А Северо-Кавказского УГА в а/п Курумоч (Куйбышев)" [Accident of Tu-134A of the North-Caucasian CAA in the airport Kurumoch (Kuibyshev)] (in Russian). Airdisaster.ru. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Самая крупная катастрофа случилась в Самарском аэропорту в 1986 году" [The biggest disaster happened at Samara airport in 1986] (in Russian). RIA Samara. Archived from the original on 4 July 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Blind Landing on a Dare Killed Dozens, Paper Says: Soviets Disclose October Airliner Crash". Los Angeles Times. Reuters. 5 June 1987. Archived from the original on 24 October 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2013. Soviet Russia said the co-pilot died of heart failure while trying to rescue passengers.
  5. ↑ Moonspell (4 January 2016). "Совершенно секретные фотографии авиакатастрофы в Самаре" [Top secret photos of a plane crash in Samara] (in Russian). Archived from the original on 27 February 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.