Aeroflot Flight U-45

Aeroflot Flight U-45
	An Ilyushin Il-18 similar to the accident aircraft
Accident
Date	6 February 1970
Summary	Pilot and ATC error
Site	32 km northeast of Samarkand International Airport
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Ilyushin Il-18
Operator	Aeroflot
Registration	CCCP-75798
Flight origin	Tashkent International Airport
Destination	Samarkand International Airport
Passengers	98
Crew	8
Fatalities	92
Injuries	14
Survivors	14

Aeroflot Flight U-45 was a passenger flight operated by an Ilyushin Il-18 that crashed during the approach to Samarkand on Friday, 6 February 1970, resulting in the death of 92 of the 106 people on board. An investigation revealed the aircraft went below the minimum obstacle clearance altitude (MOCA) during approach to Samarkand International Airport.

Accident

Flight U-45 was a scheduled domestic flight from Tashkent to Samarkand. At 14:11 Moscow time the Ilyushin departed Tashkent International Airport and climbed to a cruising altitude of 5,100 meters in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). At 14:33:47 air traffic control (ATC) contacted flight U-45 and gave permission to descend to 2,700 meters and reported their distance to Samarkand Airport at 93 kilometers. At 14:35:45 the controller advised the crew that they would use the approach to runway 27, but then at 14:36:22 due to a change in wind direction it was decided to use runway 09 and at 14:38:26 ATC reported the distance to the airport at 53 kilometers.[1][2][3]

Nearing the airport flight U-45 switched frequencies and contacted the approach controller at Samarkand Airport and at 14:39:13 were advised that the aircraft was 48 kilometers from the airport and granted permission to descend to 2,400 meters. The approach controller then misread his radar screen and reported the flight was 31 km out when in fact it was 42–44 km. This led to the aircraft descending too early before crossing a mountain range. The controller cleared the flight for landing on runway 09 and at 14:40:09 the crew accepted the clearance. This was the last transmission from flight U-45. At 14:42:00 at an altitude of 1,500 meters and 32 kilometers northeast of the airport the Il-18 crashed into the side of a mountain at a speed of 380 km/h while descending at seven meters per second. After the initial impact the aircraft separated into five pieces. The co-pilot and 13 passengers survived with injuries and the remaining 7 crew members and 85 passengers were killed.[1][2][3]

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was an Ilyushin Il-18B, serial number 182004303 and registered as CCCP-75798 to Aeroflot. The construction of the airliner was completed on 29 January 1962 and it had sustained a total of 12,885 flight hours and 4,968 takeoff and landing cycles before the crash.[1][2][3]

Investigation

Investigators determined that the primary cause of the accident was the approach controllers misinterpretation of the radar display, specifically that he didn't realize what scale setting the display was set to. It was also noted that the screen was of a dark resolution in a high ambient light setting.[1][2] Several contributing factors were also identified. The organization and level of training of the ATC personnel at Samarkand International Airport was found to be subpar. Although the IL-18 was equipped with radar, its effectiveness was degraded substantially by the weather conditions so the crew had to rely on ATC information. At 14:39:13 the crew were advised that the aircraft was 48 kilometers from the airport, then 37 seconds later the controller stated they 31 km out. In order for the aircraft to cover 17 km in 37 seconds a speed of approximately 1600 km/h would be needed, impossible for an IL-18. Unfortunately the crew missed this important clue and continued the descent into the mountain.[1]

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References

"Ilyushin Il-18V crash of Uzbek UGA near Samarkand". airdisaster.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2018-06-11.
"Accident description 6 February 1970". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
"Accident description February 06, 1970". planecrashinfo.com. Retrieved 2018-06-23.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[airu-1] "Ilyushin Il-18V crash of Uzbek UGA near Samarkand". airdisaster.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2018-06-11.

[avasf-2] "Accident description 6 February 1970". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2018-06-11.

[pla-3] "Accident description February 06, 1970". planecrashinfo.com. Retrieved 2018-06-23.

Aviation accidents and incidents in the Soviet Union and Russia
1950s	1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash Aeroflot Flight 4 1958 Aeroflot Tu-104 Kanash crash Aeroflot Flight 315 (1959) Aeroflot Flight 120
1960s	Aeroflot Flight 315 (1960) Aeroflot Flight 207 Austrian Airlines Flight 901 Aeroflot Flight 68 Aeroflot Flight 245 Aeroflot Flight 902 Aeroflot Flight 415 Aeroflot Flight 191 Aeroflot Flight 3 Aeroflot Flight 25 Aeroflot Flight 12 CCCP-45021 Aeroflot Flight 663 Aeroflot Flight 721 Aeroflot Flight 20 Aeroflot Flight 513 Aeroflot Flight 99 Aeroflot Flight 65 Aeroflot Flight 2723 Aeroflot Flight 5003 (1967) Aeroflot Flight 2230 Aeroflot Flight 51 Aeroflot Flight 15 Aeroflot Flight 831 Aeroflot Flight 826 1969 Yukhnov mid-air collision
1970s	Aeroflot Flight U-45 Aeroflot Flight 1661 CCCP-11000 CCCP-12996 Aeroflot Flight 1969 Aeroflot Flight 1912 Malév Flight 110 Aeroflot Flight 773 Aeroflot Flight 2174 Aeroflot Flight 1491 Aeroflot Flight 558 Aeroflot Flight 1036 Aeroflot Flight 217 Japan Airlines Flight 446 Aeroflot Flight 6263 Aeroflot Flight 141 Aeroflot Flight 630 Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Flight 307 Aeroflot Flight 6551 Aeroflot Flight 109 Aeroflot Flight 13 Aeroflot Flight 3932 Aeroflot Flight 964 Aeroflot Flight 19 Aeroflot Flight 2022 CCCP-75559 1974 Surgut mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 2003 Aeroflot Flight 3739 (1976) Aeroflot Flight 909 Aeroflot Flight 1802 Aeroflot Flight 418 1976 Anapa mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 2415 Aeroflot Flight 36 (1976) Aeroflot Flight 3843 Aeroflot Flight 5003 (1977) Aeroflot Flight 331 CCCP-65639 Aeroflot Flight 2 Korean Air Lines Flight 902 Aeroflot Flight 1080 Aeroflot Flight 1691 1979 Dniprodzerzhynsk mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 5484
1980s	Aeroflot Flight 4225 1981 Pushkin Tu-104 crash Aeroflot Flight 498 1981 Armenia mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 811 Aeroflot Flight 3603 Aeroflot Flight 8641 Aeroflot Flight 411 Aeroflot Flight 343 Aeroflot Flight 5463 Aeroflot Flight 601 Aeroflot Flight 3352 Aeroflot Flight 3519 Aeroflot Flight 7841 Aeroflot Flight 8381 Aeroflot Flight 7425 Aeroflot Flight 101/435 Aeroflot Flight 2306 Aeroflot Flight 6502 Aeroflot Flight 892 Aeroflot Flight 505 Aeroflot Flight 528 Aeroflot Flight 3739 (1988) Korean Air Lines Flight 007
1990s	Aeroflot Flight 2808 (1992) Sakha Avia Flight 301 (1993) Aeroflot Flight 593 (1994) Stavropolskaya Aktsionernaya Avia Flight 1023 (1997)
2000s	Vladivostok Air Flight 352 (2001) Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 (2001) Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 9560 (2002) 2004 Russian aircraft bombings (2004) Armavia Flight 967 (2006) S7 Airlines Flight 778 (2006) Aeroflot Flight 821 (2008)
2010s	Smolensk air disaster (2010) Dagestan Airlines Flight 372 (2010) Kolavia Flight 348 (2011) RusAir Flight 9605 (2011) Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash (2011) Red Wings Airlines Flight 9268 (2012) Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363 (2013) 2014 Vnukovo Airport Falcon 50 crash (2014) Flydubai Flight 981 (2016) 2016 Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 crash (2016) Khabarovsk Airlines Flight 463 (2017) Saratov Airlines Flight 703 (2018) Aeroflot Flight 1492 (2019) Ural Airlines Flight 178 (2019)

Aeroflot Flight U-45

Accident

Aircraft

Investigation

See also

References