Aircraft
The Li-2 with tail number L4534 (serial number 18429005) from the 133rd Air Transport Unit of the East Siberian Territorial Directorate of Civil Aviation was manufactured on June 30, 1948, and at the time of the accident had logged 3,882 flight hours. On the day of the crash, it was operating flight 18 on the route Irkutsk—Krasnoyarsk—Novosibirsk, piloted by a crew consisting of the commander (PIC) Iosif Danilovich Stanishevsky, co-pilot Valentin Dmitrievich Maksimov, flight radio operator Yuri Yurievich Chernyshkov, and flight engineer Fedor Ivanovich Perevalov. On May 26 at 21:07 MSK, the aircraft departed from Irkutsk Airport and landed in Krasnoyarsk at 00:50 (May 27). After a one-hour stopover, it took off from Krasnoyarsk Airport at 01:50 and climbed to an altitude of 2,100 meters. The flight was conducted along the air corridor Krasnoyarsk—Kemerovo—Novosibirsk, carrying 16 passengers: 14 adults and 2 children. [1]
The Li-2T with tail number A4031 (serial number 18432605) from the 6th Air Survey Unit of the West Siberian Territorial Directorate of Civil Aviation was manufactured on April 30, 1949, and had logged 1,268 flight hours at the time of the crash. On the day of the incident, it was tasked with performing an aerial photography mission in the Goose River area. The crew consisted of the commander (PIC) Alexander Nikolaevich Lomov, co-pilot Mikhail Konstantinovich Kiselev, navigator-aerial photographer Mikhail Petrovich Shchur, flight radio operator Nikolai Pavlovich Lyallin, flight engineer Evgraf Yakovlevich Kuznetsov, camera operator Zoya Pavlovna Volkova, and aerial photographer Nikolai Alexandrovich Pavlov. At 02:40 MSK, the aircraft took off from Novosibirsk Airport and climbed to the prescribed altitude of 1,800 meters before heading along the route Novosibirsk—Goose River—Kemerovo to the aerial photography area, located 45–60 kilometers north-northeast of Kemerovo Airport. [2]
The Accident
At the time, the weather was clear, with an air temperature of +10 °C, and visibility exceeding 15 kilometers. On the Krasnoyarsk—Kemerovo section, the commander of aircraft L4534 deviated from the route, resulting in a 47-kilometer deviation. Meanwhile, at 03:36, the crew of aircraft A4031 reported their arrival in the aerial photography area at the assigned altitude of 1,800 meters and began their work. Li-2 A4031 initially flew on a heading of 90° for 6 minutes and 40 seconds, then made a 36-second left turn to 180° and flew on a 270° heading for another 6 minutes and 40 seconds. It then performed a right turn and settled on a 90° heading, now flying directly into the rising sun. [1]
Less than a minute later, in clear skies at 03:50 MSK, the two aircraft, flying directly toward each other (L4534 on a 270° course, A4031 on a 90° course), collided head-on in front of numerous witnesses 16.5 kilometers west of the village of Barzas (Kemerovsky District, Kemerovo Oblast). Aircraft A4031, flying slightly lower, sheared off the left wing of aircraft L4534 with its right propeller, cutting through the wing at the junction of the aileron and flap. The impact also tore through the upper part of A4031's fuselage, destroying the center wing section of the second aircraft. As a result, passengers began falling out of the L4534's cabin, and its left wing, tail unit, and parts of the fuselage were scattered over a 150 by 900-meter area of forest and clearing. The center wing section with engines, cockpit, and right wing crashed into the forest. Aircraft A4031 went into a dive and crashed into the forest 350 meters away, exploding on impact, although no fire ensued. All 27 people aboard the two aircraft (20 on L4534 and 7 on A4031) perished. [1]
Investigation
During the flight, the crew of Li-2 aircraft A4031 maintained communication with the Novosibirsk Aerodrome Dispatch Service and airfield dispatch service but did not contact the Kemerovo ADS. Meanwhile, the crew of Li-2 aircraft L4534 maintained communication with the Krasnoyarsk ADS, RDS, and Kemerovo ADS, but their communication with the Novosibirsk RDS was unsatisfactory. As a result, the exact location of the aircraft within their respective zones was unknown to the RDS. Numerous eyewitnesses on the ground saw the two aircraft heading toward each other at the same altitude, with neither crew taking any evasive action to avoid the collision. [1]
It is worth noting that the 6th Air Survey Unit was originally part of the Main Directorate of Geodesy and Cartography and was transferred to the West Siberian Territorial Directorate of Civil Aviation in March 1953, just two months before the accident. When the unit was integrated, the command of the West Siberian TU GWF failed to adequately address the organization and safety of flights. Only flight training for the crews was conducted, with little attention given to aerial photography operations, which were entrusted to unit commander Klykov, who had only started working in the unit in March 1953 and was also unfamiliar with the specifics of aerial photography operations. Meanwhile, while civil and military aviation flights are stratified, meaning they operate at specific altitudes based on standard pressure settings, the situation is different for aerial survey aviation. These aircraft operate at altitudes dependent on the specified scale of the survey, which in turn is determined by the aerodrome elevation with adjustments for the terrain's relief in the survey area. However, requests for aerial survey operations at Novosibirsk Airport were submitted without specifying the boundaries of the area, and the actual flight altitudes over the survey area did not match the submitted requests. For example, the assignment for aircraft A4031 specified conducting a survey at a scale of 1:17,000. Simple calculations show that the actual flight altitude relative to the departure aerodrome should have been 
, where 1,700 is the true altitude above the survey area's terrain, 290 is the average terrain elevation of the survey area above sea level, and 162 is the elevation of Novosibirsk Airport. Based on this, at standard pressure (760 mm Hg), the flight altitude should have been 
, where 745.5 is the pressure at Novosibirsk Airport. Since the pressure at Kemerovo Airport was higher, at 747.1 mm Hg, the flight altitude at standard pressure should have been 
, where 17.5 is the correction for the higher pressure at Kemerovo Airport. From these calculations, it is clear that before beginning the survey, aircraft A4031 should have climbed to an altitude of not 1,800 meters but 1,970 meters, meaning it should have gained an additional 170 meters. However, according to the barogram data, the aircraft actually climbed an additional 250 meters. It is noteworthy that neither the command of the West Siberian TU GWF, nor the Novosibirsk RDS and ADS, were aware of the correct method for determining survey altitude. [1]
As for aircraft L4534, its commander, Stanishevsky, grossly violated the flight route on the Krasnoyarsk—Novosibirsk track by cutting a portion of the route near Kemerovo and not maintaining the prescribed flight level. Previously, in July 1952, Stanishevsky had been demoted to co-pilot for indiscipline and loss of orientation. He was reinstated in February 1953, despite retaining significant deficiencies in piloting, as well as displaying arrogance, stubbornness, and a lack of understanding. [1]
At the Novosibirsk RDS, a radio direction finder was installed, but during the entire 35 minutes that aircraft L4534 was in its zone, it did not determine its location, leaving the Novosibirsk dispatcher unaware of the air traffic situation in the aerial photography area. The Kemerovo ADS dispatcher, when allowing aircraft L4334 to fly through its zone, was unaware of the aircraft's actual route and did not ascertain its precise location, although in clear weather, he could have observed the aircraft flying over the Kemerovo aerodrome. However, there was no overflight, as Commander Stanishevsky had cut the route to bypass the aerodrome. The Novosibirsk RDS did not warn the passing crews or the Kemerovo and Krasnoyarsk airports about flights taking place within its zone 50 kilometers north of Kemerovo Airport. Finally, the crews of both aircraft, despite the clear weather, did not monitor the air traffic situation and took no action to prevent the collision. [1]
Commission's Conclusions
The causes of the aircraft collision were: [1]
- Gross violation of the established flight route and criminal negligence in piloting the aircraft by PIC Stanishevsky;
- Lack of caution by PICs Stanishevsky and Lomov during the flights;
- Inadequate preparation for aerial photography flights, poor flight organization, and disregard for basic flight safety requirements by the command of the West Siberian TU GWF and the 6th Air Survey Unit, as well as by the Novosibirsk RDS.
Those responsible: both PICs and Klykov, who took a formal approach to ensuring flight safety.
Tajik Air is an flag carrier airline of Tajikistan. It has its head office at Dushanbe International Airport in Dushanbe. The airline's main hub is Dushanbe International Airport.
Irkutsk International Airport is an international airport on the outskirts of Irkutsk, Russia, at a distance of 60 kilometers from Lake Baikal.
CJSC "Air Company ALROSA", formerly Alrosa Mirny Air Enterprise is an airline from Mirny, Russia. Its bases are at Mirny Airport and Polyarny Airport, with a focus city at Lensk Airport. The airline operates scheduled and chartered domestic flights.
On 11 August 1979, a mid-air collision occurred over the Ukrainian SSR, near the city of Dniprodzerzhynsk. The aircraft involved were both Tupolev Tu-134As on scheduled domestic passenger flights, operated by Aeroflot. All 178 people aboard both aircraft died in the accident.
Azur Air, formerly Katekavia and stylised as azurair, is a charter airline and former regional airline in Russia. Initially it was based in Krasnoyarsk Cheremshanka Airport, the domestic airport serving Krasnoyarsk, and its destinations were all within Krasnoyarsk Krai. Nowadays it mainly serves leisure destinations such as the route Moscow to Bodrum, offering an All-Business class charter.
Aeroflot Flight 25 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight that crashed on 4 April 1963 in the region of Rybnaya Sloboda, Tatar ASSR, Russian SFSR while en route from Moscow-Sheremetyevo to Krasnoyarsk Airport, Russian SFSR. All 67 people aboard were killed in the accident.
Aeroflot Flight 721 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight between Moscow and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in the Russian SFSR. On Wednesday, 2 September 1964, the aircraft flying this route, an Ilyushin Il-18V, crashed into the side of a hill on approach to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, killing 87 of the 93 people on board. At the time of the accident, it was the deadliest Il-18 crash and the deadliest aviation accident on Russian soil.
Aeroflot Flight 3519 was a Tupolev Tu-154B-2 airline flight on a domestic route from Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk on 23 December 1984. Shortly after takeoff, the No. 3 engine caught fire, and the airplane crashed during an emergency landing. This killed 110 people; there was only one survivor, and the aircraft was destroyed. The engine fire was caused by a manufacturing defect in the compressor disk.
Aeroflot Flight 1912 was a scheduled domestic Aeroflot passenger flight on the Odessa-Kiev (Kyiv)-Chelyabinsk-Novosibirsk-Irkutsk-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok route that crashed on 25 July 1971, making a hard landing at Irkutsk Airport. It touched down 150 metres (490 ft) short of the runway, breaking the left wing and catching fire. Of the 126 people on board the aircraft, 29 survived.
Aeroflot Flight 109 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Moscow to Chita with stopovers in Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, and Irkutsk. On the final leg of the route on 18 May 1973 a terrorist hijacked the aircraft, demanding to be flown to China; the terrorist's bomb detonated in flight after he was shot by the air marshal.
Aeroflot Flight 2808 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Mineralnye Vody to Ivanovo, both in Russia, with a stopover in Donetsk, Ukraine on 27 August 1992. While attempting to land at Ivanovo airport, the Tupolev Tu-134 crashed into a group of buildings in the village of Lebyazhy Lug. Investigators determined the cause of the accident was errors made by the crew and the air traffic controller. There were no fatalities on the ground, but all 84 people on board the flight died in the crash.
Aeroflot Flight 5003 was a Soviet domestic cargo flight that crashed during climb out on 14 January 1967. The Antonov An-12B was flying between Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk in Russia with a crew of six when it crashed. It was carrying industrial parts from Moscow to Khabarovsk with several intermediate stops in between, however it caught fire shortly after takeoff, resulting in a fatal accident. At the time Flight 5003 was being operated by Polar Aviation Management under Aeroflot.
Aeroflot Flight 1661 was a passenger flight operated by an Antonov An-24 that crashed during its initial climb, 25 minutes after take-off from Tolmachevo Airport on 1 April 1970. All 45 people on board perished. An investigation revealed that the Antonov collided with a radiosonde, causing a loss of control.
Aeroflot Flight 10 was a scheduled passenger flight from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Airport to Vnukovo Airport with stopovers at Krasnoyarsk Airport and Severny Airport. On 27 September 1954, the Ilyushin Il-12 operating the route crashed near Severny Airport after it struck trees.
Aeroflot Flight 17 was an aviation accident involving an Ilyushin Il-12 aircraft operated by Aeroflot on May 13, 1949 near Novosibirsk. The crash resulted in the deaths of all 25 people on board.
The 1951 Novosibirsk Il-12 crash was an aviation disaster involving an Ilyushin Il-12P aircraft operated by Aeroflot on 17 November 1951, which resulted in the deaths of 23 people.
Aeroflot Flight 136 was an aviation disaster involving an Ilyushin Il-12P passenger aircraft operated by Aeroflot, which occurred on Thursday, October 28, 1954, in Krasnoyarsk Krai on the slope of Mount Sivukha. The crash resulted in the deaths of 19 people.
Aeroflot Flight E-35D was an aviation disaster that occurred on Wednesday, August 1, 1990, in the vicinity of Stepanakert with a Yak-40 aircraft operated by Aeroflot, resulting in the deaths of 46 people.
The 1942 Aeroflot Li-2 Krasnoyarsk crash was an aviation accident that occurred on Tuesday, November 17, 1942, at Krasnoyarsk Airport. The Li-2, operating on the ALSIB route as part of the fifth ferry regiment, was tasked with transporting a group of military pilots to receive new aircraft. However, immediately after takeoff, the aircraft crashed on the airfield grounds, killing all thirty people on board. At the time, this was the second-largest aviation disaster on the territory of the USSR.
