Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 18 July 1970 |
Summary | Unknown, possible propeller separation leading to explosive decompression |
Site | Atlantic Ocean, South-East of Greenland |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Antonov An-22 |
Operator | Soviet Air Forces |
Registration | CCCP-09303 |
Flight origin | Ivanovo Severny Air Base, Ivanovo, Soviet Union |
1st stopover | Chkalovsky Airport Shchyolkovo, Soviet Union |
2nd stopover | Keflavík International Airport Reykjavík, Iceland |
Last stopover | Halifax Stanfield International Airport Halifax, Canada |
Destination | Jorge Chávez International Airport, Lima, Peru |
Passengers | 7 |
Crew | 15 |
Fatalities | 22 |
Survivors | 0 |
On July 18 1970, an Antonov An-22 of Soviet Air Forces crashed in the Atlantic Ocean between Iceland and Greenland, while on its way to Halifax, Canada. It was the first crash of the Antonov 22 model and it resulted in the deaths of all 22 people on board.
The aircraft involved in the accident was an Antonov An-22 heavy-lift freighter built in the Tashkent Mechanical Plant between late 1969 and early 1970 with the construction number 00340207 and serial number 02-07. The aircraft was built for the Soviet Air Forces, where it was assigned the registration CCCP-09303, [lower-alpha 1] and was stationed at Ivanovo Severny Air Base near Ivanovo. [1]
Following the 1970 Ancash earthquake, which killed tens of thousands of people and destroyed many cities in Peru, the 81st Military Transport Aviation Regiment of the Soviet Air Forces participated in the transport of humanitarian aid to that country. The unit operated heavy-lift aircraft, among them the Antonov An-22. Due to the limited range and heavy cargo of food and seven passengers, the flight plan called for the aircraft to make several stops while on its way to Peru. Since the flight was longer than 17,000 kilometres (10,600 mi; 9,200 nmi), two crews were used for the flight. This also served as a training opportunity for the pilots.
On 18 July the aircraft took off from Keflavik airport in Iceland on its way to Halifax. Forty-seven minutes after the aircraft took off, at 14:30 all contact with it was lost and it disappeared from radar screens. As the crew did not respond to communication from the air traffic controllers and no airport recorded the aircraft landing, it was presumed that the aircraft had crashed in the ocean. Soon after a search and rescue operation began together with NATO aircraft and a Soviet Antonov An-12. During the search pieces of the aircraft were found, confirming that it had indeed crashed. No survivors were found.
Following the inspection of recovered pieces of the aircraft, an in-flight fire was ruled out. The Soviet Ministry of Aviation Production made a hypothesis that an uncontrolled decompression had occurred, the cause of which has never been fully established.
Five months after the crash of CCCP-09303, a sister aircraft crashed in India, killing all 17 on board. The cause of that crash was the separation of one of the propeller blades, which struck the fuselage of the aircraft and caused an explosive decompression. It is believed that this was most likely also the cause of the crash of CCCP-09303 in the Atlantic.
Following the disaster, all pressurized An-22s were grounded. Memorials to the flight crew of CCCP-09303 were built in Moscow and Lima.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1981.
The Antonov An-22 "Antei" is a heavy military transport aircraft designed by the Antonov Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Powered by four turboprop engines each driving a pair of contra-rotating propellers, the design was the first wide-body transport aircraft and remains the world's largest turboprop-powered aircraft to date. The An-22 first appeared publicly outside the Soviet Union at the 1965 Paris Air Show. Thereafter, the model saw extensive use in major military and humanitarian airlifts for the Soviet Union, and is still in service with the Russian Aerospace Forces.
The Antonov An-72 is a Soviet transport aircraft, developed by Antonov. It was designed as a STOL transport and intended as a replacement for the Antonov An-26, but variants have found success as commercial freighters.
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The Antonov An-10 Ukraina is a four-engined turboprop passenger transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union.
The Antonov An-26 is a twin-engined turboprop civilian and military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1986.
The Antonov An-28 is a twin-engined light turboprop transport aircraft, developed from the Antonov An-14M. It was the winner of a competition against the Beriev Be-30, for use by Aeroflot as a short-range airliner. It first flew in 1969. A total of 191 were built and 16 remain in airline service as at August 2015. After a short pre-production series built by Antonov, it was licence-built in Poland by PZL-Mielec. In 1993, PZL-Mielec developed its own improved variant, the PZL M28 Skytruck.
The 1971 January 22 Surgut Aeroflot Antonov An-12 crash occurred on 22 January 1971, when an Aeroflot Antonov An-12B, registered CCCP-11000, flying from Omsk Tsentralny Airport, in the Soviet Union's (RSFSR), crashed 15 km (9.3 mi) short of the runway on approach to Surgut International Airport, Surgut, RSFSR. An investigation found the aircraft's ice protection system was ineffective because the engine bleed air valves were closed during the flight; ice therefore built up on the aircraft causing it to go out of control.
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Aeroflot Flight 1491 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Moscow-Vnukovo Airport to Kharkiv Airport in the USSR that crashed on 18 May 1972 while descending to land in Kharkiv, killing all 122 passengers and crew aboard the Antonov An-10.
The 31 January 1971 Surgut Aeroflot Antonov An-12 crash occurred on 31 January 1971, when an Aeroflot Antonov An-12B, aircraft registration CCCP-12996, flying from Roshchino International Airport, Tyumen, in the Soviet Union's Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (RSFSR), crashed 13.6 km (8.5 mi) short of the runway on approach to Surgut International Airport, Surgut, RSFSR. An investigation found the aircraft's loss of control was caused by icing.
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Aeroflot Flight A-13 was a scheduled Soviet domestic passenger flight from Baku, Azerbaijan to Fort-Shevchenko in Kazakhstan that crashed on 18 August 1973 shortly after takeoff killing 56 of the 64 passengers and crew aboard. The Antonov An-24 had suffered an engine failure on takeoff and was attempting to return to the airport when it struck an oil rig cable at low altitude resulting in a crash. At the time, it was the second deadliest accident involving the An-24 and remains the second deadliest aviation accident in Azerbaijani history. The engine failure had been caused by the effect of continuous overheating on the performance of the blades.
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.
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