This article needs additional citations for verification .(October 2019) |
![]() A Tupolev Tu-124V similar to the accident aircraft | |
Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 2 September 1970 |
Summary | Loss of control for reasons unknown |
Site | Near Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Tupolev Tu-124 |
Operator | Aeroflot |
Registration | CCCP-45012 |
Flight origin | Mineralnye Vody Airport |
Stopover | Rostov-on-Don Airport |
Destination | Vilnius Airport |
Occupants | 37 |
Passengers | 32 |
Crew | 5 |
Fatalities | 37 |
Survivors | 0 |
Aeroflot Flight 3630 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight operated by Aeroflot from Mineralnye Vody Airport to Vilnius Airport with a stop over at Rostov-on-Don Airport. On 2 September 1970, the Tu-124 operating this flight crashed after a loss of control at cruise altitude, 42 minutes after takeoff from Rostov-on-Don Airport. All 32 passengers and five crew members were killed.
The Air Accident Investigation Commission was unable to discover the root cause of the accident.
After a brief stopover, Flight 3630 departed Rostov-on-Don Airport at 14:55 Moscow time and at 15:14 reported passing over Donetsk at 8,400 meters. A short time later air traffic control (ATC) requested a rapid climb to 9,000 metres (30,000 ft) to avoid traffic and at 15:16 the flight reported reaching 9,000 metres (30,000 ft). At 15:31 the crew contacted ATC announcing in a calm tone their ground speed was 852 km/h (460 kn; 529 mph) and that they expected to pass over Kremenchug at 15:41. Then at 15:37 controllers received a short message from flight 3630 consisting of "Forty Five - Zero - Twelve", with the word "twelve" spoken with a frantic inflection. This was the last contact with the flight. The aircraft entered a steep pitch down as it rolled left, striking the ground at approximately a 70-degree angle at 950 km/h (513 kn; 590 mph). [1] [2]
Construction of the Tu-124 involved, registration CCCP-45012, was completed at production factory 135 in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on 30 September 1961 and it was transferred to the civil air fleet. At the time of the accident, the aircraft had sustained a total of 7,504 flight hours and 6,996 cycles. [1]
The aircraft created a deep cone-shaped crater at impact, destroying much of the airframe. The flight data recorder was damaged beyond recovery of any data but the Air Accident Investigation Commission were able to determine that the engines were set to idle power, the flaps, spoilers and landing gear were all in the retracted position and that rudder trim was full right with the left aileron trim full up. [1] [2]
Weather along the flight route was calm and ruled out as a possible cause. [1]
Investigators looked into the possibility that the aircraft collided in flight with an unmanned military vehicle or a weather balloon but no evidence surfaced. The commission found no evidence of an in flight aircraft failure or structural break up. The right engine and other sections of the aircraft displayed damage due to fire and investigators considered that a fire in flight may have caused the accident. An examination of the victims found no smoke had been inhaled and further analysis of the crash site determined all fire damage occurred during the post crash fire so this possibility was ruled out. [1] [2]
The investigators were able to conclude that full deflection of the rudder and left aileron trim would have significant effects on control of the aircraft at cruising speed but the chain of events leading to the accident was never determined. [1] [2]
The Tupolev Tu-104 is a medium-range, narrow-body, twin turbojet-powered Soviet airliner. It was the second to enter regular service, behind the British de Havilland Comet and was the only jetliner operating in the world from 1956 to 1958, when the British jetliner was grounded due to safety concerns.
The Tupolev Tu-124 is a 56-passenger short-range twin-jet airliner built in the Soviet Union. It was the Soviet Union's first operational airliner powered by turbofan engines.
The Antonov An-10 Ukraina is a four-engined turboprop passenger transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union.
The Ilyushin Il-12 is a Soviet twin-engine cargo aircraft, developed in the mid-1940s for small and medium-haul airline routes and as a military transport.
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.
Aviastar-TU Flight 1906 was a Tupolev Tu-204 that crashed while attempting to land at Domodedovo International Airport, Moscow, Russia, in heavy fog on 22 March 2010. The aircraft was on a ferry flight from Hurghada International Airport, Egypt to Moscow, and had no passengers on board; all eight crew survived the accident, four with serious injuries requiring hospitalization and four with minor injuries. The accident was the first hull loss of a Tu-204 and the first hull loss for Aviastar-TU.
Aeroflot Flight 141 was an international flight from Moscow to Prague. On 19 February 1973, the Tupolev Tu-154 crashed 1.5 kilometres short of runway 25 of Prague Ruzyně Airport. Most of the passengers survived the crash, but many died in the fire that followed. Out of the 87 passengers and 13 crew members, 62 passengers and 4 crew members perished with 18 occupants having serious injuries and the remaining 16 with either minor or no injuries. The crash was the first loss of and first fatal accident involving the Tu-154.
Aeroflot Flight 6551 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight on an Ilyushin Il-18B from Baku to Novosibirsk with a stopover in Tashkent that crashed on 11 May 1973 over Semipalatinsk in the Kazakh SSR, killing all 63 people aboard.
Aeroflot Flight 03 was a passenger flight from Vnukovo Airport to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Airport via Khabarovsk Airport. On 3 September 1962 the Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-104 lost control after the airframe started vibrating, resulting in the plane rolling and yawing several times at an altitude of 4,500 meters before crashing. The aircraft crashed into a swamp, some 90 kilometers away from Khabarovsk. At the time, it was the deadliest crash in the history of Soviet aviation.
Aeroflot Flight 3519 was a scheduled flight, operated by a Tupolev Tu-154B-2 that crashed on December 23, 1984 due to an engine failure, 110 occupants were killed; one passenger had survived the accident.
Flydubai Flight 981 (FZ981/FDB981) was a scheduled international passenger flight from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to Rostov-on-Don, Russia. On 19 March 2016, the Boeing 737-800 aircraft operating the flight crashed during a go-around, killing all 62 passengers and crew on board.
Aeroflot Flight 2415 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Moscow to Leningrad that crashed shortly after takeoff on 28 November 1976. The cause of the accident was attributed to crew disorientation as a result of artificial horizon failure in low visibility conditions.
Aeroflot Flight 3739 was a regularly scheduled Russian domestic flight from Irkutsk to Pulkovo Airport in Saint Petersburg that crashed during takeoff from Irkutsk International Airport on 9 February 1976. Twenty-four of the 114 people on board died in the accident.
Aeroflot Flight 04 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Khabarovsk to Moscow with a stopover in Irkutsk that crashed on 15 August 1958, killing all 64 passengers and crew aboard the aircraft. It was the first fatal accident involving a Tupolev Tu-104.
Aeroflot Flight 5484 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Odesa to Kazan with a stopover in Kyiv that experienced loss of control followed by breaking up in the air on 29 August 1979 over the Tambov Oblast, killing all 63 people on board. It remains the deadliest Tu-124 crash and regular passenger services with the Tu-124 were permanently suspended after the accident, but the Tu-124 was still used by the Soviet military after the accident.
Aeroflot Flight 2022 was a scheduled Soviet domestic passenger flight between Vilnius Airport in Lithuanian SSR and Moscow–Vnukovo Airport in Russian SFSR, that crashed on 16 December 1973, killing all 51 people on board. The flight suffered a loss of control as a result of a malfunction of its elevator, causing it to crash as it made its final descent into Moscow. At the time of the crash, it was the worst accident in aviation history involving a Tupolev Tu-124 since it entered service with Aeroflot in 1962.
Aeroflot Flight 1969 was a passenger flight operated by an Antonov An-10 that crashed during the approach to Voroshilovgrad on 31 March 1971, resulting in the death of all 65 people on board. An investigation revealed that the Antonov's right wing failed structurally during the approach.
Aeroflot Flight 773 was a scheduled domestic Soviet Union passenger flight from Moscow to Simferopol that crashed following a bomb explosion on 10 October 1971.
On 7 March 1965, an Aeroflot Lisunov Li-2 operating as Aeroflot Flight 542 crashed shortly after takeoff from Abakan. Approximately 40 minutes after departure, the aircraft banked left and dived into the mountains of the Krasnoyarsk Krai region of the USSR. All 31 passengers and crew died, making it the deadliest known accident involving the Li-2.