Aeroflot Flight U-505

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Aeroflot Flight U-505
Yakovlev Yak-40, Aeroflot AN1083660.jpg
An Aeroflot Yak-40, similar to the one involved.
Accident
Date16 January 1987 (1987-01-16)
Summary Wake turbulence
(from an Il-76)
Site Tashkent Airport
Aircraft
Aircraft type Yakovlev Yak-40
Operator Aeroflot
Registration CCCP-87618
Flight originTashkent Airport, Tashkent
Destination Shahrisabz
Passengers5
Crew4
Fatalities9
Survivors0

Aeroflot Flight U-505 crashed just after takeoff in Tashkent on 16 January 1987. Flight 505 was an early morning flight from Tashkent to Shahrisabz, both in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, now the Republic of Uzbekistan. The flight took off just one minute and 28 seconds after an Ilyushin Il-76, thus encountering its wake vortex. The Yakovlev Yak-40 then banked sharply to the right, struck the ground, and caught fire. All 9 people on board died. [1]

Contents

Aircraft and crew

The aircraft involved, a Yakovlev Yak-40, c/n 9131918, was registered to Aeroflot as CCCP-87618, manufactured on 22 July 1971. At the time of the accident, the aircraft had sustained 17,132 flight hours and 20,927 cycles (one cycle equals one takeoff and landing). [2]

The crew consisted of the following: [3]

Sequence of events

The plane was scheduled to ferry cargo from Tashkent to Shakhrisabz. On board were 1,200 kg (2,600 lb) of mail and 35 kilograms of personal luggage, along with four passengers seated in the cabin. Takeoff weight was 14.4 tons, within the acceptable range. The crew was in a hurry to depart because the cargo was not loaded until 6:00 local time and they were scheduled to depart Tashkent at 5:55; hence the crew took less than a minute to complete the preflight checklist instead of the usual five minutes. They proceeded to start taxiing on taxiway three to Runway 8L. At 6:09:40 the Il-76 (CCCP-76482) took off from the runway. Immediately they contacted the control tower and requested clearance for takeoff. After receiving permission to taxi onto the runway, and at 6:10:58 they took off without explicit permission to take off, in violation of procedure. The crew put the engines to full power accelerating at 124.2 knots; but at 6:11:04 when the aircraft was no more than 20 meters off the ground it started to bank sharply to the right and at 6:11:15 it crashed into the ground, killing all nine people aboard.

Cause

CCCP-76482, the aircraft that caused the wake turbulence. Aeroflot Il-76 CCP76482 at MAN (16468016461).jpg
CCCP-76482, the aircraft that caused the wake turbulence.

The Yak-40 took off 66 seconds after an Ilyushin Il-76. When investigating the causes of the disaster the commission found that despite the IL-76's position it still would have left wake turbulence. The wind was only 1 mph, leading to the conclusion that the behavior of the Yak-40 can be explained only by hitting the wake turbulence of a much heavier Il-76 taking off from the same runway in just 75 seconds before the Yak-40. Tashkent Airport had a minimum takeoff interval of only one minute, regardless of aircraft type, leading to the relatively small Yak-40 quickly losing control and crashing upon encountering the wake vortex.

See also

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References

  1. "ASN Aircraft accident Yakovlev 40 CCCP-87618 Tashkent-Yuzhny Airport (TAS)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 2005-04-06. Retrieved 2017-12-29.
  2. "Yak-40 c/n 9131918". Scramble Soviet Transport Database.
  3. "160187 - Авиакатастрофы - - Каталог статей - Любителям гражданской авиации посвящается..." [160187 - Plane accidents - Catalog of articles - Dedicated to fans of civil aviation...]. dream-air.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2017-12-29. Retrieved 2017-12-29.