Aeroflot Flight 12

Aeroflot Flight 12 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Beijing, China to Moscow, Soviet Union on Saturday, July 13, 1963, which crashed on landing at a scheduled stopover in Irkutsk. 33 of the 35 people on board died in the crash.

Aeroflot Flight 12
Accident
Date13 July 1963 (1963-07-13)
SummaryControlled flight into terrain
Sitenear Irkutsk
Aircraft
Aircraft typeTupolev Tu-104B
OperatorAeroflot
RegistrationCCCP-42492
Flight originBeijing Capital International Airport, China
StopoverIrkutsk, USSR
DestinationSheremetyevo Airport, Moscow USSR
Passengers27
Crew8
Fatalities33
Survivors2

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Tupolev Tu-104B, registration CCCP-42492.[1][2]

Synopsis

The plane took off from Beijing around 2:49am Moscow time en route to Irkutsk at 9,000 meters. With low cloud cover over the Irkutsk airport, the crew received contradictory weather data about the low height of the cloud tops. The plane ended up descending too early. Upon exiting the cloud cover less than 60 meters from the ground, the pilots attempted to take evasive action but could not and the plane impacted terrain two miles short of the runway around 10am local time.[3][2]

Casualties

33 of the 35 people on board died in the crash, including all eight crew members and 25 passengers. Two passengers survived.[2] Among the dead were seven Albanians including the Albanian ambassador to China and poet Drago Siliqi, as well as three Chinese.[4] The remains of the Albanian and Chinese victims were taken to Beijing for a major public burial attended by Premier Zhou Enlai. In contrast, a United States aviation periodical noted the Soviet press "virtually ignored" the crash.[4]

References

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