Aeroflot Flight 6502

Aeroflot Flight 6502 was a Soviet domestic passenger flight operated by a Tupolev Tu-134A from Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) to Grozny, which crashed on 20 October 1986. 70 of the 94 passengers and crew on board were killed. Investigators determined the cause of the accident to be pilot negligence.[1]

Aeroflot Flight 6502
An Aeroflot Tu-134A, similar to that involved in the accident.
Aviation Accident
Date20 October 1986 (1986-10-20)
SummaryPilot recklessness
SiteKuibyshev Airport
Aircraft
Aircraft typeTupolev Tu-134A
OperatorAeroflot
RegistrationCCCP-65766
Flight originKoltsovo Airport
StopoverKuibyshev Airport
DestinationGrozny Airport
Occupants94
Passengers87
Crew7
Fatalities70
Survivors24

Background

The crew of the Tu-134A aircraft, serial number 62327 manufactured on 28 June 1979, consisted of pilot in command Alexander Kliuyev, co-pilot Gennady Zhirnov, navigating officer Ivan Mokhonko, flight engineer Kyuri Khamzatov and three flight attendants.[2] Having departed from Koltsovo Airport in Yekaterinburg (then Sverdlovsk) and bound for Grozny, Flight 6502 had one stopover in Kurumoch Airport of Samara (then Kuibyshev).[1]

Crash

While approaching Kurumoch Airport, Kliuyev made a bet with Zhirnov that he, Kliuyev, could make an instrument-only approach with curtained cockpit windows, thus having no visual contact with the ground, instead of a NDB approach, suggested by the air traffic control.[2] Kliuyev further ignored the ground proximity warning at an altitude of 62–65 metres (203–213 ft) and did not make the suggested go-around.[2] The aircraft touched down at a speed of 150 knots (280 km/h)[2] and came to rest upside down. Sixty-three people died during the accident and seven more in hospitals later.[2] Among the passengers were fourteen children, all of whom survived the accident.[3] The top secret report of the Chairman of Kuibyshev oblispolkom V.A. Pogodin to the Premier of the Soviet Union, Nikolai Ryzhkov, gave slightly different figures: 85 passengers and 8 crew members aboard, 53 passengers and five crew members died in the crash and 11 more in hospital later.[3]

Even though Zhirnov made no attempt to avert the crash, he subsequently tried to save the passengers and died of cardiac arrest en route to hospital.[4] Kliuyev was prosecuted and sentenced to fifteen years in prison, later reduced to six years served.[5][4]

See also

References
  1. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Tupolev Tu-134A CCCP-65766 Kuybyshev Airport (KUF)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  2. "Катастрофа Ту-134А Северо-Кавказского УГА в а/п Курумоч (Куйбышев)" [Accident of Tu-134A of the North-Caucasian CAA in the airport Kurumoch (Kuibyshev)] (in Russian). Airdisaster.ru. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  3. "Самая крупная катастрофа случилась в Самарском аэропорту в 1986 году" [The biggest disaster happened at Samara airport in 1986] (in Russian). RIA Samara. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  4. "Blind Landing on a Dare Killed Dozens, Paper Says: Soviets Disclose October Airliner Crash". Los Angeles Times. Reuters. 5 June 1987. Archived from the original on 24 October 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2013. Soviet Russia said the co-pilot died of heart failure while trying to rescue passengers.
  5. Moonspell (4 January 2016). "Совершенно секретные фотографии авиакатастрофы в Самаре" [Top secret photos of a plane crash in Samara] (in Russian). Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
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