| Aeroflot Flight 164 | |
| Occurrence Type: | Accident |
| Summary: | Loss of control following lightning strike |
| Site: | 4 km SSE of Konstantinovka, Martuk District, Aktobe Region, Kazakh SSR |
| Coordinates: | 50.4333°N 63°W |
| Aircraft Type: | Ilyushin Il-14P |
| Operator: | Aeroflot |
| Tail Number: | СССР-Л1692 |
| Origin: | Frunze Airport, Frunze |
| Stopover: | Aktyubinsk Airport, Aktyubinsk |
| Destination: | Vnukovo Airport, Moscow |
| Passengers: | 22 |
| Crew: | 5 |
| Fatalities: | 27 |
| Survivors: | 0 |
Aeroflot Flight 164 was an aviation accident involving an Il-14P aircraft, which occurred on 7 September 1958 in the Martuk District of the Aktobe Region. All 27 people on board the aircraft died in the crash.
The Il-14P with the tail number Л1692 (factory number 7342304, serial number 23-04) was produced by the Tashkent Aviation Plant on 18 January 1957 and was soon transferred to the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, which assigned it to the Kyrgyz Independent Air Group of the Civil Air Fleet. At the time of the crash, the aircraft had a total flight time of 2,564 hours.[1] [2]
The aircraft was operating flight 164 from Frunze (now Bishkek) to Moscow, piloted by a crew consisting of Captain (CPT) Ivan Ignatievich Shinkarsky, First Officer Nikolai Grigoryevich Ryabov, Flight Engineer Andrey Petrovich Evich, and radio operator Alexander Gavrilovich Kositsin. The cabin was attended by stewardess Vera Vasilyevna Shulga. At 02:10 Moscow Time (MSK), the Il-14 made an intermediate stop at Aktyubinsk (now Aktobe) for refueling. After refueling, the aircraft took off at 02:55 with a magnetic course of 127° and soon reached an altitude of 1,500 meters. On board were 22 passengers (18 adults and 4 children), as well as 402 kilograms of cargo (magnetic starters). According to the weather forecast provided to the crew, the flight route from Aktyubinsk to Uralsk was expected to have stratus clouds of 6–9 octas at an altitude of 600–1,000 meters, rain, and visibility of 4–10 kilometers.
At 03:04, the captain reported to the airport dispatcher that they had reached an altitude of 1,500 meters and were leaving the airport's air zone. At 03:05, they established communication with the Regional Dispatch Center (RDC) and continued the flight at 1,500 meters. At 03:07, the crew contacted the dispatcher at Aktobe Airport again and requested their bearing. They received the response one minute later—274°. This indicated that the aircraft was on course, 50 kilometers from Aktobe. At 03:11, the crew requested the actual weather conditions in Uralsk. The dispatcher reported back—10-octa (solid) stratus clouds at an altitude of 300–600 meters, intermittent rain, visibility 4–10 kilometers. At 03:14, the dispatcher requested confirmation of the altitude and flight conditions, to which the aircraft reported: "1,500 meters, visual, communication with RDC established". At 03:23, the dispatcher called the aircraft Л1692 again, but this time the crew did not respond, and the aircraft's signal was absent from the radar screen. At the same time, the radar showed unusually strong reflections, indicating powerful thunderstorms.
According to data from the Novoalekseyevka meteorological station, located 45 kilometers southwest of the air route, thunderstorms were observed to the east, in the vicinity of the air route. Many witnesses also confirmed the presence of a thunderstorm. As a result, the Il-14, flying at night, unexpectedly encountered a powerful thunderstorm. Lightning struck the aircraft on the left side, entering through the hatch near the control cables for the left aileron, an event witnessed by two shepherds in the steppe. The lightning strike severed and melted the cables, and the electrical discharge traveled along them into the cockpit, potentially paralyzing the crew or shocking them. Losing control, the aircraft began descending with a left turn and slip on the right wing, with engines still running. At approximately 03:18 MSK, the aircraft, with a 60° bank angle, struck the ground with its right wing in the Martuk District of the Aktobe Region, 2 kilometers from the air route, 4 kilometers south-southeast of the village of Konstantinovka, and 80 kilometers west of Aktobe. The Il-14 exploded upon impact, scattering debris over an area of 450–520 meters. All 27 people on board perished. The crew members of the ill-fated flight 164 were buried at the Northern Cemetery in Frunze (Bishkek) the 16th of August, 2022.
According to the commission's findings, the cause of the accident was a lightning strike on the aircraft, which was supported by the following evidence:
The commission found the following individuals responsible for the incident: