Aeroflot Flight 6502 Explained

Aeroflot Flight 6502
Occurrence Type:Aviation Accident
Summary:Runway overrun due to pilot recklessness
Site:Kuibyshev Airport, Soviet Union
Tail Number:CCCP-65766
Occupants:94
Passengers:87
Crew:7
Fatalities:70
Survivors:24
Origin:Koltsovo Airport, Soviet Union
Stopover:Kuibyshev Airport, Soviet Union
Destination:Grozny Airport, Soviet Union

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. The accident occurred when, on a bet, the pilot attempted to make an instrument-only approach with curtained cockpit windows. Investigators determined the cause of the accident was pilot negligence.[1]

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 at Kurumoch Airport in Samara (then Kuibyshev).

Crash

While approaching Kurumoch Airport, Captain Kliuyev made a bet with First Officer Zhirnov that he, Kliuyev, could make an instrument-only approach with curtained cockpit windows, thus having no visual contact with the ground, instead of an NDB approach, suggested by the air traffic control.[2] Kliuyev further ignored the ground-proximity warning at an altitude of 62- and did not make the suggested go-around.[2] The aircraft touched down on the runway at a speed of 150kn and came to rest upside down after overrunning the runway.[2] Sixty-three people died during the accident and seven more in hospitals later.[2] Among the passengers were 14 children, all of whom survived the accident. The top-secret report of the chairman of Kuibyshev oblispolkom V. A. Pogodin to Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov gave slightly different figures: Of 85 passengers and eight crew members aboard, 53 passengers and five crew members died in the crash and 11 more in hospitals later.[3]

Though Zhirnov made no attempt to avert the crash, he subsequently tried to save the passengers and died of cardiac arrest while on the way to the hospital.[4] Kliuyev was prosecuted and sentenced to 15 years in prison, later reduced to six years served.[5] [4]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ranter. Harro. ASN Aircraft accident Tupolev Tu-134A CCCP-65766 Kuybyshev Airport (KUF). 2020-07-13. aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. 11 January 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210111233158/https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19861020-1. live.
  2. Web site: 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). 2 December 2013. Airdisaster.ru. ru. 4 October 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121004055905/http://airdisaster.ru/database.php?id=73. live.
  3. Web site: Самая крупная катастрофа случилась в Самарском аэропорту в 1986 году. The biggest disaster happened at Samara airport in 1986. 2 December 2013. RIA Samara. ru. 4 July 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120704182520/http://www.riasamara.ru/rus/news/region/accident/article6779.shtml. live.
  4. News: 5 June 1987. Blind Landing on a Dare Killed Dozens, Paper Says: Soviets Disclose October Airliner Crash. Los Angeles Times. Reuters. Soviet Russia said the co-pilot died of heart failure while trying to rescue passengers.. 4 December 2013. 24 October 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161024220514/http://articles.latimes.com/1987-06-05/news/mn-3086_1_blind-landing. live.
  5. Web site: Moonspell. 4 January 2016. Совершенно секретные фотографии авиакатастрофы в Самаре. Top secret photos of a plane crash in Samara. ru. 8 January 2016. 27 February 2016. https://archive.today/20160227103258/http://fishki.net/1801234-sovershenno-sekretnye-fotografii-aviakatastrofy-v-samare.html. live.