Date: | 3 March 1973 |
Type: | Atmospheric icing |
Occurrence Type: | Accident |
Site: | Near Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow, Soviet Union |
Aircraft Type: | Ilyushin Il-18 |
Tail Number: | LZ-BEM |
Operator: | Balkan Bulgarian Airlines |
Origin: | Sofia Vrazhdebna Airport, Sofia, Bulgaria |
Destination: | Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow, Soviet Union |
Passengers: | 17 |
Crew: | 8 |
Fatalities: | 25 |
Survivors: | 0 |
Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Flight 307 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Sofia to Moscow that crashed on its final approach to the Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow on March 3, 1973. All 25 passengers and crew on board were killed in the crash.
The aircraft involved was an Ilyushin Il-18V, registration LZ-BEM with the manufacturer's serial number 182005602. The aircraft first flew in 1962.
The aircraft was completing an international scheduled passenger flight from Sofia to Moscow when, on its second landing attempt after a missed approach, it started to lose altitude and nosedived shortly thereafter. The aircraft crashed into the ground, disintegrated, and caught fire. There were no survivors among the 17 passengers and 8 crew members on board. The accident marked the loss of an Ilyushin Il-18 and was also the worst accident involving the type at the time of the accident., the event is the deadliest one involving an Il-18.
Icing was later determined as the possible cause of the accident.