Aeroflot Flight 8641

Aeroflot Flight 8641
An Aeroflot Yak-42, similar to the one that crashed
Accident
Date June 28, 1982
Summary Jackscrew failure due to metal fatigue; design flaw
Site Near Mozyr, Belarussian SSR, Soviet Union
Aircraft
Aircraft type Yakovlev Yak-42
Operator Aeroflot
Registration CCCP-42529
Flight origin Pulkovo Airport, Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Destination Kyiv-Zhuliany International Airport, Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Passengers 124
Crew 8
Fatalities 132
Survivors 0

Aeroflot Flight 8641 was a Yakovlev Yak-42 airliner on a domestic scheduled passenger flight from Leningrad, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, to Kiev, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. On June 28, 1982, the flight crashed near Mozyr, Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, killing all 132 people on board. The accident was both the first and deadliest crash of a Yakovlev Yak-42, and remains deadliest aviation accident in Belarus.[1][2]

Aircraft and crew

The aircraft involved in the accident was a Yakovlev Yak-42 registered to Aeroflot as CCCP-42529. The aircraft made its maiden flight on 21 April 1981. At the time of the accident the aircraft had only 795 flight hours and 496 cycles (one cycle equals one takeoff and landing).[3]

There were eight crew members: four cockpit crew and four flight attendants.

The cockpit crew consisted of the following:[3][4]

  • Captain Vyacheslav Nikolaevich Musinsky (born October 23, 1947)
  • Co-pilot – Alexander Stigarev (born 15 July 1949)
  • Navigator – Viktor Ivanovich Kedrov (born 17 September 1952)
  • Flight engineer – Nikolai Semenovich Vinohrady (born July 22, 1938)

The flight attendants were as follows:[3][4]

  • Anna Nikolaevna Sheykina (born February 9, 1940)
  • Tamara Vasishcheva (born 25 September 1941)
  • Olga P. Pavlova (born December 1, 1947)
  • Yuri Ryabov (born 13 May 1959)

Sequence of events

The aircraft took off from Pulkovo Airport at 9:01 UTC, having been delayed one minute because of a late passenger. At 10:45 the aircraft entered the zone of Boryspil air traffic control Center. The crew started to prepare for descent at 10:48:01. At 10:48:58 the crew contacted the air traffic controller and requested an emergency landing. The controller instructed them to remain in a holding pattern at 7800 meters. The crew confirmed the flight path; no further communications were heard from flight 8641. At 10:51:20 the autopilot gradually brought about a stabilizer angle of up 0.3° for descent for landing. Suddenly, at 10:51:30 the stabilizer angle sharply increased, exceeding the 2° limit. The sudden change resulted in an overload of 1.5 g, but the autopilot adjusted the wheel and controls to lower it to 0.6 g. After the pilots pulled back on the yoke to level out the plane for three continuous seconds, the autopilot switched off, putting the aircraft into a steep dive. While struggling to maintain control, the pilots pulled on the control columns; however, the plane rolled 35° and went into a dive of 50° at 10:51:50, causing it to experience well over 2 g of force. The aircraft subsequently disintegrated in mid-air.[5]

The wreckage of the crash was found on the outskirts of Verbovici, 12 km southeast of the main metropolitan area. Fragments of the plane were scattered across an area of 6.5 by 3.5 km. All 132 people onboard perished.[5]

Cause

The cause was determined to be a failure of the jackscrew mechanism in the aircraft's tail due to metal fatigue, which resulted from flaws in the Yak-42's design. The investigation concluded that among the causes of the crash were poor maintenance, as well as the control system of the stabilizer not meeting basic aviation standards.

As for the official cause of the crash: "the spontaneous movement of the stabilizer was due to disconnection in flight of the jackscrew assembly due to the almost complete deterioration of the 42M5180-42 thread-nuts due to structural imperfections in the mechanism." Due to the accident, all Yak-42s were withdrawn from service until the design defect was rectified in October 1984.[1][5][6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "ASN Aircraft accident Yakovlev 42 CCCP-42529 Mozyr". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2017-12-29.
  2. ↑ "УПАВШИЕ С НЕБА. Архив БГ. №29 (345) 29 июля 2002 г.. БелГазета. Новости Беларуси. Белорусские новости". www.belgazeta.by. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
  3. 1 2 3 "Яковлев Як-42 Бортовой №: СССР-42529". russianplanes.net. Retrieved 2017-12-29.
  4. 1 2 Документальный детектив (2014-09-15), Документальный детектив – Ленинград-Киев. Прерванный полёт..., retrieved 2017-01-11
  5. 1 2 3 "Катастрофа Як-42 Ленинградского УГА близ Наровли, Белоруссия". www.airdisaster.ru. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
  6. ↑ Gordon, Komissarov and Komissarov 2005, p. 315.

Coordinates: 52°3′0″N 29°16′0.12″E / 52.05000°N 29.2667000°E / 52.05000; 29.2667000

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