1979 Dniprodzerzhynsk mid-air collision

1979 Dniprodzerzhynsk mid-air collision

An Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134A similar to both aircraft involved is seen here on short final to Euroairport in 1977
Accident summary
Date 11 August 1979
Summary Mid-air collision caused by ATC error
Site near Dniprodzerzhynsk, Ukrainian SSR
48°35′17.5″N 34°39′21.5″E / 48.588194°N 34.655972°ECoordinates: 48°35′17.5″N 34°39′21.5″E / 48.588194°N 34.655972°E
Total fatalities 178
Total survivors 0
First aircraft
Type Tupolev Tu-134A
Operator Aeroflot – Moldavian SSR
Registration СССР-65816
Flight origin Voronezh Airport, Russian SFSR
Destination Chişinău Airport, Moldavian SSR
Passengers 88
Crew 6
Survivors 0
Second aircraft
Type Tupolev Tu-134AK
Operator Aeroflot
Registration СССР-65735
Flight origin Donetsk Airport, Ukrainian SSR
Destination Minsk-1 International Airport, Belarusian SSR
Passengers 77
Crew 7
Survivors 0

A mid-air collision of two Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134 passenger jets took place on 11 August 1979 over the Ukrainian SSR, near Dniprodzerzhynsk. All 178 occupants of both aircraft perished in the accident.

Aircraft

One of the aircraft involved was a Tupolev Tu-134AK, registration CCCP-65735, that was operating a domestic scheduled Donetsk–Minsk passenger service as flight 7880[1] flying at an altitude of 8,400 metres (27,600 ft); there were 84 occupants aboard, of whom 77 were passengers.[2] The other aircraft was a Tupolev Tu-134A, tail number СССР-65816, that was operating the last leg of a domestic scheduled Chelyabinsk–Voronezh–Kishinev passenger service as flight 7628[3] under the airline's Moldova division, flying at the same altitude the former aircraft was; it had 94 occupants on board, consisting of 88 passengers and 6 crew.[4]

Description of the accident

An air traffic controller noticed that the aircraft were on intersecting routes and ordered the Minsk-bound flight to climb to 9,000 metres (30,000 ft). The controller heard a muffled reply and assumed it was an acknowledgement from this aircraft, yet the muffled transmission was actually from another airplane. Both aircraft collided in a cloud, at 26,000 feet (7,900 m),[5] approximately over Dniprodzerzhynsk, then located in the Ukrainian SSR.[4] CCCP-65735's right wing sliced through CCCP-65816's forward fuselage. The impact spun the Kishinev-bound plane around, causing the tails of the aircraft to collide. The Minsk-bound plane nosedived into the ground, while the other plane disintegrated and fell to the ground in pieces.[6] All occupants of both aircraft perished in the accident, including 17 players and staff of the then Soviet top division Pakhtakor Football Club team.[7][8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://airdisaster.ru/database.php?id=25
  2. ↑ Accident description for CCCP-65735 at the Aviation Safety Network
  3. ↑ http://airdisaster.ru/database.php?id=24
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Accident description for CCCP-65816 at the Aviation Safety Network
  5. ↑ "Airline safety—First assessment of 1979 – Fatal accidents: scheduled passenger flights". Flight International: 247. 26 January 1980. Archived from the original on 28 February 2013.
  6. ↑ "Столкновение двух Ту-134А Белорусского УГА и Молдавского РПО ГА близ Днепродзержинска. Гибель футбольной команды "Пахтакор"". Airdisaster.ru. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  7. ↑ Yuldashev, Mavlyan (11 August 2004). Двадцать пять лет назад в авиакатастрофе погибли футболисты ташкентской команды "Пахтакор" [Twenty Five Years Have Passed Since the Deadly Air Disaster Involving Pakhtakor Tashkent] (in Russian). Ferghana.Ru. Archived from the original on 28 September 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  8. ↑ "Russia's worst mid-air collision". Flight International: 567. 25 August 1979. Archived from the original on 28 February 2013. Details of the accident have been published because an entire football team was killed in one of the aircraft.