Aeroflot Flight 6502

Aeroflot Flight 6502 was a Soviet domestic passenger flight from Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) to Grozny, which crashed on 20 October 1986 due to pilot error, killing seventy of the ninety-four passengers and crew on board.^{[lower-alpha 1]}

Background

The crew of the aircraft, serial number 62327 produced 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]

Accident

The crash occurred after Kliuyev made a bet with Zhirnov to make an instrument-only approach with curtained cockpit windows, thus having no visual contact with the ground, instead of NDB approach, suggested by the air traffic control.^[2] Kliuyev further ignored the ground proximity warning at the altitude of 62–65 metres (203–213 ft) and did not make the suggested go-around manoeuvre.^[2] The aircraft touched down at a speed of 280 kilometres per hour (170 mph).^[2] and came to rest upside down. Sixty-three people died during the accident and 7 more in hospitals later.^[2] Among the passengers were fourteen children, all of whom survived the accident.^[1]

Even though Zhirnov made no attempt to avert the crash, he subsequently tried to save the passengers and died of cardiac arrest en route to hospital.^[3] The pilot of Flight 6502 was prosecuted and sentenced to fifteen years in prison.^[3]

Note

References

External links

• Aeroflot Flight 6502 at Aviation Safety Network