Aeroflot Flight 343

Aeroflot Flight 343

The aircraft involved in the accident
Accident summary
Date	29 September 1982 (1982-09-29)
Summary	Runway excursion
Site	at Luxembourg Findel Airport
Passengers	66
Crew	11
Fatalities	7
Survivors	70
Aircraft type	Ilyushin Il-62M
Operator	Aeroflot
Registration	CCCP-86470
Flight origin	Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow
1st stopover	Luxembourg Findel Airport
2nd stopover	José Martí International Airport
Destination	Jorge Chávez International Airport

Aeroflot Flight 343 (Russian: Рейс 343 Аэрофлота Reys 343 Aeroflota) was a passenger flight from Moscow-Sheremetyevo Airport to Jorge Chávez International Airport, on a stopover at Luxembourg-Findel International Airport, that veered off the runway, fatally injuring seven occupants.^[1]

Aircraft

The aircraft involved in the accident was an Ilyushin Il-62M operated by Aeroflot, registered CCCP-86470. The aircraft rolled off the assembly line of the Kazan production facility in April 1977. At the time of the accident the aircraft had 10,325 pressurization cycles and 86,470 flight hours.^[2]

Accident description

The flight was intended for the Moscow-Luxembourg-Havana-Lima route, but crashed on the first stopover in Luxembourg. The flight had 66 passengers and 11 crew members. The aircraft started experiencing technical difficulties on approach to landing. At an altitude of just 5 m (16 ft) above the runway and a speed of 278 km/h (173 mph; 150 kn), with the engines set at 40% Nh, the thrust reversers on engines № 1 and 4 were released; immediately thereafter the Il-62 suddenly began to pivot to the right. Five seconds later at a speed of 265 km/h (165 mph; 143 kn), the crew increased power on engine № 4 to 80% Nh and engine № 1 – to 86% Nh, intending to re-align the aircraft with the runway. Instead, the deviation to the right only increased. Instead of stopping on the runway, the aircraft wing hit a water tower, then continued on, striking a small airport fence before it rolled into a small forest, damaged several trees, then fell into a small ravine 200 meters from the runway at 20:23 local time.^[3]

Causes

The investigation determined the probable cause of the accident to be mechanical failure of the thrust reversers on engine No.1:^[3]

"The accident may be attributed to a mechanical failure affecting the mechanism of controlling thrust which occurred during the most critical phase of landing. This failure, sudden and unpredictable, was identified by the crew and made the aircraft uncontrollable in direction during the execution of the normal landing procedure."^[1]

References