Aeroflot Flight 55
 | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 1 September 1969 |
| Summary | Crew and air traffic controller errors leading to controlled flight into terrain |
| Site | Mount Dumka, shore of the Kresta Bay, 24 km south-southwest of Zaliv Kresta Airfield, Iultinsky District of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (RSFSR, USSR) 66°09′42″N 179°19′34″W / 66.16167°N 179.32611°WCoordinates: 66°09′42″N 179°19′34″W / 66.16167°N 179.32611°W Fatal error: The format of the coordinate could not be determined. Parsing failed. |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Ilyushin Il-14P |
| Operator | Aeroflot |
| Registration | USSR-61731 |
| Flight origin | .svg){kind=small} Ugolny Airport, Anadyr, RSFSR, USSR |
| Destination | Zaliv Kresta Airfield, RSFSR, USSR |
| Occupants | 27 |
| Passengers | 22 |
| Crew | 5 |
| Fatalities | 22 |
| Injuries | 5 |
| Survivors | 5 |
Aeroflot Flight 55 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by Aeroflot from Anadyr — Egvekinot that occurred on Monday, September 1, 1969.
The Il-14P airliner of the Anadyr branch of Aeroflot was operating a regular domestic flight on the route Anadyr — Egvekinot, but five minutes after taking off from Anadyr's Ugolny Airport, the aircraft returned to the departure airport. Shortly afterward, the aircraft took off again, but during its approach to land at Egvekinot Airport, Kresta Bay, the airliner crashed into Mount Dumka on the shore of Kresta Bay and was completely destroyed. Of the 27 people on board — 22 passengers and 5 crew members — 22 were killed, and five survived, all of whom sustained injuries. The crash of Flight 55 became the worst aviation disaster in the history of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.
Aircraft
The Ilyushin Il-14P (according to other sources — Il-14M) with factory number 146000205 and serial number 02-05 was produced by the Znamya Truda factory (Moscow) on April 17, 1956, after which it was sold to the Main Directorate of Civil Aviation. The airliner received the registration number USSR-L1731 and was assigned to the Moscow Territorial Administration, where it was possibly sent to the Vnukovo Aviation Unit. In 1959, due to re-registration, the registration number was changed to CCCP-61731. By February 1, 1962, the aircraft had been transferred to the Anadyr Combined Aviation Unit (150th Flight Unit) of the Magadan Civil Aviation Administration. At the time of the crash, the aircraft had accumulated 22,964 flight hours and completed 14,302 take-off and landing cycles.[1][2]
Crew
The Il-14 was piloted by a crew from the 150th Flight Unit of the Anadyr Aviation Enterprise, which included 5 crew members:
- Aircraft Commander — Yuri Alekseevich Ivanushkin
- Co-Pilot — Nikolai Alekseevich Antyufeev
- Navigator — Anatoly Vasilievich Chudov
- Flight Engineer — Yevgeny Danilovich Shelofastov
- Radio Operator — Alexander Ivanovich Romankov
Incident
On September 1, 1969, at 09:19 local time (21:19 MSK on August 31), flight SU-55 with 22 passengers and 5 crew members took off from Anadyr Ugolny Airport, operated by an Il-14P aircraft, tail number USSR-61731, flying from Anadyr to Egvekinot. However, just 5 minutes later (09:24), aircraft 61731 landed back in Anadyr because Krest Bay Airport, which serves the town of Egvekinot, was closed due to adverse weather conditions. A few hours later, the weather over Egvekinot improved, and Krest Bay Airport agreed to accept flight 55. Finally, at 12:13, with 22 passengers, 5 crew members, 493 kg of mail, and 452 kg of cargo on board, the Il-14 took off for Egvekinot and, after climbing, reached an altitude of 2,400 meters.
Half an hour after flight 61731 took off again from Anadyr Airport, a new weather forecast came to the AMSG of the airport from Zaliv Kresta Airport, according to which there was expected to be fog by the time the plane arrived, reducing visibility in the landing zone to no more than 1,000–2,000 metres. At that time, the flight operations manager at the air traffic control centre in Anadyr was V. I. Popov, who, after receiving the forecast, nevertheless allowed Flight 55 to continue to Egvekinot.[1]
When the crew established communication with the air traffic controller at Zaliv Kresta Airport, they received a forecast: overcast stratus-rain and broken rain clouds with a lower boundary of 600 meters, rain, wind 180° at 7 m/s, gusts up to 12 m/s, visibility up to 8 kilometres, and landing course 170°. The controller also gave clearance to proceed to the instrument approach station at an altitude of 2,100 meters. When the crew reported passing over the station, the controller authorized them to penetrate the clouds according to the established procedure.[1]
According to the procedure, the aircraft was supposed to emerge from the clouds following a course of 170°, after which, while over the bay, it would turn 180°, thus taking the course opposite to the landing course — 350°, after which the standard landing approach procedure could be carried out. About 5–6 minutes after permission to penetrate the cloud layer was given, the controller asked the crew about the lower limit of the clouds; however, Flight 55 no longer responded. After several unsuccessful attempts to establish contact, a search for the aircraft was initiated.[1]
The next day, search teams discovered the wrecked and nearly burnt-out airliner on Mount Dumka (elevation 250 meters), located 20 kilometres south-southwest of Egvekinot (24 km from Krest Bay Airport along an azimuth of 198°) and 9.5 kilometres west of the established cloud penetration scheme axis. It was determined that at 13:05, while flying in the clouds on an actual course of 240° at an altitude of 235 meters, the Il-14 crashed into the slope of the mountain, after which it continued to tumble upward along the slope while breaking apart, moving through various obstacles. 17 passengers and all 5 crew members, a total of 22 people, died.[1] To this day,{{when|date=October 2025|reason= this is the worst aviation disaster in the history of Chukotka.
Investigation
It was established during the investigation that the main transmitter at the long-range radio station was malfunctioning, and since August 19, a backup transmitter had been in operation instead. However, inspection flights to check this backup transmitter were not conducted, even though it turned out that it was emitting incorrect signals. As a result of this violation, the aircraft, when maintaining the course according to the radio compass, actually began to veer to the right when flying south — towards the west. In addition, in the forecast received by the crew, a northern wind was expected, whereas in reality, in the Egvekinot area, a southern wind was blowing. It is most likely that the crew relied on the northern wind as it was indicated in the weather forecast. In this case, the crew incorrectly determined the time and vertical descent rate, after which they began to descend to an altitude of 300 meters.[1]
The aircraft began to deviate from the flight pattern, and the crew noticed it but decided that such a deviation was caused by the northwesterly wind. Then, to correct it, the pilots increased the course by turning to the right, trying to return to the pattern. As a result, a malfunction in the radio navigation equipment, incorrect calculations of time and vertical descent rate, as well as the crew's mistaken belief about the northwesterly wind, effectively led to the airliner beginning to veer toward the western shore of the bay, heading straight for the mountains.[1]
Seeing the sea surface below and not knowing their actual location, the crew decided that the descent was according to the usual procedure. Following gaps in the clouds, the Il-14 descended to an altitude of 300 meters, after which a standard clockwise turn to a course of 350° was begun while descending. With a right bank, the airliner entered the clouds that obscured the ground, and shortly afterward, aircraft 61731 crashed into the mountainside.[1]
Conclusion
According to the commission, the main culprit of the disaster was the aircraft commander Yuri Ivanushkin, who, after reaching a safe altitude of 300 meters, did not wait for clearance from the dispatcher and arbitrarily continued descending below the safe altitude.[1] The disaster was accompanied by violations in the organization of air traffic management:[1]
- The ground radio station, due to improper operation of the radio transmitter, effectively diverted the aircraft to the right, causing the crew, trying to follow the flight path, to go off that line to the right.
- In the weather forecast, the wind direction and altitude were incorrectly determined, leading to crew calculation errors and premature descent.
- The crew did not receive a storm warning that the hills were covered with clouds.
- The dispatch services in Anadyr and Kresta Bay poorly organized flight safety during aircraft arrival and departure.
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 "Катастрофа Ил-14 Анадырского ОАО близ Эгвекинота" [The crash of the Il-14 of the Anadyr JSC near Egvekinot] (in Russian). AirDisaster.ru. Retrieved October 16, 2025.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
- ↑ "Ilyushin IL-14M" (in Russian). russianplanes.net. Retrieved October 16, 2025.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
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