Narrative:An Ilyushin Il-62 passenger plane was destroyed when it crashed in a forest near Moscow-Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO), Russia. All 164 passengers and ten crew members were killed.
The airplane operated on a non-scheduled flight from Paris, France to Moscow with an en-route stop at Leningrad (now named St. Petersburg). The flight took off from Leningrad at 20:59. As the flight approached Sheremetyevo Airport the crew were given instructions to descend to 400 m. During the third procedure turn the airplane continued to descent at high speed and in clean configuration. The airplane descended at an IAS of 620 km/h and a vertical speed of 12 m/s until it struck the ground.
The cause of the accident was never established. Possibly the crew had been disabled by a lightning strike or the elevator control had a malfunction.
Classification:
ILS inoperative
Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) - Ground
Sources:
»
Soviet Transports» Aviation Disasters / D. Gero
»
airdisaster.ru
Photos
Map
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does
not display the exact flight path.
Distance from Leningrad-Shosseynaya Airport to Moskva-Sheremetyevo Airport as the crow flies is 595 km (372 miles).
Accident location: Exact; as reported in the official accident report.
This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.