1981 Pushkin Tu-104 crash

Plane crash in Leningrad, USSR

59°40′29.1″N 30°19′26.5″E / 59.674750°N 30.324028°E / 59.674750; 30.324028AircraftAircraft typeTupolev Tu-104AOperatorPacific Fleet of the Soviet NavyRegistrationСССР-42332Flight originPushkin AirportStopoverKhabarovsk Novy AirportDestinationVladivostok Int'l Airport
(1981: Knevichi Airport)Occupants50Passengers44Crew6Fatalities50Survivors0

On 7 February 1981, a Tupolev Tu-104A passenger jet crashed during take off from Pushkin Airport near Leningrad, Soviet Union, resulting in the death of all 50 people on board, including 28 high-ranking Soviet military personnel. The official investigation concluded that the aircraft was improperly loaded.

Accident

At 18:00 local time, the Tu-104A lined up on runway 21 and commenced its take-off run during snowing weather conditions. After rotation, the aircraft pitched up beyond normal take-off attitude, and eight seconds after lift off, at an altitude above ground level of 50 m (160 ft), the Tupolev stalled and entered a right bank. The aircraft continued to roll right until it struck the ground 20 m (66 ft) from the departure end of the runway, crashing nearly inverted and bursting into flames, killing 49 of the 50 people on board. One person in the cockpit was ejected from the nose of the aircraft, and was found alive in the snow not far from the crash site, but died on the way to a hospital.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Aircraft

The Tupolev Tu-104A involved was serial number 76600402 and registered as СССР-42332 to the Soviet Navy. The construction of the airliner was completed on 26 November 1957.^[1]

Investigation

The investigation of the accident revealed that the crew allowed the aircraft to be improperly loaded. Evidence was uncovered that led investigators to believe that some military officers did not comply with seating assignments given by the crew and that these officers pressured the crew to make the flight in an unsafely loaded aircraft. Another factor reported by witnesses was that large rolls of printing paper were loaded on board, and these are believed to have rolled rearward during acceleration on take-off, causing the center of gravity to shift aft of acceptable limits, thereby reducing the stability of the aircraft in pitch, making lowering the nose impossible for the crew.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Casualties

The Tupolev Tu-104A was carrying many of the Pacific Fleet's senior officers from Leningrad, where they had been attending meetings with the naval command, to Vladivostok, via Khabarovsk. Among the dead were 16 admirals and generals, including the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Emil Spiridonov, and his wife. They were both interred with most of the other victims of the crash in the Serafimovskoe Cemetery in Leningrad, where a memorial to the dead was erected on the orders of the Navy's commander-in-chief, Sergey Gorshkov.^[5] A memorial service is held annually on 7 February at the St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral in St Petersburg, and on the 20th anniversary of the crash, the line: "Those who died in the line of duty on 7 February 1981", and an Orthodox cross were added to the memorial stele commemorating the Pacific Navy sailors.^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Tupolev Tu-104A Board number: USSR-42332". russianplanes.net (in Russian). 2011-02-01. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
^ ^a ^b "Crash of a Tupolev TU-104A in Pushkin: 50 killed". baaa-acro.com. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
^ ^a ^b "Accident description 7 February 1981". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
^ ^a ^b "Even the admiral will not abolish the laws of aerodynamics". nvo.ng.ru (in Russian). 2008-11-04. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
^ ^a ^b Koshelev, S. "ЧЕРНЫЙ ФЕВРАЛЬ" [BLACK FEBRUARY] (in Russian). Morskaya Gazeta. Retrieved 8 April 2019.

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1981 (1981)

Feb 7

1981 Pushkin Tu-104 crash

Mar 2

Pakistan International Airlines Flight 326

Mar 28

Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 206

May 2

Aer Lingus Flight 164

May 7

Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 901

Jun 14

Aeroflot Flight 498

Jun 26

Dan-Air Flight 240

Jul 18

Armenia mid-air collision

Jul 20

Somali Airlines Flight 40

Jul 27

Aeroméxico Flight 230

Jul 31

Panamanian Air Force Twin Otter crash

Aug 9

1981 Barrington Tops Cessna 210 disappearance

Aug 13

G-ASWI ditching

Aug 19

Gulf of Sidra incident

Aug 22

Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 103

Aug 24

Aeroflot Flight 811

Aug 26

Aeropesca Colombia Flight 221

Sep 18

Zheleznogorsk mid-air collision

Sep 22

Eastern Air Lines Flight 935

Sep 29

Indian Airlines Flight 423

Oct 6

NLM CityHopper Flight 431

Nov 8

Aeroméxico Flight 110

Nov 17

Aeroflot Flight 3603

Dec 1

Inex-Adria Flight 1308

1980 ◄ ► 1982

Aviation accidents and incidents in the Soviet Union

1930s	Osoaviakhim-1 SSSR-V6 Osoaviakhim
1940s	1948 Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-12 crash
1950s	1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash LOT Polish Airlines Flight 232 1957 Kiev mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 04 1958 Aeroflot Tu-104 Kanash crash Aeroflot Flight 315 (1959) Aeroflot Flight 120 Aeroflot Flight 200
1960s	Aeroflot Flight 315 (1960) U-2 incident Aeroflot Flight 207 RB-47 shootdown incident Aeroflot Flight 036 Austrian Airlines Flight 901 Aeroflot Flight 068 Aeroflot Flight 245 Aeroflot Flight 902 Aeroflot Flight 415 Aeroflot Flight 213 (1962) Aeroflot Flight 191 Aeroflot Flight 03 Aeroflot Flight 25 Aeroflot Flight 012 Aeroflot Flight 366 Aeroflot Flight 663 Aeroflot Flight 721 Aeroflot Flight 101/X-20 Aeroflot Flight 542 Aeroflot Flight 513 Aeroflot Flight 99 Aeroflot Flight 065 Aeroflot Flight 2723 Aeroflot Flight 5003 (1967) Aeroflot Flight 2230 Aeroflot Flight L-51 Aeroflot Flight 15 Seaboard World Airlines Flight 253A 1969 Yukhnov mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight N-826
1970s	Aeroflot Flight U-45 Aeroflot Flight 1661 Dymshits–Kuznetsov hijacking affair Aeroflot Flight 3630 Aeroflot Flight 244 22 January 1971 Surgut Aeroflot Antonov An-12 crash 31 January 1971 Surgut Aeroflot Antonov An-12 crash Aeroflot Flight 1969 Aeroflot Flight 1912 Malév Flight 110 Aeroflot Flight 773 Aeroflot Flight N-63 Aeroflot Flight 2174 Aeroflot Flight 1491 Aeroflot Flight 558 Aeroflot Flight 1036 Aeroflot Flight 217 Japan Air Lines Flight 446 Aeroflot Flight 6263 Aeroflot Flight 141 Aeroflot Flight 630 Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Flight 307 Aeroflot Flight 6551 Aeroflot Flight 109 Aeroflot Flight A-13 Aeroflot Flight 3932 Aeroflot Flight 964 Aeroflot Flight 19 Aeroflot Flight 2022 1974 Leningrad Aeroflot Il-18 crash 1974 Surgut mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 2003 Aeroflot Flight 3739 (1976) Aeroflot Flight 909 Aeroflot Flight 1802 Aeroflot Flight A-53 Aeroflot Flight 418 1976 Anapa mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 2415 Aeroflot Flight N-36 Aeroflot Flight 3843 Aeroflot Flight 5003 (1977) 1977 Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134 hijacking Aeroflot Flight B-2 Aeroflot Flight 6709 Korean Air Lines Flight 902 1978 Yegoryevsk Tu-144 crash Iranian Chinook shootdown Aeroflot Flight 1080 Aeroflot Flight 1691 1979 Dniprodzerzhynsk mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 5484
1980s– Dec. 1991	Aeroflot Flight 4225 1981 Pushkin Tu-104 crash Aeroflot Flight 498 1981 Armenia mid-air collision 1981 Zheleznogorsk mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 811 Aeroflot Flight 3603 Aeroflot Flight 8641 Aeroflot Flight 411 Aeroflot Flight 5463 Korean Air Lines Flight 007 Aeroflot Flight 601 Aeroflot Flight 3352 Aeroflot Flight 3519 Aeroflot Flight 7841 1985 Zolochiv mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 5143 Aeroflot Flight 101/435 Aeroflot Flight 2306 Aeroflot Flight 6502 Aeroflot Flight U-505 Aeroflot Flight N-528 Aeroflot Flight 699 Aeroflot Flight 3739 (1988) 1988 Soviet Air Force Il-76 crash An-24 crash in Navoiy Aeroflot Flight 8556