1953 aviation accident in the Soviet Union
Aeroflot Flight 783 was an aviation accident involving an Ilyushin Il-12P aircraft operated by Aeroflot, which occurred on Tuesday, October 27, 1953, near Magadan, resulting in the deaths of 22 people.
Aircraft.
The Ilyushin Il-12P, with factory number 93013102 and serial number 31-02, was manufactured by the "Znamya Truda" plant (Moscow) on December 31, 1949. The airliner received the registration number CCCP-Л1765 and was transferred to the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet, which then assigned it to the 141st (Khabarovsk) Air Transport Detachment of the Far Eastern Territorial Administration of the Civil Air Fleet. The aircraft had a total flying time of 4,271 hours.
Accident.
The aircraft was scheduled to perform a regular passenger flight 105 from Magadan to Khabarovsk with intermediate stops in Okhotsk and Nikolaevsk-on-Amur. On board were 27 passengers (18 adults and 9 children) and 5 crew members. The region was experiencing calm weather at the time, with the sky covered by stratiform rain clouds at a lower boundary of 400 meters, snow was falling, the air temperature was 2.2 °C, and visibility was up to 2 kilometers. At 11:16 local time (02:16 Moscow time), flight 783 took off from the "13 km" airport (Magadan) in a northern direction (magnetic course 025°). However, the aircraft was gaining altitude slowly, and it soon sharply banked first to the left, then to the right. After reaching an altitude of 50–70 meters, the aircraft pitched down and crashed into the ground just a couple of minutes after takeoff, 6 kilometers from the airport. The front part of the fuselage up to the 21st frame was destroyed upon impact, resulting in the deaths of all crew members and 17 passengers (12 adults and 5 children), a total of 22 people.
Investigation.
During the investigation, the commission concluded that the accident was caused by a stall. It was then necessary to determine the cause of the stall itself. Examination of the wreckage revealed a layer of ice 5 mm thick on the tail section of the fuselage, and the ice layer on the upper surface of the wing was 6 millimeters thick. Essentially, the aircraft had not been deiced before takeoff, which deteriorated its aerodynamic characteristics. Additionally, it was determined that the takeoff weight of the airliner was exceeded by . All these factors combined led to a loss of control after takeoff.
The crew and the flight supervisor were held responsible. The latter had not been monitoring his subordinates properly. On that day, the weather in the region was unstable, and the airport was closed for aircraft reception. However, the flight supervisor did not monitor the weather conditions and allowed the departure of 13 aircraft, despite the fact that the meteorological minimum for the airport for both reception and departure of aircraft was the same. That meant if the airport was closed for reception, it should also have been closed for departures, which was not done. When the crew submitted the flight assignment without load, refueling, and takeoff weight calculations, the airport dispatcher signed it. As a result, the aircraft was allowed to fly despite being overloaded and covered with snow and ice. The main cause of the accident, according to the investigative commission, was the lack of basic order in flight management at Magadan airport.
References.
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