Vladivostok Air Flight 352

Vladivostok Air Flight 352 was a scheduled passenger flight from Yekaterinburg, Russia to Vladivostok via Irkutsk. On 4 July 2001, the aircraft operating the flight, a Tupolev Tu-154M with tail number RA-85845, lost control, stalled, and crashed while approaching Irkutsk Airport. All 136 passengers and 9 flight crew members aboard perished, making it the third deadliest aircraft crash over Russian territory to date after Aeroflot Flight 3352 and Aeroflot Flight 217.

Russian investigation committee MAK attributed the causes of the crash to pilot error. During the approach, the crew made erroneous input on the aircraft's yoke, causing the airspeed to deplete. A series of errors then caused the yoke to be excessively pulled, causing the aircraft to enter a corkscrew. The crew tried to recover but failed due to the aircraft's insufficient altitude.

Flight

Flight 352 was a flight from Yekaterinburg in the Ural region to Vladivostok, Russian Far East with a refuelling stop at the Siberian city of Irkutsk. The flight was operated by Vladivostok Air with a Tupolev Tu-154. On 3 July 2001, the aircraft was cleared to fly to Irkutsk, piloted by Captain Valentin Stepanovich Goncharuk and First Officer Sergei Alexandrovich Didenko. The weather was in good condition for a safe flight and the forecast didn't indicate any significant change. The flight to Irkutsk was estimated to take about 3 hours and 40 minutes. It was expected to arrive in Vladivostok at 09:50 local time.

The flight took off from Yekaterinburg Koltsovo Airport at 19:47 local time and climbed to 5,000 m. It later climbed to its cruising altitude of 10,000 m. The entire enroute phase was uneventful.

Accident

While the turn was being carried out by the crew, the bank angle suddenly increased, up to 16.5 degree. A warning then sounded. First Officer Didenko then tried to correct this by making a nose down input of -4 degree and a left bank input into the steering column, causing the autopilot to disconnect and the bank angle to increase, from 20 degree to 30 degree. First Officer Didenko repeatedly banked the aircraft to the left. The bank angle then passed the maximum bank angle value, reaching 48 degree to the left. Captain Goncharuk noticed this and asked First Officer Didenko to stop banking the aircraft towards the left.

Due to the large bank angle, Captain Goncharuk took over the control from First Officer Didenko and tried to correct the situation. Varying values of left and right bank angle, almost to the maximum, were then recorded on the control column. The aircraft then turned towards the right, but due to the abruptness of the turn, Captain Goncharuk made a left bank angle again. Realizing that the aircraft was banking heavily to the left, First Officer Didenko asked the crew to turn to the right.

The crew then sensed an increase of the aircraft's vertical rate of descent and therefore put an excessive nose up input into the yoke. The aircraft then banked in a severe left bank angle and pitched up in a dangerously high amount. This caused the aircraft to enter an aerodynamic stall. It consequently went into a corkscrew. First Officer Didenko then realized that they needed to add thrust, but they barely had enough time to recover the aircraft.

On 4 July, at 02:08 local time, the aircraft crashed with its belly first near the settlement of Burdakovka, approximately 22 km from Irkutsk. It immediately exploded upon impact, instantly killing all 145 passengers and crew members on board.

Nearby residents saw a flashing light followed by an explosion and a column of fire. A woman from Burdakovka reported to the firefighters that an aircraft had crashed onto a farm field. The impact caused local fires in the crash site. A total of 180 firefighters were deployed to extinguish the flames. Helicopters were flown from Irkutsk to the crash site. At least 200 rescue workers were involved in the operation. Recovery efforts were hampered by the forested and swampy terrain of the crash site. Fragments of the aircraft were scattered over a compact area.

By the evening of 4 July, ITAR-TASS reported that all of the victims - 136 passengers and 9 crew members - had been recovered from the crash site.