Aeroflot Flight 217
Ilyushin Il-62 · Crashed on approach; cause was not determined
From Paris-Orly Airport (ORY) to Sheremetyevo International Airport (SVO)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 174 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 174
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Ilyushin Il-62
- Flight
- SU217
- Aircraft type
- Ilyushin IL-62
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- CCCP-86671
- Operator
- Aeroflot
- Onboard fatalities
- 174
- Route
- From Paris-Orly Airport (ORY)To Sheremetyevo International Airport (SVO)
Cause areas
- Not determined › Not determined
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Aeroflot Flight 217 was a non-scheduled international passenger flight from Orly Airport in Paris to Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, with a stopover at Shosseynaya Airport (now Pulkovo Airport) in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). On 13 October 1972, the Ilyushin Il-62 airliner operating the flight crashed on approach to Sheremetyevo, with the loss of all 164 passengers and crew of 10. At the time, it was the world's deadliest civil aviation disaster, until it was surpassed by the Kano air disaster in Nigeria in 1973. As of 2026, the crash of Flight 217 remains the second-deadliest accident involving an Il-62, after LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055, and the second-deadliest on Russian soil, after Aeroflot Flight 3352.
Crash
Shortly before the expected landing, the plane was flying at an altitude of 1200 m when it received instructions from ATC to descend to 400 m. The crew confirmed and started to descend normally, but the plane subsequently failed to level off horizontally. It passed the 400 m mark at a vertical velocity of 20 m/s, its engines still running at low thrust, without any further expected reports to ATC. It crashed shortly afterwards, with landing gear up, spoilers retracted and a horizontal speed of about 620 km/h.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The cause of the crash could not be determined. Investigators believed the most probable cause was the 'psycho-physiological incapacitation of the crew for reasons unknown'. They speculated that somewhere around 500 - 600 m altitude, 30–25 seconds before impact, the pilots either had been incapacitated or lost control of the plane.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Aeroflot Flight 217” (revision 1357716148, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Aeroflot Flight 217
- Article
- Aeroflot Flight 217
- Revision
- 1357716148 · 2026-06-04 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4688260
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Aeroflot Flight 217" (page 36620284, revision 1357716148)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.