1958 Aeroflot Tu-104 Kanash crash
Tupolev Tu-104A · Severe turbulence leading to loss of control
From Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) to Vnukovo International Airport (VKO)
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
- 80 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 80
- 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
Tupolev Tu-104A
- Aircraft type
- Tupolev TU-104
- 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-42362
- Operator
- Aeroflot
- Onboard fatalities
- 80
- Route
- From Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK)To Vnukovo International Airport (VKO)
Cause areas
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article's coordinates are more than 250 km from Kanash, the place its infobox names.
From the Wikipedia article
The 1958 Aeroflot Tu-104 Kanash crash occurred on 17 October 1958 when a Tupolev Tu-104A operated by Aeroflot flying an international route from Beijing to Moscow crashed in bad weather near the town of Kanash, Chuvashia, Soviet Union, four hundred miles east of Moscow, killing all 80 people on board. The flight was carrying high-level diplomatic delegations from numerous Soviet aligned countries such as China, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia. It was just the second fatal accident involving the Tu-104 which had been introduced into Aeroflot's inventory two years earlier, and the deadliest in the airline's history until the crash of Aeroflot Flight 902 in 1962.
Investigation and cause
Conclusions
The investigation into the crash was led by Minister of Aircraft Production Mikhail Khrunichev and Chief Air Marshal Pavel Zhigarev, the head of Aeroflot. The cause of the crash was determined to be a loss of control as a result of the aircraft flying into an area of strong turbulence which caused it to exceed critical angles of attack. This conclusion was reached by comparing the experience of other Tu-104 pilots who reported similar cases after flying at altitudes of 8,000 meters (26,000 ft)) and higher, and examination of the cockpit voice recordings. As a result of the crash, authorities limited the maximum flight level of the Tu-104 to 9,000 meters (29,500 ft) and a redesign of the aircraft's stabilizers was undertaken.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1958 Aeroflot Tu-104 Kanash crash” (revision 1373014236, 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: 1958 Aeroflot Tu-104 Kanash crash
- Revision
- 1373014236 · 2026-09-03 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4055758
- 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 "1958 Aeroflot Tu-104 Kanash crash" (page 56453182, revision 1373014236)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates and infobox site disagree
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator is an airline according to Wikidata
- 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.