Aeroflot Flight 3630
Tupolev Tu-124 · Loss of control for reasons unknown
From Mineralnye Vody Airport (MRV) to Vilnius International Airport (VNO)
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
- 37 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 37
- 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-124
- Aircraft type
- Tupolev TU-124
- 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-45012
- Operator
- Aeroflot
- Onboard fatalities
- 37
- Route
- From Mineralnye Vody Airport (MRV)To Vilnius International Airport (VNO)
Cause areas
- Not determined › Not determined
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 gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
Aeroflot Flight 3630 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight operated by Aeroflot from Mineralnye Vody, Stavropol Krai, to Vilnius, capital of Lithuania SSR with a stop over at Rostov-on-Don Airport. On 2 September 1970, the Tu-124 operating this flight crashed after a loss of control at cruise altitude, 42 minutes after takeoff from Rostov-on-Don Airport. All 32 passengers and five crew members were killed.
The Air Accident Investigation Commission was unable to discover the root cause of the accident.
Accident
After a brief stopover, Flight 3630 departed Rostov-on-Don Airport at 14:55 MSK - Moscow time and at 15:14 reported passing over Donetsk at 8,400 meters. A short time later air traffic control (ATC) requested a rapid climb to 9,000 m to avoid traffic and at 15:16 the flight reported reaching 9,000 m. At 15:31 the crew contacted ATC announcing in a calm tone their ground speed was 852 km/h and that they expected to pass over Kremenchug at 15:41 MSK. Then at 15:37 controllers received a short message from flight 3630 consisting of "Forty Five - Zero - Twelve", with the word "twelve" spoken with a frantic inflection. This was the last contact with the flight. The aircraft entered a steep pitch down as it rolled left, striking the ground at approximately a 70-degree angle at 950 km/h.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The aircraft created a deep cone-shaped crater at impact, destroying much of the airframe. The flight data recorder was damaged beyond recovery of any data but the Air Accident Investigation Commission were able to determine that the engines were set to idle power, the flaps, spoilers and landing gear were all in the retracted position and that rudder trim was full right with the left aileron trim full up.
Weather along the flight route was calm and ruled out as a possible cause.
Investigators looked into the possibility that the aircraft collided in flight with an unmanned military vehicle or a weather balloon but no evidence surfaced. The commission found no evidence of an in flight aircraft failure or structural break up. The right engine and other sections of the aircraft displayed damage due to fire and investigators considered that a fire in flight may have caused the accident. An examination of the victims found no smoke had been inhaled and further analysis of the crash site determined all fire damage occurred during the post crash fire so this possibility was ruled out.
The investigators were able to conclude that full deflection of the rudder and left aileron trim would have significant effects on control of the aircraft at cruising speed but the chain of events leading to the accident was never determined.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Aeroflot Flight 3630” (revision 1339316067, 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 3630
- Article
- Aeroflot Flight 3630
- Revision
- 1339316067 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q16662562
- 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 3630" (page 61385723, revision 1339316067)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- flight number in the article title
- 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.