Aeroflot Flight W-608
Yakovlev Yak-40 · Loss of control
From Irkutsk International Airport (IKT) to Bratsk Airport
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
- 18 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- 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
Yakovlev Yak-40
- Aircraft type
- Yakovlev YAK-40
- 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-87778
- Operator
- Aeroflot
- Onboard fatalities
- 18
- Route
- From Irkutsk International Airport (IKT)To Bratsk Airport
Cause areas
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
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
On 4 May 1972, a Yakovlev Yak-40 crashed on the domestic Soviet scheduled flight Aeroflot Flight W-608 from Irkutsk to Bratsk, killing all 18 occupants.
Sequence of events
The Yak-40 took off from Irkutsk at 22:29 local time and climbed to a cruising altitude of 6000 m. During the approach to Bratsk, the pilots made radio contact with the controller there and reported at 23:31 that they were ready to land. Despite several requests, the controller had not received any current weather data and, despite the visible, rapid deterioration in the weather, was forced to give the data for 23:15 (visibility of 50 km, no precipitation). He then gave the pilots clearance to land, which they acknowledged. Shortly afterwards they were surprised by the bad weather when they flew into a wet snowstorm, with a visibility of 1000 m and wind speeds of 10 to 14 m/s (36 to 50 km/h); this was far below the weather minima that the captain had previously set. The aircraft lost altitude, clipped a few pine trees, struck the ground at 23:34 1250 m short of the runway threshold and burned out.
Investigation and cause
Cause
A downburst that caught the aircraft was determined to be the cause of the loss of altitude at an already low height. Since the thrust reverser was found in the open position, the possibility was not ruled out that it had been inadvertently activated during the loss of altitude, which would have worsened the situation.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Aeroflot-Flug W-608” (revision 255259975, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Aeroflot-Flug W-608
- Article
- Aeroflot-Flug W-608
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 255259975 · 2025-04-18 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q16662621
- 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
- de Wikipedia article "Aeroflot-Flug W-608" (page 10415845, revision 255259975), translated into English with AI assistance
- 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
- operator is an airline according to Wikidata
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.