Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-18 CCCP-75732 accident

On 26 February 1963 the accident of Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-18 CCCP-75732 occurred on a cargo flight from Mys Shmidta via Anadyr to Magadan, in which all 10 occupants died.

Sequence of events

All times given in Moscow time

At 2:29 the aircraft took off at Mys Shmidta and landed at Anadyr at 3:38. During the stopover there, without refuelling, 10 tonnes of meat were loaded into the cargo hold, after which the Il-18 took off again at 6:25. On the route to Magadan there were scattered cumulus clouds and snowfall in places. Visibility was 8–10 kilometres. At 8:14 the aircraft overflew Gizhiga airport under visual flight rules at 7,000 metres; meanwhile the pilots reported the remaining fuel quantity of 9 tonnes. About half an hour later, at 8:45, the pilots requested clearance for an emergency descent and reported the failure of engine No. 2. At about this time the aircraft deviated to the left of the planned course and began to descend at 17–19 m/s. In the following minutes there were several radio messages from the pilots. First, at 8:47:30, came „Иду вдоль береговой черты. Высота 3 000 м. Отказали двигатели с одной стороны“ (roughly: Flying along the coastline. Altitude 3,000 metres. Failure of the engines on one side), then at „Отказали два двигателя с левой стороны“ (roughly: Failure of the two engines on the left side). At 8:50 the aircraft turned onto heading 210° (southwest) while flying at 2,000 metres. Between 8:52 and 8:53 came the last radio message „Сажусь на вынужденную на море“ (roughly: Will make an emergency landing on the sea). A further 2 minutes later the aircraft touched down on heading 210° with its landing gear retracted on the ice of Yemlinskaya Bay, about 1 hour before sunset and 2700 metres from the coast, whereupon it broke up and sank.

The accident site was found on 4 March at 8:30, 6 days after the emergency landing. Spread over 2 ice floes that were 300 metres apart, several small pieces of wreckage of the aircraft were found, including engine No. 1. The flight engineer Kupryakov, the radio operator Murik, a flight attendant and a passenger made it out of the wreck, but, like the other occupants, were found dead. Murik drowned, while the others did make it out of the water onto the ice, but died there of hypothermia in clear weather and an air temperature of −18 °C.