Aeroflot Flight 103

Aeroflot Flight 103 (flight number: SU103, callsign: AEROFLOT 103) occurred on 15 August 1957. On that day, an Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-14P on a flight from Moscow to Copenhagen with a stopover in Riga crashed. After colliding with a chimney of the Ørstedværket power station while approaching the destination airport, the aircraft plunged into the Sydhavnen canal of the city of Copenhagen. All 23 occupants of the aircraft died in the incident.

Accident sequence

The aircraft took off from Riga Airport at 05:40 local time. The weather forecast issued by Riga Airport for the route and the landing point at Kastrup Airport predicted favourable weather conditions with a cloud height of 300–600 metres and horizontal visibility of 10 kilometres. When the aircraft arrived in Copenhagen, the weather had changed dramatically. Fog with poor visibility drifted in waves over Kastrup Airport, which then developed further into fog patches with a cloud base of 60 metres and a horizontal visibility of 1,700 metres. The aircraft overflew the airport at 08:17 at an altitude of 1,500 metres and was observed by air traffic control, which cleared the descent and approach. At the stated time the weather directly at the airfield had improved somewhat. Under the influence of the wind, the fog shifted to the approach area west and north-west of the airfield. Air traffic control thereupon instructed the crew to initiate a new approach to runway 12. The captain apparently tried to follow the air traffic control instructions exactly, but did not understand the instructions because the controller communicated at a fast pace in English and used code expressions that were not provided for in the established procedures. Nevertheless, four minutes later he began an approach to runway 12. Due to poor visibility, the captain reduced his altitude in order to establish visual contact with the ground when the aircraft, 6.7 km short of runway 12, clipped the chimney of the Ørsted Værket power station. On impact the right wing was torn off and fell onto the power station grounds. The aircraft plunged into the Sydhavnen canal, about 150 m wide, and sank to a depth of 5 metres.