Borki air accident
Borki Air Club Let L-410UVP · The Borki (Russia) air accident occurred on 1 March 2003
From Borki Airport, Tver Oblast, Russia to Borki Airport, Tver Oblast, Russia
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
- 11 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 14
- 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
- General aviation
Let L-410UVP
- Aircraft type
- Let L-410
- 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
- 01032 ФLA PФ (FLA RF)
- Operator
- Borki Air Club
- Onboard fatalities
- 11
- Route
- From Borki Airport, Tver Oblast, RussiaTo Borki Airport, Tver Oblast, Russia
Cause areas
- Organizational issues › Management
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- 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 gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
The Borki (Russia) air accident occurred on 1 March 2003. On that day, a Let L-410UVP massively overloaded with 25 occupants crashed during a parachute jump flight after parachute jumps had shifted the aircraft's centre of gravity and the Let had consequently become uncontrollable. 11 people died in the accident.
Accident sequence
The Let 410 was involved in parachute jumps from Borki airfield. On the day of the accident, 23 parachutists boarded the Let 410. This was illegal, since the maximum permitted number of parachutists in this aircraft type is 12 and the seats are mounted along the sides. In this case almost all the parachutists sat on the floor of the aircraft; one even occupied the toilet. As a result, the aircraft was overloaded by 618 kg and the centre of gravity was presumably at approx. 32%, whereas the maximum aft centre of gravity was approx. 28%.
After the crew had reached an altitude of 3600 to 3800 metres, they began to reduce airspeed. According to the specified requirements, the drop was only to take place after the flaps had been extended to 15° and at a speed of at least 180 km/h. The investigation later established that the aircraft's flaps were in the retracted position when the aircraft collided with the ground. At an altitude of about 3,900 metres, eleven parachutists prepared to jump from the aircraft. When four of them had jumped, the centre of gravity shifted further aft (presumably to approx. 35%), which increased the Let's pitch angle. A supercritical angle of attack was reached and the left wing stalled. The aircraft entered a spin, rolled to the left and went out of control. At 2,000 metres altitude the rear fuselage section failed; one after another, the structural overload broke off the wingtips, the left and right halves of the tail surfaces and the rear fuselage. Several parachutists were thrown out by the disintegrating fuselage and the aircraft crashed in a field.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The Interstate Aviation Committee took over the investigation into the cause of the accident.
Owing to the absence of a transport organisation service at Borki airfield, the size of the aircraft's load was neither determined nor documented. Aircraft of the L-410 type were not permitted to be operated at Borki airfield. Contrary to the specified requirements, there were 23 paratroopers on board the aircraft, whereas the maximum permitted number of parachutists in the parachute-jump aircraft configuration was no more than 12 people. The investigation established that only three of the parachutists on board were on seats, which were mounted on the starboard side in the forward part of the cabin. The remaining 20 parachutists were on the floor of the passenger cabin, including two paratroopers who were behind the partition between the passenger cabin and the toilet; one paratrooper was in the toilet.
As a result of violations by the aircraft crew and by the officials of the ground flight support services at Borki airfield, the aircraft's takeoff weight as determined by the investigation exceeded the permissible, previously specified weight by 618 kg. The takeoff could have been at about 32% (maximum aft alignment 28%). The violation of the aircraft's loading regulations had a direct effect on the outcome of the flight.
The cause of the disaster was a combination of the following factors:
unsatisfactory organisation of flights at ZAO Myachkovo Aviation Complex;
deficient organisation of parachute jumps and training of the aircraft's crew, which violated applicable rules and restrictions;
violation by the aircraft crew and the operator of operational restrictions on the maximum number of parachutists
flight at a speed that was most probably below the minimum permissible airspeed with high-lift devices retracted, which, in combination with a considerably unevenly distributed load beyond the aftmost limit, led to the aircraft reaching supercritical angles of attack and stalling
violations by the aircraft crew of the aircraft's loading and alignment standards, with inaction by the ground flight support services, which led to the flight being carried out with an overloaded aircraft and to the operating limits for maximum aft alignment being considerably exceeded
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall bei Borki” (revision 250741137, 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: Flugunfall bei Borki
- Article
- Flugunfall bei Borki
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 250741137 · 2024-11-27 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q131319013
- 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 "Flugunfall bei Borki" (page 13251998, revision 250741137), translated into English with AI assistance
- 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
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): An air club's L-410 dropping parachutists at Borki airfield: parachute-club flying. The article: "a Let L-410UVP massively overloaded with 25 occupants crashed during a parachute jump flight"
- 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.