An-12 crash near Kharkov
KnAAPO Antonov An-12 · F-NI (fire on board), technical malfunction
From Kaidaki, Dnepropetrovsk (Ukrainian SSR) to Khurba, Komsomolsk-on-Amur (RSFSR)
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
- 9 · 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
- Unknown
Antonov An-12
- Aircraft type
- Antonov AN-12
- 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-69321
- Operator
- KnAAPO
- Onboard fatalities
- 9
- Route
- From Kaidaki, Dnepropetrovsk (Ukrainian SSR)To Khurba, Komsomolsk-on-Amur (RSFSR)
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
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 An-12 crash near Kharkov was an aviation accident that occurred on Wednesday, 25 September 1985, 31 kilometres from Kharkov. An An-12 military transport aircraft belonging to KnAAPO was operating a cargo flight on the Dnepropetrovsk—Moscow—Komsomolsk-on-Amur route, but a few minutes later a fire broke out on board the aircraft, and 4 minutes after that it crashed to the ground near the village of Rakitnoye in the Novovodolazhsky District of Kharkov Oblast. All 9 people on board were killed — 6 crew members and 3 passengers.
Chronology of events
An-12 aircraft USSR-69321 was operating a cargo flight from Dnepropetrovsk to Komsomolsk-on-Amur with an intermediate landing in Moscow. The aircraft was flown by a crew of 6 (aircraft commander (KVS), co-pilot, navigator, flight engineer, radio operator and flight attendant); also on board the aircraft were 3 official passengers who were aviation technicians.
On the night of 25 September 1985, aircraft USSR-69321 took off from Dnepropetrovsk and took up flight level 7500 metres. Soon a continuous, intense leak of aviation fuel began in the aircraft's cargo compartment and a fire started. The pilots reported the fire to the air traffic controller, who cleared a descent and gave the landing heading and the traffic circuit at Kharkov airport. The fire on board the aircraft spread to the engine nacelle and wing, which made it impossible for the automatic fire extinguishing system to put out the fire. During the aircraft's descent the commander transmitted: We've lost control, we're falling; this was the last radio message from aircraft USSR-69321.
The wreckage of the aircraft was found 6.5 kilometres west of the village of Rakitnoye in the Novovodolazhsky District of Kharkov Oblast and 31 kilometres southwest of Kharkov airport. The aircraft crashed into a field at an angle (close to 90°) in an inverted position and was completely destroyed by the impact with the ground and partially burned. In total, 4 minutes and 55 seconds passed from the commander's report of the fire to the report of loss of control. All 9 people on board the aircraft were killed.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
Owing to the severe destruction of the aircraft and the fire at the crash site, it was not possible to establish the exact location of the leak, the nature of the malfunction or the cause that led to the fuel leak. However, the commission was able to establish that the places where the fuel leaked were the Durite hose connections before or after the fire shut-off valve of engine No. 1. The commission determined the cause of the crash to be a technical malfunction.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Russian Wikipedia article “Катастрофа Ан-12 под Харьковом” (revision 155041290, 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
Russian Wikipedia article: Катастрофа Ан-12 под Харьковом
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 155041290 · 2026-09-13 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q116688523
- 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
- ru Wikipedia article "Катастрофа Ан-12 под Харьковом" (page 10078154, revision 155041290), 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
- not stated in the Wikipedia article's infobox or opening paragraph
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Russian Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.