An-24B accident in Rzhevka
Kirov Joint Aviation Detachment, Ural Civil Aviation Directorate Antonov An-24 · Crew errors
From Spilve, Riga (Latvian SSR, USSR) to Pobedilovo, Kirov (RSFSR, USSR)
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
- Occurrence
- Event fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 44
- 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
- 28
- 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
Antonov An-24
- Aircraft type
- Antonov AN-24
- 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-47280
- Onboard fatalities
- 0
- Route
- From Spilve, Riga (Latvian SSR, USSR)To Pobedilovo, Kirov (RSFSR, USSR)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Experience/knowledge
- Environmental issues › Operating environment
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
The An-24 accident in Rzhevka was an aviation accident that occurred on the night of Tuesday, 13 January 1976 near Smolnoye Airport. An An-24B airliner of the Kirov Joint Aviation Detachment of the Aeroflot enterprise was operating a scheduled passenger flight on the route Riga — Kovalevo — Kirov, but during the approach to Kovalevo's Smolnoye Airport the airliner descended significantly below the glide path. Soon the airliner clipped treetops, after which it fell into the Rzhevsky Forest Park. None of the 44 people on board — 39 passengers and 5 crew members — were killed; 28 people were injured.
Sequence of events
On 13 January 1976, An-24B USSR-47280 of the Kirov aviation detachment departs Riga's Spilve Airport with 39 passengers and 5 crew members, flying from Riga to Kirov with an intermediate stop at Kovalevo; there were 140 kg of cargo on board. The aircraft's flight weight and centre of gravity did not exceed the established limits.
By the time of the approach, the actual weather at the airfield was: cloud cover 8 points, cloud base 75 m, visibility 3500 m, which entitled the crew to descend and approach according to the procedure down to a decision height of 100 m.
The approach was performed at night using the OSP system on a magnetic heading of 57°; there was no precision approach radar at Smolnoye airport. The aircraft passed the outer marker (DPRM) at a height of 235 m, instead of the established 270 m. Subsequently, having descended to a height of 100 m and not having established visual contact with the approach lights, the crew, instead of going around, recklessly continued to descend at a vertical speed of up to 8-10 m/s in order to transition to visual flight. As a result, the aircraft, 1700 m short of the inner marker (BPRM) (2700 m from the runway), collided with treetops at a height of 18-20 m. The second collision with trees occurred 1,200 m from the inner marker (2200 m from the runway end). The aircraft fell into the forest 2165 m from the runway end and was significantly damaged. 28 people were injured in the accident — all 5 crew members and 23 passengers received injuries.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
Pre-flight and pre-landing preparation by the crew was unsatisfactory. The aircraft commander (with 620 hours in the position on the An-24) did not know the approach procedure, the location of the outer marker or the height for passing over it. On reaching the decision height of 100 m and receiving the “DANGEROUS ALTITUDE” warning, he did not stop the descent, but set the altitude selector to 50 m and, when the warning was triggered at a height of 50 m, switched it off while continuing the descent.
Before the fourth turn, the circuit controller did not pass updated weather data to the crew, thereby violating the requirements of para. 6.6.2 of NPP GA-71.
The weather observer, who was at the inner marker on that day, did not have direct loudspeaker communication with the circuit controller because it was out of order.
Final investigation report
The cause of the flight incident was the crew's violation of the weather minimum and the established approach procedure, expressed in premature descent on final approach.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Russian Wikipedia article “Авария Ан-24Б в Ржевке” (revision 150406482, 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: Авария Ан-24Б в Ржевке
- Article
- Авария Ан-24Б в Ржевке
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 150406482 · 2025-12-02 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- 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 "Авария Ан-24Б в Ржевке" (page 10915012, revision 150406482), 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
- "scheduled passenger flight" in the article's 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.