An-24 accident near Odessa

The An-24 emergency landing near Odessa was an aviation accident that occurred on 16 December 1982 near the village of Sakhanske. An An-24B airliner of the Kursk Joint Aviation Detachment of the Aeroflot enterprise was operating scheduled passenger flight SU-395 on the route Kursk — Kiev — Odessa, but 52 minutes after take-off from Boryspil Airport (Kiev) the electrical wiring in the crew cabin ignited and a fire started. The crew brought the aircraft down blind, since thick smoke disoriented the crew, after which they began to look for a place for an emergency landing. Soon the crew landed the burning airliner on a clover field near the village of Sakhanske. None of the 27 people on board — 22 passengers and 5 crew members — were killed or injured.

Sequence of events

On 16 December 1982, at 12:03 Moscow time, flight 395 with 22 passengers and 5 crew members took off from the runway of Boryspil Airport (Kiev); the flight was operated by An-24B USSR-46567, flying from Kursk to Odessa with an intermediate stop in Kiev. After climbing, the airliner took up a flight level of 5100 metres.

At 12:55, when entering the Odessa regional ATC centre, at a distance of 110 km from Odessa Airport, the electrical wiring behind the AC power panel in the crew cabin ignited, after which smoke began to seep into the cockpit. The crew immediately began an emergency descent blind, since the fire had de-energised the instruments and the descent was taking place in solid cloud. The descent was carried out at a vertical speed of 20-25 m/s, and banks sometimes reached 70°. Captain Yermakov ordered everyone to put on oxygen masks. During the descent, on the captain's command, the consumers and then the AC and DC generators were switched off, with a switch to power from the emergency bus. All the portable fire extinguishers on board were used to put out the fire, but the fire spread so quickly that the extinguishers soon became useless. To create conditions for the passengers, who were breathing through handkerchiefs and towels, the windows and the hatch of the forward baggage compartment were opened, and the captain, in violation of the flight manual, depressurised the aircraft at an altitude of 2 km, as it was impossible to breathe.

When the aircraft emerged from the clouds and the captain began to look for a place for a forced landing, molten plastic began to drip on him from the ceiling. Then flight engineer Borodin, burning his hands, protected the captain by covering him with a coat that was hanging on a hook. Soon the crew chose a place for the emergency landing — a clover field near the village of Sakhanske.

At 13:03, 7 minutes and 40 seconds after the fire began, flight SU-395, engulfed in flames, having flown over the village and power lines, landed without extending the landing gear on a clover field in Shyriaieve District of Odessa Oblast. Having ploughed 330 metres across the field and torn off the lower skin of the fuselage, the airliner stopped, but the fire became even more intense. The passengers were evacuated through the rear cargo door, since the main door and the emergency hatches turned out to be jammed.

A few minutes after the landing, when everyone had managed to run a safe distance from the aircraft, the fuel tanks exploded, whereupon the aircraft was completely destroyed and burned.