An-12 crash in Salekhard

The An-12 crash in Salekhard was an aviation accident that occurred on 6 March 1967 near Salekhard Airport. An An-12B cargo aircraft of the Sheremetyevo Joint Aviation Detachment of the Aeroflot enterprise was performing a cargo flight (carrying cement) on the route Salekhard — Tarko-Sale, but during take-off from Salekhard Airport the aircraft lifted off at a high angle of attack, touched the runway, and then took off again. 1 minute after take-off the aircraft clipped trees, fell onto a hill on the bank of the Ob River and was completely destroyed. Of the 6 crew members on board, 5 were killed; only the flight radio operator survived.

Sequence of events

An-12B USSR-11007 was performing a cargo flight from Salekhard to Tarko-Sale carrying 11 tonnes of cement in bags. There were 6 crew members on board.

At 09:04 local time the crew received clearance to take up the line-up position for take-off on a magnetic heading of 298°. At the line-up position the crew reported to the controller that they were ready for take-off, received take-off clearance and began it at 09:09. The weather conditions were simple: at that time the sky was covered only by scattered stratocumulus clouds at a height of 1400 m, and visibility was 14 km.

During take-off the aircraft lifted off at a high angle of attack (20°). Having flown 100 m while descending and with a right bank, it touched the runway with the right landing gear bogie. The captain tried to find out the reason for the aircraft's abnormal behaviour by asking the other crew members. Having received the answer that the engines were operating normally, the captain sent flight radio operator Aleksandrovsky to check whether the cargo had shifted. Lifting off again to 2-3 m with an even greater angle of attack, at this height the aircraft flew 650 m over the runway, and then with a right bank and turn disappeared behind the elevated part of the runway. The entire flight took place with the aircraft banking now to the left, now to the right.

At 09:10 local time (07:10 Moscow time) the An-12, with a right bank of 12–14°, on a magnetic heading of 60°, at a forward speed of 180–200 km/h and with a vertical speed of 5 m/s, collided with several trees, after which it crashed into a hill at a distance of 4.5 km north-west of the aerodrome reference point (KTA) of Salekhard Airport, 1800 m from the end of the runway and 2600 m to the right of its centreline, was completely destroyed and caught fire. 5 people were killed in the crash; only flight radio operator Boris Aleksandrovsky survived, who had not managed to leave the cabin, which saved his life. After the crash, he took measures to extinguish the burning power wiring of the destroyed aircraft. The wreckage was scattered over 250x100 m