Il-76 accident near Irkutsk
Elf Air Ilyushin Il-76 · Overloading
From Ramenskoye, Moscow (Russia) to Domodedovo, Moscow (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
- Unknown
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 7
- 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
- 2
- 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
Ilyushin Il-76
- Aircraft type
- Ilyushin IL-76
- 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
- RA-76819
- Operator
- Elf Air
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Ramenskoye, Moscow (Russia)To Domodedovo, Moscow (Russia)
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
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 Il-76 accident near Irkutsk was an aviation accident that occurred on Monday, 26 July 1999, when an Elf Air Il-76TD cargo aircraft, taking off from Irkutsk airport in the direction of Lake Baikal, was unable to gain altitude, crashed into airport service buildings, slid several hundred metres and caught fire. Thanks to the prompt actions of the Irkutsk Airport rescue services, the crew members were extracted from the burning cockpit before the fire spread to the forward part of the aircraft. The accident occurred near the historical memorial cemetery of the victims of mass political repression. The aircraft was operating a charter flight Moscow–Irkutsk–Tianjin–Irkutsk–Perm–Moscow and was carrying 30 tonnes of goods from the PRC.
Sequence of events
At 13:46 (UTC+8) the Il-76TD took off from the runway of Irkutsk airport. As a result of overloading, the 170-tonne machine was unable to gain altitude after lifting off the ground and knocked down a radio beacon, floodlights and the airport's meteorological service booth, after which the fuselage was dragged along the ground for about 500 metres and turned at an angle of 90 degrees to the direction of takeoff.
After the aircraft came to a stop, a severe fire broke out, and two crew members — the flight technician and the navigator — were trapped in the deformed cockpit. At 13:51 three airport fire engines arrived at the scene.
The operation to rescue the two crew members lasted 40 minutes. The greatest difficulties involved freeing the flight technician. The side was cut open with a circular saw, the cockpit was pulled apart with hooked cables, the flattened metal was spread with hydraulic shears and the trapped leg was freed. The flight technician received the most serious injuries, but the doctors considered his life to be out of danger. All the other 5 crew members escaped on their own and received minor bruises.
Investigation and cause
Causes and consequences of the accident
The accident was investigated by a special commission of the IAC (MAK). The commission's specialists named overloading of the aircraft as the most likely version, but this could not be fully proven, since a significant part of the cargo burned and the rest got wet while the fire was being extinguished. Another possible version of the accident is poor acceleration. According to the aircraft's designers, a cargo of 30 tonnes is not the limit, and the Il-76 can take on board as much as 40 tonnes of cargo. It is assumed that the combination of all the factors led to the accident. After the accident, the regional emergency commission prohibited Il-76 takeoff and landing operations in the direction of the city. This ban remained in force until May 2001.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Russian Wikipedia article “Авария Ил-76 под Иркутском” (revision 149083208, 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 Ил-76 под Иркутском
- Article
- Авария Ил-76 под Иркутском
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 149083208 · 2025-10-13 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q4055390
- 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 Ил-76 под Иркутском" (page 1782704, revision 149083208), 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
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): An Elf Air cargo aircraft on a charter flight carrying goods: an air carrier cargo charter. The article: "The aircraft was operating a charter flight Moscow–Irkutsk–Tianjin–Irkutsk–Perm–Moscow and was carrying 30 tonnes of goods from the PRC."
- Fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- 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.