Tu-142 crash over the Strait of Tartary

The Tu-142 crash over the Strait of Tartary was an aviation disaster that occurred on 6 November 2009. A Tu-142MZ anti-submarine aircraft of the Air Force and Air Defence of Russia's Pacific Fleet (belonging to the 568th Separate Mixed Aviation Regiment of the Pacific Fleet; settlement of Mongokhto, Khabarovsk Krai, Kamenny Ruchey airfield) was performing a training flight under the combat training plan in the northern part of the Sea of Japan. During the final stage of the flight over the waters of the Strait of Tartary, at 14:17 Moscow time (21:17 VLAT), contact with the crew was lost, and the aircraft's blip disappeared from the screens of the ground-based radar stations of the ATC system and of the radio-technical support radar of Kamenny Ruchey airfield approximately 10 kilometres from Cape Datta. 3 days later the wreckage of the aircraft was found in the Strait of Tartary. All 11 crew members on board were killed.

The crash

After completing the planned flight mission, during the approach at a descent altitude of 1200 metres and at a distance of 24 kilometres from the home airfield, the crew requested permission for the third turn, after which contact was lost.

In the first hours after the crash, the passenger ferries “Sakhalin-9” and “Sakhalin-10”, as well as tugs belonging to CJSC “Daltransugol”, were dispatched from the port of Vanino to carry out a search and rescue operation. Aircraft of the 11th Air and Air Defence Forces Army, an EMERCOM aircraft, a search helicopter from Kamenny Ruchey airfield and Pacific Fleet naval vessels took part in the search for the missing aircraft. A headquarters was set up to organise the search operation under the command of the Pacific Fleet commander, Vice Admiral Konstantin Sidenko. The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case in connection with the crash of the Tu-142MZ. The rescue vessel “Alagez” set out for the search area, carrying the deep-sea submersibles “Tiger” and “Obzor” and other diving equipment.

On 9 November in the Strait of Tartary (26 kilometres from Krasny Ruchey airfield), during the search and rescue operation, floating fragments of the aircraft's fuselage and body parts of the dead crew members were found. In winter, the operation to raise fragments of the aircraft was suspended because of stormy weather in the search area. The wreckage was raised and transported to the airfield in the spring–summer of 2010, including the flight recorders in satisfactory condition. A set of measures was carried out to identify the aircraft wreckage, along with investigative actions to establish the causes of the crash.

After the special commission for the identification of the bodies of the dead airmen at the Academician Nikolai Burdenko Main Military Clinical Hospital completed its work, their remains were transported to Kamenny Ruchey air base, where mourning ceremonies were held on 21 February 2011.

Other Tu-142 crashes

On 6 August 1976 a Tu-142 of the Northern Fleet Air Force (Kipelovo) crashed. On landing the aircraft ran off the runway and broke into 2 parts; 6 crew members were killed.

20 April 1984 — a Tu-142 of the Pacific Fleet Air Force (Kamenny Ruchey) fell into the water and exploded; the entire crew (9 people) was killed.