Mid-air collision over Leningrad (1952)
Aeroflot (Northern Territorial Directorate of the GVF, 67th Air Transport Detachment) Ilyushin Il-12 and Aeroflot (Northern Territorial Directorate of the GVF, Syktyvkar Aviation Group) TS-62 · ATC error
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
- 31 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- Unknown
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
Aircraft 1 · Ilyushin Il-12
- Flight
- 376
- Aircraft type
- Ilyushin IL-12
- 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-L1328
- Onboard fatalities
- 24
- Route
- From Adler, Sochi, RSFSRTo Shosseynaya, Leningrad, RSFSR
Aircraft 2 · TS-62
- Flight
- 381
- 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-L1055
- Onboard fatalities
- 7
- Route
- From Shosseynaya, Leningrad, RSFSRTo Odessa, Ukrainian SSR
Cause areas
- 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 collision over Leningrad in 1952 was an air disaster that occurred on 5 October 1952 in the sky over Gatchinsky District of Leningrad Oblast, in which an Il-12 and a TS-62 collided, resulting in the deaths of 31 people.
Crash
The flight director, who was also the head of Shosseynaya airport, observed on the surveillance radar that the aircraft were heading towards each other on the same straight line. Nevertheless, he ordered the Il-12 crew to descend to 1200 metres and the TS-62 crew to climb to 2700 metres. The controller warned the flight director that such a crossing of flight levels was not permissible, but the latter reassured him, saying: don't worry, I am watching them and I am responsible. The commander of the Il-12 also expressed concern that an oncoming aircraft would be crossing his altitude, to which the airport head replied: I see you both, I am watching you. After that, the pilots of both aircraft began to carry out the commands they had received: the Il-12 to descend, the TS-62 to climb.
At 16:02, flying towards each other in cloud, about 25 kilometres from the airport, the aircraft collided with their right planes (wings), after which they plunged down and exploded near the village of Skvoritsy (Gatchinsky District, Leningrad Oblast). The TS-62 fell just 250 metres north-east of it, and the Il-12 1200 metres north-north-east of the TS-62. Parts of their right wings fell north of the village. All 9 crew members and 22 passengers on both aircraft were killed.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The cause of the crash was a gross violation of the separation rules by the flight director, who ignored the remarks of the controller and the Il-12 crew and, seeing on the radar the two aircraft approaching each other, took no measures to separate them.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Russian Wikipedia article “Столкновение над Ленинградом (1952)” (revision 150406286, 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: Столкновение над Ленинградом (1952)
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 150406286 · 2025-12-02 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q16702245
- 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 "Столкновение над Ленинградом (1952)" (page 4473880, revision 150406286), 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
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: total_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.