Collision of two Il-76s over the Sivash lagoon

On the night of Thursday, 2 April 1987, two Il-76MDs collided in the sky over the Sivash lagoon, resulting in the deaths of 16 people.

Crash

On the night of 2 April 1987, in visual meteorological conditions (VMC), a group of three Il-76s belonging to the 369th Military Transport Aviation Regiment took off from their home airfield of Dzhankoy:

Leader — 76685 (factory number — 0063468037, serial — 51-10), aircraft commander Major N. S. Kostur

First wingman — 76679 (factory number — 0063467014, serial — 51-04), aircraft commander Major V. N. Pakhomov

Second wingman — 76684 (factory number — 0063468036, serial — 51-09), aircraft commander Captain Aristov, instructor Lieutenant Colonel Ganeyev (commander of the 1st Aviation Squadron)

After takeoff the aircraft began to join up to practise the “detachment in a snake” (zigzag) battle formation. This required making a 90° left turn while climbing to 1200 metres, then accelerating to 450 km/h, flying to the join-up start point in a fixed time and then turning 180° while climbing to levels of 1500—1650—1800 metres. The first wingman (aircraft 76679) was flying a kilometre to the right of the flight line at a speed of 455 km/h. After the “join up” command, the crew climbed to an altitude of 1260 metres in 40 seconds, and then, at a speed of 460 km/h, climbed in 52 seconds, instead of the calculated 57, to an altitude of 1710 metres instead of the required 1650, after which it began the join-up turn. Although the aircraft was flying ahead of the calculated time, the crew did not correct this error and completed the turn in 58 seconds, and only then descended to 1500 metres.

After descending, aircraft 76679 accelerated to 480 km/h, when soon afterwards the voice warning “dangerous proximity” sounded. But the crew took no measures. 14 seconds later, at 21:02, at an altitude of 1500 metres, 679 crashed into 685 (the leader). From the impact both aircraft exploded and fell into the waters of the Sivash. All 16 people on both aircraft (8 crew members in each) were killed.