Tu-134 landing on the Ikshinskoye Reservoir

The Tu-134 landing on the Ikhsha Reservoir was an aviation accident that occurred on 17 July 1972 in Moscow Oblast involving an aircraft of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, which, owing to the shutdown of its engines, made a forced landing on water. No one was injured in this occurrence.

Occurrence

On that day a test flight was being carried out on the aircraft, in which a generator failure was being practised and the operation of the electrical equipment was being checked, especially the localizer-glide slope system when powered by the batteries. The aircraft was flown by a crew consisting of aircraft commander Vyacheslav Kuzmenko, co-pilot Nikolai Malinin, navigator Anatoly Kartsev, flight engineer Anatoly Platunov and radio operator Gennady Kozhanov.

The Tu-134 was in the holding area when, owing to low voltage (as a result of the batteries discharging), all the fuel pumps stopped, thereby cutting off the fuel supply to the engines. As a result, both engines stopped. Being at low altitude and with flat batteries, the crew could not restart the engines in flight, and was therefore forced to make an emergency landing on the most suitable "site" for this — the Ikhsha Reservoir. As a result of this ditching the aircraft did not break up and none of the 5 crew members was seriously injured.

In July 1972 the airliner was transported to the neighbouring Klyazma Reservoir, where until approximately 2000 it was used as a trainer for cabin crews of the Central Directorate of International Air Services (TsUMVS), and later of Aeroflot, in procedures for an emergency landing on water. In 2000—2001 it was cut up for scrap.