Tu-104 crash at Domodedovo Airport

The Tu-104 crash at Domodedovo Airport was an aviation accident that occurred on the night of 7 December 1973. A Tu-104B airliner of Aeroflot was operating scheduled domestic flight SU-964 on the route Kutaisi — Mineralnye Vody — Moscow, but while on approach to land at Domodedovo Airport the aircraft banked and crashed to the ground on the airport grounds. 16 of the 75 people on board the aircraft (68 passengers and 7 crew members) were killed, and another 43 were injured. Among the dead was Hero of the Soviet Union Yefim Udaltsov.

Crash

On that day tail number 42503 was to operate two flights on the route Moscow — Kutaisi — Moscow. At 12:25 the aircraft departed from Moscow and at 14:35 landed safely at Kutaisi Airport.

Next the crew was to operate the return flight on the same aircraft — No. 964 (Kutaisi—Moscow). At 15:41 the Tu-104 departed from Kutaisi. But during the flight, at 17:18, the controller of the Western sector of the Voronezh area control centre contacted the crew and reported that the weather in the Moscow air zone was below minimums, and that the crew therefore needed to choose an alternate aerodrome. The crew chose Mineralnye Vody, where it landed at 18:37. There several more passengers with tickets to Moscow boarded. After the weather in the Moscow zone improved, the crew received clearance to take off. At 20:43 Flight 964 departed from Mineralnye Vody and after climbing took up flight level 8400 metres. In total there were 68 passengers on board the airliner: 66 adults, 1 child and an escorting police officer (who was not included in the crew).

The sky over Domodedovo at that time was covered with clouds with a base of 180 metres, there was haze, and visibility was up to 3 kilometres. At 22:02 the Tu-104, having passed abeam Yefremov, entered the Moscow air zone, after which the crew, on the controller's instructions, began descending to an altitude of 3600 metres in the direction of Venyov. Next the crew contacted the circuit controller and with his clearance at 22:23:23 took up the circuit altitude of 400 metres, and a minute later (22:24:27) began the third turn, while 16 kilometres from the airport. Having completed the third turn and approaching the point of the fourth, the crew at 22:26:16 requested the controller's permission to make the fourth turn, to which it received the reply: "A bit early, one moment". But 32 seconds later the controller himself instructed the crew to make the fourth turn, which it did, finding itself after rolling out of the turn 1000—1500 to the left of the track. At 22:27:37 the controller transmitted: "distance 7, you are to the left, continue on this heading", so the crew tried to correct the lateral deviation, and at 22:27:45 reported entering the glide path and being ready to land, while 6 kilometres from the threshold of runway 1 with a magnetic landing heading of 137° (right).

During the further flight to the outer marker beacon the aircraft began to drift to the right, and the outer marker was passed 100 metres to the right. The crew then tried to correct the position, but the inner marker was already passed 60 metres to the left. After this the crew began returning the airliner to the track, starting a corrective turn to the right with a bank of 10—15°, which resulted in a significant angular deviation to the right of 10—15° when crossing the centreline between the inner marker and the runway. The pilots then made a fatal mistake — they began a steep left turn, during which the bank reached 30—45°. With a low vertical speed, 135 metres from the runway threshold and 25 metres to the right of its centreline, the left wing surface struck the ground. because of which it was partially destroyed, including the left aileron. Continuing to descend, the Tu-104 struck the ground with the nose landing gear, which was torn out of its bay. The aircraft then reached the runway, hit its surface with the nose landing gear, the nose section of the fuselage and the radar radome, after which it began to break up. The nose section of the fuselage was torn off, the left part of the wing separated and the left landing gear leg broke. The main part of the fuselage came to a stop 340 metres past the runway threshold and 220 metres to the left of its centreline, after which it caught fire and was almost completely destroyed by the fire. The nose section came to a stop 62 metres further on and escaped the fire.

5 crew members were killed in the crash, except for co-pilot Kapanadze and flight attendant Meskhidze, who received serious injuries, as well as 7 passengers. Later another 4 passengers died of their injuries in hospital. In total, among the passengers 11 people (3 men and 8 women) were killed in the crash and 41 people received various injuries; among the crew members — 5 and 2 respectively.

Causes of the crash

The cause of the crash was an incorrect decision by the aircraft commander, expressed in an attempt to land instead of going around after bringing the aircraft into the area of the inner marker with a lateral deviation, which subsequently, while correcting the approach, led to the creation of excessively large bank angles …