Yak-40 crash in Novgorod

The Yak-40 crash in Novgorod was an aviation accident that occurred on Wednesday 22 October 1975. A Yak-40 airliner of Aeroflot was operating flight L-98 on the route Syktyvkar — Vologda — Kovalyovo — Novgorod — Riga, but while on approach to land at Novgorod Airport the airliner diverted to the alternate airport, Kovalyovo's Smolnoye Airport. During the second approach to land the airliner crashed into a residential building in the city's Privokzalny district. 11 people were killed in the crash — all 6 people on board the aircraft (2 passengers and 4 crew members) and 5 people in the residential building; 8 people (in the residential building) were also injured.

Timeline of events

Yak-40 tail number USSR-87458 was operating flight L-98 from Syktyvkar to Riga with intermediate stops in Vologda and Novgorod. Having departed from Vologda after the intermediate stop, Flight 098 set course for Novgorod, with 23 people on board (4 crew members and 19 passengers). But the weather conditions on the route at that time were below minimums, so the crew was forced to divert to the alternate aerodrome Smolnoye (the settlement of Kovalyovo), where it landed at 12:54. Then 17 passengers transferred to another flight, and 2 passengers remained on board Flight 098 — a private of the Soviet Army and an engineer travelling on a business trip. After the weather in Novgorod improved, at 16:26 flight L-98 departed from Smolnoye and after climbing took up flight level FL110 (3350 metres).

At 16:41 the crew of Flight 098 contacted the controller of Novgorod Airport and reported its estimated time of arrival, and also asked for the OSP beacons to be switched on; in response the air traffic controller gave the pilots of Flight 098 the weather information — clear, light easterly wind (azimuth 110°), pressure 777 mm Hg, visibility 2300 metres, forecast cloud with a base of 200 metres and visibility of less than 2000 metres. But in fact this was a forecast that was 52 minutes old, whereas at that time there was already fog over the city and, moreover, the lighting of Novgorod Airport had not been switched on, despite the approaching sunset. The crew of Flight 098 itself, in violation of the established approach procedure for the actual weather conditions, began a straight-in approach using the OSP.

According to the flight recorder data, at about 16:45 Flight 098 descended to 500 metres, after which the landing gear was extended 16.5 kilometres from the runway. At 12.5 kilometres from the runway the crew began descending from an altitude of 500 metres with a vertical speed of 4-5 m/s, until at 7.5 kilometres from the runway it reached an altitude of 200-230 metres. When 5.5 kilometres remained to the runway, owing to a significant deviation to the right of the landing course line, the radio compass needle swung, but the pilots mistakenly decided that the aircraft had passed the outer marker (had entered the landing glide path) and continued the descent. A kilometre later the pilots extended the flaps further from 20 to 35°, and then passed through a height of 100 metres (the decision height), while pulling the control columns "towards themselves", thereby reducing the vertical speed to 1.5-2 m/s. At 16:50 the airliner, flying on the landing heading of 185° in thick fog with visibility of 50-100 metres, passed abeam the outer marker at a height of 80 metres and, deviating 550 metres to the right, continued descending while over residential areas.

At 16:53 flight L-98, flying at a height of 20 metres and 340 metres to the right of the landing course line at a speed of 200-240 km/h, emerged from the fog and almost immediately struck the roof of building No. 4 (a printing house) on Karl Marx Avenue with its landing gear legs and right wing panel; from the impact part of the right wing surface was torn off. Abruptly rolling into a right bank and rapidly losing height, the airliner flew across Karl Marx Avenue and crashed into the 4-storey residential building No. 3 standing opposite, between the second and third floors.

As a result of the crash the airliner was completely destroyed and burned out; all 6 people on board were killed. The roof of the printing house building was damaged, and in the residential building the floors from the second to the fourth storey collapsed. The resulting fire engulfed part of the building, as well as nearby trees and a passing car. 4 residents of the building were killed, including a 7-year-old child (the building was half empty, as it was the middle of the working day); another 9 people, including passers-by, were hospitalised (7 with burns, 1 with a fracture of the base of the skull and 1 with concussion). 3 days later (25 October) another female resident of the building died of burns in hospital. In total 11 people were killed in the crash — all 4 crew members and 2 passengers on board the aircraft and 5 residents of the building.

Aftermath of the crash

After the crash, residential building No. 3 was reconstructed into an administrative building. The crash of Flight 098 also raised the question of the danger of Novgorod Airport, located next to residential areas, …