An-24 crash near Gali

The An-24 crash near Gali was an aviation accident that occurred on the night of Monday, 17 November 1975, in the vicinity of the town of Gali. An An-24RV airliner of the Krasnodar United Air Squadron of the airline Aeroflot was operating scheduled passenger flight SU-6274 on the route Tbilisi — Sukhumi — Krasnodar, but during the approach to land at Sukhumi's Babushara Airport the airliner crashed into Mount Apshara and was completely destroyed. All 38 people on board were killed — 33 passengers and 5 crew members.

Chronology of events

At 21:23 local time (20:23 Moscow time), flight 6274 departed Tbilisi airport with 33 passengers on board; the flight was operated by An-24RV registration USSR-46467, flying from Tbilisi to Krasnodar with an intermediate stop in Sukhumi. After climbing, it took up flight level 6000 metres.

Along the route the sky was covered with clouds with a base of 200–300 metres and tops at 4000–5000 metres, in which severe icing was observed, and there was also intense turbulence and heavy rain. The crew knew that there were thunderstorms ahead along the route and saw their cells on the screen of the onboard radar. It also knew from the Sukhumi area control (RDP) controller that the previous aircraft had bypassed the thunderstorm cells 15 kilometres north of the airway, and therefore the decision was made to bypass the thunderstorms by deviating 10–15 kilometres north of the airway, which it reported to the controller at 21:02. At 21:04 the aircraft made a right turn and settled on a heading of 320° — 25° off the planned track. At 22:08 the controller contacted the crew and suggested turning further left to return to the airway. He also gave clearance to descend to an altitude of 4200 metres. But the crew decided to continue bypassing the thunderstorms to the north, while beginning to descend to the specified altitude. At 22:11:40 the crew reported reaching an altitude of 4200 metres, after which it switched to communication with the approach controller (DPP). But at that time the approach controller himself had been replaced by the area controller (RDP), who cleared it to descend to an altitude of 3000 metres.

Crash

The crew reported reaching an altitude of 3000 metres at 22:13:41. The crew also mistakenly believed that they had passed abeam the Gali en-route NDB (OPRS), which they reported to the controller, whereas in fact they were still 8–10 kilometres from it. In turn, the area controller, who was not qualified to work as an approach controller, did not monitor the flight of this aircraft by radar and radio direction finder and did not determine its true position. Hearing the report of passing abeam Gali, he gave clearance to descend to an altitude of 1200 metres heading for the outer marker (DPRM). Having incorrectly determined its position, the crew acknowledged the instruction and began the descent. At 22:14:30, flying at night in solid cloud 25 kilometres north of the airway at a speed of 410 km/h, the An-24, at an altitude of 2250 metres above sea level, crashed into the steep slope of Mount Apshara (height 2580 metres, 15 kilometres south of the Kodori Range), 91 kilometres east (azimuth 90°) of Sukhumi Airport and 25 kilometres northeast of Gali (exactly abeam the NDB). All 38 people on board the airliner were killed.