An-12 crash near Magadan

The An-12 crash near Magadan was an aviation accident that occurred on 2 October 1973 in the vicinity of Magadan. An An-12B cargo aircraft of the Yakutsk Combined Aviation Detachment of Aeroflot was operating domestic cargo flight SU-10178-F on the route Yakutsk — Magadan, but during the approach to land the crew abandoned the approach, but while climbing the aircraft crashed into a mountainside and was completely destroyed. All 10 people were killed — 2 passengers and 8 crew members.

Crash

On 2 October 1973 at 19:06 local time (21:06 Magadan time) Flight 10178-F departed from Yakutsk Airport; it was operated by An-12B tail number USSR-12967, flying from Yakutsk to Magadan, with 10 people on board — 8 crew members and 2 passengers, and the An-12 was carrying 12 tonnes of vegetables. After climbing, it took up flight level 7800 metres.

The sky over Magadan was covered with clouds with a base of 1000 metres and it was raining. When the airliner entered the air zone of Magadan-56 km airport, the controller cleared the crew to descend first to an altitude of 4500 metres and then to 2400 until passing the outer marker, with an approach on a magnetic heading of 104° according to the established procedure at a circuit altitude of 1500 metres. The pre-landing preparation was not carried out in full, as a result of which the crew flew the approach with errors and deviations; in particular, the third and fourth turns were combined, with a bank of 20° and a vertical rate of descent of 10 m/s. As a result, after rolling out of the fourth turn at an altitude of 900 metres, the An-12 was 2.5 kilometres to the left of the runway centreline. The circuit controller informed them of the deviation, whereupon the crew turned onto a heading of 140°, that is by 35°, while flying at the maximum permissible speeds.

At an altitude of 730 metres and 18 kilometres from the airport the airliner crossed the localizer course line, whereupon the controller instructed it to descend on the glide path to the outer locator. The flaps were extended to 25° in two stages, and then the aircraft began to descend. In this situation there was no coordination between the crew members, and the navigator behaved completely passively. As a result, the commander missed the moment of lining up with the runway and continued on a heading of 140°. The commander then switched from instrument to visual flight and saw lights ahead. Not having flown to Magadan for 4 years, he mistakenly decided that this was the aerodrome, whereas in fact it was the settlement of Splavnaya.

At 15:34:41 Moscow time (23:34:41 local time) the aircraft was at an altitude of 570 metres when the controller informed the crew that they were to the right

of the landing course centreline by 1.5 kilometres. Disconcerted by this message, unexpected for him, the commander now did not know where they were at all, and decided to go around. At 15:35:14 Moscow time he reported his decision to the controller and in reply received an instruction to climb to an altitude of 1500 metres. The crew began to climb while retracting the flaps and landing gear, which, however, caused a sink with a vertical speed of 8 m/s. Just half a minute after the crew reported to the controller that it was abandoning the landing, at 15:35:42 Moscow time (23:35:42 local time), the An-12, at a height of 507 metres relative to the aerodrome level, 13.7 kilometres from the runway threshold and 5.6 kilometres to the right of its centreline (azimuth 251° relative to the aerodrome reference point), crashed into a mountainside. The aircraft was completely destroyed and partially burned. All 10 people on board were killed.

Causes of the crash

Gross errors made by the crew during the approach to land in mountainous conditions at night, in the absence on its part of constant instrument monitoring of the aircraft's position on the final approach straight, and the incompetent actions of the commander during the go-around. The airport's air traffic control service provided no assistance to the crew during the approach, and especially on the final approach straight, and thereby did not prevent the deviation from the landing line.

Contributing factors:

Unsatisfactory organisation of flight operations in the 139th flight detachment and in the air traffic control of Magadan-56 km airport

Absence of the airport's flight director from the landing controller's workstation

Passive control of the flight on the part of the circuit controller.