Il-12 crash in Novosibirsk (1948)
Aeroflot (1st Moscow Aviation Group of the GVF, 40th Aviation Detachment) Ilyushin Il-12 · Crew error
From Novy, Khabarovsk to Vnukovo, Moscow
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- Unknown
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 5
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Ilyushin Il-12
- Aircraft type
- Ilyushin IL-12
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- CCCP-L1465
- Onboard fatalities
- 1
- Route
- From Novy, KhabarovskTo Vnukovo, Moscow
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Experience/knowledge
- Personnel issues › Task performance
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Gorodskoy Aeroport Airfield, the airport the Wikipedia article names as the site. Where on or near it is not known.
From the Wikipedia article
The Il-12 crash in Novosibirsk (1948) is an air disaster that occurred on Thursday 2 September 1948 at Novosibirsk airport. An Aeroflot Il-12 aircraft crashed to the ground after takeoff. 1 person died as a result of the accident.
Crash
The aircraft was operating a flight from Khabarovsk to Moscow. It was piloted by a crew that included the aircraft commander (PIC) S. F. Tsybulin, check pilot Vakhrushev, flight engineer Orleansky and others. On 2 September at 00:15 local time (21:15 on 1 September MSK) the crew began the takeoff. After a takeoff run of 750 metres, the Il-12 lifted off the runway at a speed of 140—145 km/h, after which the commander ordered the landing gear to be retracted and switched off the landing lights.
Having retracted the landing gear, the flight engineer, without a command, also reduced the engine power setting, although he did not look at the airspeed indication at that time. However, the aircraft immediately began to lose speed. Noticing this, the check pilot pushed the control column forward. The airliner struck the ground with its partially retracted landing gear legs, and then with the propeller blades. From the impact with the ground the blades began to break off and fly off to the sides. Also on impact the right wing panel broke off together with part of the centre section, after which the airliner was turned around 180°. One passenger died in the accident, killed by one of the blades of the right propeller, which broke off the propeller and pierced the fuselage, and another 5 were injured.
Investigation and cause
Causes
The crew's lack of knowledge of the aerodrome's characteristics (the end of the runway was 10 metres higher than the takeoff starting point) and early switching off of the landing lights
Absence of a pre-flight briefing
Reduction of the engine power setting by the flight engineer without a command.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Russian Wikipedia article “Катастрофа Ил-12 в Новосибирске (1948)” (revision 150406275, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
Russian Wikipedia article: Катастрофа Ил-12 в Новосибирске (1948)
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 150406275 · 2025-12-02 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q16662422
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- ru Wikipedia article "Катастрофа Ил-12 в Новосибирске (1948)" (page 4522020, revision 150406275), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia article: the date in its opening sentence (the infobox gives none to the day)
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- airport the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata code, OurAirports)
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): An Aeroflot Il-12 on a flight from Khabarovsk to Moscow with passengers aboard: a state airline transport flight. The article: "An Aeroflot Il-12 aircraft crashed to the ground after takeoff."
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Russian Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.