Tu-104 crash in Odessa

The Tu-104 crash in Odessa was an aviation accident that occurred on 10 July 1961 in Odessa. A Tu-104B airliner of the Leningrad Joint Air Detachment of Aeroflot was operating scheduled domestic flight SU-381 on the route Leningrad — Odessa, but while landing at Odessa Airport the airliner entered a thunderstorm cell, after which it struck the approach lights and the inner marker, after which it caught fire. 1 person (the navigator) on board the aircraft was killed out of 94 — 85 passengers and 9 crew members; another 10 were injured.

Chronology of events

On 10 July 1961, Tu-104B registration CCCP-42447 was operating a flight from Leningrad to Odessa. After departing from Leningrad Airport and climbing, the aircraft took up flight level 8000 metres. On board were 85 passengers and 9 crew members.

At 09:59 the Tu-104 passed Kiev, and at 10:17 — Pervomaysk, after which it began to descend. According to the forecast available to the crew, isolated cumulonimbus clouds (2—5 oktas) at a height of 1000—1500 metres and visibility of 4—10 kilometres were expected at Odessa. In reality, however, at the time the aircraft passed Pervomaysk the sky over Odessa Airport was covered with powerful cumulonimbus clouds at a height of 1000 metres, visibility was up to 10 kilometres, a light south-westerly wind was blowing and a thunderstorm was approaching. At 10:26 at a height of 2000 metres the crew reached the Stalino NDB and entered the airspace of Odessa Airport. The crew switched to the control tower (KDP) frequency, and the controller instructed them to descend to a height of 400 metres and perform a straight-in approach on a magnetic heading of 162°. He also passed on the landing conditions: pressure 752.1 mm Hg, wind 240° (south-westerly) 5 m/s, a thunderstorm approaching from the south-west and the wind would soon change direction. Due to the change in weather, the flight director decided that landing at the airport would be carried out not from the north but from the south on a heading of 342°, and that the approach would be flown with a right-hand circuit. The crew was warned of these changes.

When the Tu-104 was passing abeam the outer marker, the KDP controller informed the crew that there was a thunderstorm in the airport area and a fresh northerly wind was blowing (360° 5 m/s). The crew then switched to the start controller's frequency. The airliner performed the third and fourth turns visually and lined up on final approach. At this point the crew could see the runway, and their flight was now monitored by the controller of the PRL-5 precision approach radar. The aircraft entered the glide path precisely on the heading and at the assigned height. The PRL-5 controller informed the crew: "Distance 3 kilometres, heading and glide path good", after which contact with the aircraft ceased.

In the section between the outer marker and the inner marker the sky was covered with thunderclouds at a height of 800—1000 metres, visibility fluctuated from 3 to 6 kilometres and there was heavy rain. Having flown into this thunderstorm, the Tu-104 was caught in a downdraft and began to lose height. The captain tried to slow this descent, but his actions only reduced the forward speed, which increased the vertical speed even further. The co-pilot saw that the forward speed was falling, but reported this to the captain too late. 300 metres from the inner marker the airliner had already descended so far that it successively struck 6 approach light supports with its landing gear legs. Then the left landing gear leg, at a height of 5—6 metres, struck the inner marker building and destroyed it, and in the process was itself torn off the aircraft. The impact swung the airliner to the left; it flew over a forest belt, caught the ground with its left wing and then struck the ground with its nose section. At this point the right engine caught fire.

Soldiers and officers who came running from a military unit helped evacuate the passengers. In total, directly at the scene navigator Timoshin and trainee navigator Bakhmut were seriously injured, while the other crew members and 2 passengers were slightly injured. Later, in hospital, 3 hours after sustaining his injuries, the navigator died. The fire from the burning engine spread to the rest of the aircraft and it burned out completely.