Tu-134 crash in Penza

The Tu-134 crash in Penza was an aviation accident that occurred on Sunday evening, 22 June 1986, near Penza Airport. A Tu-134A airliner of the Orenburg Joint Air Detachment of the enterprise Aeroflot began operating scheduled domestic flight SU-5569 on the route Penza — Simferopol, but during takeoff at Penza's Ternovka Airport the crew decided to reject the takeoff. However, the crew was unable to prevent an overrun beyond the runway, after which the airliner fell into a pit and broke into two parts. Of the 65 people on board — 59 passengers and 6 crew members, 1 person was killed and 64 survived, seven of whom were injured.

Crash

On that day the aircraft was operating several flights on the overall route Orenburg — Donetsk — Simferopol — Penza — Simferopol. The flights up to Penza were completed without deviations. Next the airliner was to operate flight 5569 from Penza to Simferopol with 59 passengers and 6 crew members, and the flight was operated by Tu-134A registration CCCP-65142. In total there were 65 people on board: 59 passengers (47 adults and 12 children, including 6 older and 6 young) and 6 crew members. The takeoff weight was 44.3 tonnes, and the aircraft's centre of gravity was 28% MAC. At Penza at that time it was +23 °C, cloud cover 5 oktas, cumulonimbus at a height of 1000 metres, a fresh westerly wind was blowing (300°, 4 m/s), and visibility was up to 5 kilometres. There was also a thunderstorm 10 kilometres to the west, approaching the airport.

At 21:35, at dusk, the crew began the takeoff on a magnetic heading of 287° with the flaps extended to 20°. The decision speed (V1) was taken as 241 km/h. The co-pilot was flying the aircraft. 38 seconds after the start of the takeoff roll and 1450 metres from the start of the runway, at a speed of 230 km/h, the "Attention" light-button and the "Engine malfunction" annunciator lit up. The flight engineer reported this, after which the captain, without saying anything to the other crew members, took over control and decided to reject the takeoff, since the speed was still below V1. To do so, acting in accordance with the flight manual, he moved the throttles from takeoff power to idle, and then moved them to the reverse position. But by that time less than four hundred metres of runway remained, and the speed had reached 252 km/h.

6 seconds later the engines reached maximum reverse thrust, but by that moment the Tu-134, at a speed of 200 km/h, had rolled out onto the runway end safety area. Only at this time were the spoilers deployed. In addition, the wheel brakes were applied 115 metres before the runway threshold. Since elements of the ILS system (lights, localizer) lay ahead on the heading, the captain turned the airliner to the left. The aircraft raced across rough terrain, and 418 metres from the runway threshold its nose gear leg dropped into a pit 3 metres deep and then collapsed. Having fallen onto the ground with its nose section, the Tu-134 slid 104 metres and came to a stop 530 metres from the runway threshold and 47 metres to the left of its centreline.

As a result of the occurrence the fuselage in the area of the wing centre section and the wingtips were destroyed, and the landing gear legs and the tail section of the fuselage were damaged. One passenger (a man born in 1947) had acute ischaemic heart disease and, from the shock he had experienced, died of acute coronary insufficiency right in the aircraft. Another 3 passengers were injured, and 4 were poisoned by fuel vapours.