Il-12 crash in Karaganda
Aeroflot (Kazakh Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet, 25th transport aviation detachment) Ilyushin Il-12 · Maintenance violations, errors by the crew and air traffic control services
From Alma-Ata to an unrecorded destination
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
- 25 · 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
- Unknown
- 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-L1803
- Onboard fatalities
- 25
- Route
- From Alma-AtaTo not recorded
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Personnel issues › Experience/knowledge
- Environmental issues › Operating environment
- Organizational issues › Support/oversight/monitoring
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Sary-Arka Airport, the airport the Wikipedia article names as the site. Where on or near it is not known.
From the Wikipedia article
On Sunday 30 July 1950 an Il-12 of the Aeroflot company crashed in Karaganda, killing 25 people.
Crash
The aircraft was operating a passenger flight from Alma-Ata, and it was flown by a crew consisting of the aircraft commander V. A. Aleksandrov, co-pilot N. A. Fedulov, navigator B. Yu. Kobets, flight engineer I. V. Tregubov and flight radio operator A. P. Gerasimov. Flight attendant Koptseva worked in the cabin. At 04:50 the Il-12 made an intermediate landing at Karaganda airport for refuelling, after which at 05:36 it took off on a magnetic heading of 210°. On board were 19 passengers. The weather was clear, with scattered stratocumulus clouds, and visibility was about 30 kilometres.
Having climbed to a height of 150 metres, the crew began a right turn onto a heading of 285° when, according to witnesses, at 05:38 sharp backfires occurred in the left engine. Then at 05:42 the crew reported to the controller the failure of the left engine and the intention to return to the airport. The controller gave permission for a straight-in landing on a heading of 30°, after which the crew made a right turn onto a heading of 110° and headed for the airfield. Since a grain elevator 67 metres high stood ahead in the flight path, the crew turned further to the right and was now flying at an angle of 80° to the extended runway centreline. The aircraft was flying at a height of 100 metres with a right bank and with some skidding of the tail.
Crossing the extended runway centreline at a height of 50—70 metres, the commander began to remove the right bank by turning left, and also extended the landing gear. But the Il-12 suddenly and unexpectedly swung sharply to the left and, having lost speed, went into a spin, after which at 05:44, at an angle of 60°, it struck the ground with its right wing and right engine and exploded. All 25 people on board were killed.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
As the commission found, on 27 July this very aircraft underwent 100-hour scheduled maintenance at the base in Alma-Ata. Then on 29 July a test flight was carried out, which was performed by the same crew as on the crashed flight. Before take-off the left engine stopped and then after some time was restarted. However, the crew concealed this technical problem. The reasons why the engine stopped were not established.
According to the conclusions of the commission, the following causes led to the crash:
Failure of the left engine for an undetermined reason.
Poor management of flight operations at Karaganda airport.
An error in piloting technique owing to the insufficient training of the aircraft commander for flying on one engine (turning towards the failed engine and extending the landing gear).
In the opinion of the commission, the commander made the correct decision to make a straight-in landing. But when the controller gave the pilots permission to land on a heading of 30° and straight-in, this only created confusion and significantly aggravated the situation. All the more so since the large size of the Karaganda airfield with level approach strips and the clear weather allowed the crew to make a safe landing with one engine working. Contributing causes were the lack of qualified assistance from the airport commandant, who delegated flight control to an insufficiently qualified controller, and also poor monitoring of the condition of the equipment, since it had been possible to conceal the fact that the engine had stopped before the test flight.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Russian Wikipedia article “Катастрофа Ил-12 в Караганде” (revision 152491679, 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 Караганде
- Article
- Катастрофа Ил-12 в Караганде
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 152491679 · 2026-03-30 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q16662418
- 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 Караганде" (page 4586338, revision 152491679), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- 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 passenger flight with 19 passengers: a state airline transport flight. The article: "The aircraft was operating a passenger flight from Alma-Ata"
- 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.