Tu-104 accident in Rzhevka

The Tu-104 accident in Rzhevka was an aviation accident that occurred on 18 May 1963 in the vicinity of Leningrad near Pulkovo airport. A Tu-104B airliner of the Leningrad Combined Aviation Detachment of the Aeroflot airline was operating a cargo flight on the route Tashkent — Kuybyshev — Leningrad, but while approaching to land at Leningrad Pulkovo airport the aircraft fell into a forest and broke up. None of the 8 crew members and passengers were killed.

Chronology of events

Tu-104B tail number USSR-42483 was to operate a flight from Tashkent to Leningrad with a landing at Kuybyshev (Kurumoch) airport, to perform a non-scheduled flight for the purpose of carrying cargo. At 20:07 the aircraft took off from Kurumoch airport for Leningrad.

The weather forecast for the route from 20 to 23 hours provided for: flight in a high ridge, cloud of 7-10 points cumulus, cumulus congestus with tops at 8-9 km, tropopause 10-11 km, a frontal thunderstorm at the end of the route.

For the landing point, Leningrad (Shosseynaya) airport, from 21 to 24 hours the forecast provided for: stratocumulus cloud of 4-7 points at a height of 600—1000 m, haze, visibility 4-6 km, wind 240—260° 2-5 m/s.

By the time the aircraft arrived in Leningrad, at about 21:45, the flight director and the forecasting engineer of the aviation meteorological station (AMSG) observed from the control tower (KDP) a sharp deterioration of the weather in the western sector of the aerodrome area. Refining the weather forecast from 21 to 24 hours for Leningrad airport, the AMSG forecasting engineer at 21:50 issued a storm warning, which from 22:20 to 00:00 provided for: fractonimbus cloud of 4-7 points at a height of 100—150 m, haze, visibility 1000—1500 m, height of fractostratus cloud below 100 m.

The actual weather at Leningrad airport at 21:50, according to observations from the RSP-4, was: cloud height 100 m, visibility 1700 m. Thus it was obvious that the deterioration of the weather had already set in, but the AMSG forecasting engineer did not change the start time of the storm warning.

The flight director, relying on the consultation of the AMSG forecasting engineer and the storm warning, sent the aircraft in the GRDP zone to alternate airfields, and decided to accept the Il-18 and Tu-104 aircraft located in the ADS zone at Shosseynaya airfield.

At 21:52 an Il-18 aircraft landed, whose crew reported that on the landing course the cloud was at 300 m and the visibility good. On the basis of the Il-18 crew's report on the cloud and horizontal visibility, which on final approach was above minimum No. 1, the flight director permitted the Tu-104 aircraft to approach for landing.

At 21:56 the actual weather at Leningrad airport at 21:50 was passed to the Tu-104 crew: pressure 755.6 mm Hg, wind 300° 3 m/s, visibility 1700 m, cloud base 100 m.

The aircraft commander made a straight-in approach. The flight of the aircraft to the inner marker (BPRM) and its passage over it on magnetic course 315° was performed visually, strictly on course and glide path, which the crew received confirmation of from the landing controller. In the area between the outer marker (DPRM) and the BPRM, the aircraft, while on the assigned course and glide path, unexpectedly for the crew entered haze with a visibility of 2-3 km. The crew, being unprepared for instrument flying, allowed the aircraft to lose height during the transition from visual to instrument flight, in connection with which it received an instruction from the landing controller: "Reduce your descent". To regain the glide path, the aircraft commander put the aircraft at an increased angle of attack without changing the engine setting, which was 3300 rpm. This led to a loss of speed from 280 to 250 km/h and a sharp increase in the vertical rate of descent to 18 m/s at a glide angle of 12-13°. As a result the aircraft touched down in a three-point attitude abeam the BPRM, 180 m to the left of the runway centreline, and broke up as it continued moving. The crew members and the passengers accompanying the cargo received injuries and bruises.