An-2 crash in Kherson

The An-2 crash in Kherson was an aviation accident that occurred on 11 August 1972 at Kherson airport involving an Aeroflot An-2 aircraft, killing 14 people.

Crash

The aircraft was operating local flight D-44 from Novoalekseyevka to Kherson, departing at 17:40. In addition to the crew, there were 11 adult passengers and 6 children on board. The flight proceeded without deviations until it entered the airspace of Kherson airport. After passing abeam Golaya Pristan, the crew switched to the SDP (landing control) controller and received landing conditions from him. The weather at the airport at that time was relatively calm: 7/10 cloud cover, cumulonimbus at 1200 metres, a thunderstorm to the north-east, light wind, visibility 10 kilometres. At 18:05 the crew requested permission to land on unpaved runway 2 with a landing heading of 42°. The controller cleared the landing but warned that Mi-6 helicopters of military unit 19160 were flying at the aerodrome.

The An-2 was 550–600 metres from the threshold of unpaved runway 2 when a military Mi-6 landed on the metal runway, located 140 metres from it and parallel to it. It landed 1150–1200 metres from the aircraft and 140 metres from its flight path, with a time interval of about 47 seconds. The aircraft was at a height of 20–30 metres on the glide path when it first banked sharply to the right by 70°, then to the left, and then again to the right, this time by 90°. With the wings in a vertical position, lift was lost, after which the An-2, out of control, at 18:06 struck the ground with its right wing cell and then its nose 400 metres from the end of the runway, broke up and caught fire. The fire crews that arrived put out the fire within 1.5–2 minutes, but both pilots and 12 passengers were killed in the crash. Three adult passengers were seriously injured; one more adult passenger and a child were unhurt.