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Tu-154 crash in Bucharest

9 Feb 1989 · near Bucharest-Otopeni Airport (Romania)

Tarom Tupolev Tu-154 · Engine failure

From Bucharest-Otopeni, Bucharest (Romania) to Bucharest-Otopeni, Bucharest (Romania)

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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
5 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Unknown
Survivors
0
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

Tupolev Tu-154

Aircraft type
Tupolev TU-154
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
YR-TPJ
Operator
Tarom
Onboard fatalities
5
Route
From Bucharest-Otopeni, Bucharest (Romania)To Bucharest-Otopeni, Bucharest (Romania)

Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.

From the Wikipedia article

The Tu-154 crash in Bucharest was an aviation accident that occurred on Thursday 9 February 1989 in the area of Bucharest-Otopeni International Airport involving a TAROM Tu-154B-2, killing all 5 people on board.

Crash

The aircraft was to perform a training flight, with 5 crew members on board. But on departure from Bucharest-Otopeni airport one of the engines failed. The aircraft struck the ground and was completely destroyed. All 5 people on board were killed.

Translated into English with AI assistance from the Russian Wikipedia article “Катастрофа Ту-154 в Бухаресте” (revision 146579689, 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 Ту-154 в Бухаресте
Article
Катастрофа Ту-154 в Бухаресте
Translation
Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
Revision
146579689 · 2025-07-16 · retrieved 2026-09-19
Wikidata
Q18398635
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 Ту-154 в Бухаресте" (page 5079735, revision 146579689), translated into English with AI assistance
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
none
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): A Tu-154 of TAROM, Romania's state airline, on a crew training flight: an airline's own training flight counts as air carrier. The article: "involving a TAROM Tu-154B-2, killing all 5 people on board"
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.