An-26 crash near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
Strategic Missile Forces Air Force (84th Separate Mixed Aviation Regiment) Antonov An-26 · Crew error
From Klyuchi (Kamchatka Oblast, RSFSR) to Yelizovo, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (Kamchatka Oblast, RSFSR)
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
- 37 · 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
- Military
Antonov An-26
- Aircraft type
- Antonov AN-26
- 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
- 09
- Onboard fatalities
- 37
- Route
- From Klyuchi (Kamchatka Oblast, RSFSR)To Yelizovo, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (Kamchatka Oblast, RSFSR)
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 An-26 crash near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky was an aviation accident that occurred on Thursday 26 October 1989 north of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
Crash
An An-26 of the 84th Separate Mixed Aviation Regiment of the Strategic Missile Forces was flying from its home aerodrome, located at the Kura test range near Klyuchi, to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The aircraft commander was 1st class pilot V. N. Yudenich, and the assistant commander was pilot I. I. Kuchmiy. In total there were 6 crew members and 31 passengers on board — military personnel and members of their families.
The flight proceeded at flight level 5400 metres. On approaching Yelizovo airport the crew began to descend. At that time there was cloud and a strong wind was blowing. During the descent the aircraft, owing to an error by the pilots, began to drift to the left. The crew then received clearance to descend under visual flight rules. When the An-26 flew into cloud, the crew did not interrupt the descent. At 14:58 the aircraft, flying in cloud at a height of about 1500 metres, struck the slope of Mount Aag (height 2310 metres), with a gradient of about 70°, and was completely destroyed. All 37 people on board were killed.
According to some sources, this is the deadliest air disaster in the history of Kamchatka.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Russian Wikipedia article “Катастрофа Ан-26 под Петропавловском-Камчатским” (revision 150406583, 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 Ан-26 под Петропавловском-Камчатским
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 150406583 · 2025-12-02 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q18398563
- 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 Ан-26 под Петропавловском-Камчатским" (page 5121241, revision 150406583), 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
- operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
- 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.