Tu-134 crash near Severomorsk

The Tu-134 crash near Severomorsk was an aviation accident of a Tu-134IK flying laboratory aircraft of the Ministry of the Radio Industry on 17 June 1982 near Severomorsk, in which 15 people died.

Crash

The aircraft was relocating from Moscow to Severomorsk. Carrying special equipment on board and being the main element of a system under development for detecting and tracking the submarines of a probable adversary, aircraft 65687 was to take part in an air-space experiment involving a detachment of naval forces. In effect, after the completion of this experiment the Soviet Union would have had a system for monitoring the movements of nuclear submarines in the World Ocean.

The approach to land at Severomorsk-1 aerodrome (according to other data — Severomorsk-2) was carried out in foggy conditions. The Tu-134 descended to the circuit altitude of 600 metres, but then, owing to a strong crosswind, deviated to the left of the final approach path. On final approach, captain Khatkovsky disengaged the autopilot, while leaving the autothrottle engaged, and switched to manual piloting. Although the localiser-glide slope system on board showed a lateral deviation, the pilots did not use it, as they mistakenly considered it faulty. At a distance of 15.5 kilometres from the aerodrome the aircraft began descending from an altitude of 600 metres at a vertical speed of 2—3 m/s. When 12 kilometres remained to the aerodrome, the controller gave the instruction to descend along the glide path, after which the crew increased the vertical speed to 7 m/s, which was higher than the calculated one, and the machine began to drift left of the landing course. 5 seconds later, and 25 seconds before the collision, the ground proximity warning system was triggered and gave a danger signal for a couple of seconds, but the crew did not react to it, and the descent trajectory did not change. 3 seconds later and another 7 seconds after that (22 and 15 seconds before the collision) the controller gave the command «Level off». At the moment the second command was transmitted, the Tu-134 was at an altitude of 300 metres and descending on the same trajectory. Then, at an altitude of 240—250 metres and 1000 metres left of the landing course, navigator Cheryarin, who had been silent until then, tried to warn the captain of the danger, saying: Commander. Turn right!… Commander! Turn right with a climb!. However, captain Khatkovsky did not react in any way to the navigator's warning. Co-pilot Plaksin, meanwhile, did not take the controls and correct the situation.

The aircraft was at a height of 206 metres above aerodrome level when, flying over a hill, it struck the cable antenna of a radio mast installed on the top of the hill. On striking the antenna, the pitot tube (PVD) was destroyed and the wing and stabiliser fairings were cut through. The speed dropped sharply, and only at that moment did the captain pull the control column «towards himself». As a result of the damage sustained by the airframe, 7—8 seconds later the Tu-134 struck the slope of the hill almost flat, slid along it and was completely destroyed against boulders on the slope, after which it caught fire. Private Gromyko, a conscript at a radar post, hearing the noise, arrived at the crash site 10 minutes later, where he found the surviving captain Khatkovsky. All the other 15 people on board died. The special equipment for detecting submarines was also completely destroyed.