C-47 crash in North Ossetia

The C-47 crash in North Ossetia was an aviation accident involving an Aeroflot Douglas C-47 Skytrain aircraft that occurred on Tuesday 2 April 1946 in the mountains of the North Ossetian ASSR, in which 7 people were killed.

Crash

Douglas C-47 registration USSR-L924 of the 2nd aviation detachment of the 10th Guards Aviation Transport Division of the Civil Air Fleet was operating a flight from Tbilisi to Rostov-on-Don. It was flown by a crew consisting of commander V. E. Kalashnikov, co-pilot V. A. Zelenkov, flight engineer B. V. Glinsky, trainee flight engineer K. M. Zhubin and radio operator G. N. Buloshnikov. Two passengers were also on board. According to the flight assignment, the Caucasus Mountains were to be bypassed along the Sukhumi — Adler line. However, the aircraft did not arrive at the destination airport. The search lasted two and a half weeks until finally, on 20 April, the destroyed airliner was found in the North Ossetian ASSR on Mount Guram, which lies between the mountains of Sugan (height 4489 metres) of the Sugan Range and Laboda (height 4319 metres) of the Main Caucasus Range. The crash site was 93 kilometres to the right of the route and only 14 kilometres west of the straight line from Tbilisi to Rostov-on-Don.

After departing from Tbilisi, the crew, in violation of the flight assignment, did not follow the established route via Sukhumi and Adler, but headed straight across the Caucasus Range. However, while following the shortened route, the airliner possibly flew into a cloud in which icing was present. Because of the ice that formed, the C-47 became heavier and was unable to climb to the required altitude in time. Flying at an altitude of 3000 metres on a heading of 300—320°, the aircraft struck the mountainside with its left wing and crashed. All 7 people on board were killed.