Li-2 crash near Bodaybo

The Li-2 crash near Bodaybo was an aviation accident involving a Li-2 passenger aircraft of Aeroflot that occurred on Saturday, 24 April 1948 on the Vitim River in the Bodaybo area, killing 28 people.

Crash

On 23 April the crew, commanded by V. T. Bykov, was operating a passenger flight in the Li-2 with tail number CCCP-L4460 from Irkutsk to Bodaybo with an intermediate stop in Kirensk. Since the weather conditions on the route from Kirensk to Bodaybo were below the weather minimum, the crew and passengers stayed overnight in Kirensk. According to available information, during the night crew members, together with airport staff, began drinking alcoholic beverages at the hotel. On the morning of 24 April the sky on the way to Bodaybo was overcast, with the cloud base at a height of 600–1000 metres, and icing was observed in the clouds themselves. The sky over Bodaybo, in turn, was overcast with a cloud base of 1000–1500 metres, and visibility reached 10 kilometres. Despite the difficult weather conditions on the route, at 6 in the morning the crew began preparing for departure to Bodaybo, and the airport chief authorised the departure at a flight level of 1800 metres, that is, in the clouds. During pre-flight preparation, the co-pilot Krupin went to the buffet, where he drank spirit. When aircraft L4460 taxied to the start, the weather in Bodaybo had already worsened, so the crew was forced to return to the parking stand. When the weather at the destination airport did improve, the airliner took off from Kirensk at 08:00.

According to the plan, the flight was to pass via Vitim, but the crew decided to take a more direct route. At 09:05 the crew reported slight vibration of the right engine, and at 09:33 it was reported that the flight was proceeding in cloud, with the engine vibration having increased. After that the crew no longer made contact. As was established, in flight the crew unexpectedly encountered a heavy snowstorm but, probably due to the influence of alcohol, decided not to return but to continue the flight, pushing through the snowfall. In the area of Mama the pilots descended through a gap in the clouds and then flew along the bed of the Vitim River at a height of 100 metres below the surrounding mountains. Periodically the airliner flew into snow squalls, and the turbulence kept increasing, causing the fuselage and wing to begin deforming, with banks reaching 50–60°. The passengers had already lost consciousness and were simply being thrown around the cabin. Then, in the area of the village of Mamakan and 15 kilometres from Bodaybo, the Li-2 flew into another snow squall, which proved fatal. Having lost control, the aircraft plunged down in a left bank and crashed into the ice of the river. Rescue services found only one surviving passenger. All the other 28 people died.