C-47 crash in Sukovo
Aeroflot (Moscow Directorate of Transport Aviation of the Civil Air Fleet, 15th Aviation Transport Detachment) Douglas C-47 Skytrain · Engine failure, crew error
From Bykovo, Moscow to Vnukovo, Moscow
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
- 3 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 2
- 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
Douglas C-47 Skytrain
- Aircraft type
- Douglas C-47
- 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
- CCCP-L854
- Onboard fatalities
- 3
- Route
- From Bykovo, MoscowTo Vnukovo, Moscow
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
- Personnel issues › Miscellaneous
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Personnel issues › Experience/knowledge
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
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 C-47 crash in Sukovo was an aviation accident involving a Douglas C-47 Skytrain civil aircraft of the company Aeroflot, which occurred on Thursday 31 January 1946 near Sukovo (Moscow Oblast, now Solntsevo District, Moscow), as a result of which three people were killed.
Crash
The aircraft was operating a short ferry flight within Moscow from Bykovo Airport to Vnukovo Airport, where it was to be loaded. The flight was proceeding at an altitude of 250 metres, and 15 minutes had passed since departure, when the left engine suddenly failed. Sukovo aerodrome was nearby, and the crew directed the machine towards it, while trying to feather the left propeller. However, the left propeller could not be feathered, because of which it created increased aerodynamic drag, and, distracted by it, they forgot to move the mixture control lever in the serviceable right engine out of the "Auto lean" position. Then, when the airliner began its landing approach at Sukovo, flight engineer Gorin suddenly saw that the red landing gear not-extended light was lit on the panel, and so shouted in panic: The gear isn't down, go around! Without having time to grasp the situation, captain Vorobyov immediately began to go around from a height of just 1 metre and on one serviceable engine. Since there was only one serviceable engine (the right one) of the two on board, the load on it increased. Given that the lean mode had not been switched on, the right engine quickly overheated and then failed. Having lost control, the machine fell into a spin and crashed into a forest. The co-pilot and the radio operator were seriously injured but survived. The three other crew members were killed.
Investigation and cause
Causes
According to the commission's conclusion, the failure of the left engine occurred because of the failure of the crankshaft. The subsequent uncoordinated actions of the crew led to the right engine also failing during the go-around. As for the lit landing gear not-extended warning light, it turned out to be false and was also caused by an error in the crew's actions — the navigator forgot to set the handle of the mechanical landing gear lock to the "locked" position and to move the handle of the landing gear extension valve to the neutral position. In general, the crew was flying together in this composition for the first time, and for captain Vorobyov it was only his third solo flight.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Russian Wikipedia article “Катастрофа C-47 в Сукове” (revision 150406264, 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 C-47 в Сукове
- Article
- Катастрофа C-47 в Сукове
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 150406264 · 2025-12-02 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q19916752
- 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 C-47 в Сукове" (page 5413842, revision 150406264), 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): An Aeroflot C-47 on a ferry flight before being loaded: an airline's own ferry flight. The article: "The aircraft was operating a short ferry flight within Moscow from Bykovo Airport to Vnukovo Airport, where it was to be loaded."
- 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.