Il-14 crash near Syktyvkar
Aeroflot (Syktyvkar Civil Air Fleet Detachment, 75th Air Detachment) Ilyushin Il-14 · Severe turbulence (flying into a thunderstorm)
From Shosseynaya, Leningrad to Syktyvkar
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
- 23 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 0
- 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
Ilyushin Il-14
- Flight
- 613
- Aircraft type
- Ilyushin IL-14
- 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-61696
- Onboard fatalities
- 23
- Route
- From Shosseynaya, LeningradTo Syktyvkar
Cause areas
- Environmental issues › Operating environment
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
- Personnel issues › Experience/knowledge
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
The Il-14 crash near Syktyvkar was an aviation accident involving an Il-14M passenger aircraft of the airline Aeroflot that occurred on Wednesday, 20 July 1960, in Vilegodsky District (Arkhangelsk Oblast) near Syktyvkar, killing 23 people.
Crash
The aircraft was operating passenger Flight 613 from Leningrad to Syktyvkar (some data say to Vorkuta) with an intermediate stop in Cherepovets. The flight to Cherepovets passed without deviations, and at 10:31, with 19 passengers and 4 crew members on board, Flight 613 departed for Syktyvkar. According to the weather forecast received by the crew, variable towering cumulus and cumulonimbus cloud with a base of 600—1000 metres, visibility of 4—10 kilometres and thunderstorm conditions were expected along the flight route until 14:00. In Syktyvkar itself, from 12 to 15 o'clock, variable towering cumulus and cumulonimbus cloud with a base of 600—1000 metres and visibility of 4—10 kilometres were forecast. The flight level in the flight plan was given as 3000 metres.
At 10:54 the aircraft reported passing Vologda visually at the assigned flight level (3000 m), and at 11:23 passing Totma at the same flight level and above the clouds. At 11:51 Flight 613 established contact with the command and control centre of Syktyvkar Airport and reported: 3000 visual, speed 360, estimated time Syktyvkar 12:40. At 11:57, aircraft 61696 transmitted, this time to Cherepovets (the departure airport): passing Vel. Ustyug, 3000 metres visual, speed 370. At 12:20 the crew again contacted the Syktyvkar Airport control centre and requested entry into the airport zone. In reply, the controller transmitted the aerodrome pressure, a direct bearing of 240° and a distance of 100 kilometres, and also instructed them to make a visual approach at a height of 300 metres. The crew acknowledged receipt of the information.
At 12:30 the controller called Flight 613, but no one answered him. And when the airliner did not arrive at the airport, a search for it was begun. The Il-14 was searched for for 11 days and nights, until on 31 July at 11 o'clock it was found in Vilegodsky District of neighbouring Arkhangelsk Oblast, 9 kilometres south of Kenozero, near the border with the Komi ASSR and 87 kilometres southwest of Syktyvkar Airport (coordinate point ). On impact with the ground the aircraft exploded and burned, and all 23 people on board were killed.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
When examining the wreckage, it was noted that the right wing together with the engine was located 70—80 metres from the fuselage, which means that the airliner had begun to break up while still in the air.
During the investigation it was established that on that day at Cherepovets Airport the flight director had put a controller with little experience in charge of organising the dispatch of the aircraft. The Cherepovets radio operator received the weather forecast for Syktyvkar Airport with distortions and gaps in the text. The head of the AMSG of Cherepovets Airport doubted that the forecast had been received correctly, but did not demand that it be retransmitted. But the incorrectly received weather forecast for Syktyvkar now lacked such an important point as that a thunderstorm and light rain were expected at the arrival airport. In turn, at Syktyvkar Airport the air traffic service staff did not analyse the weather situation and did not monitor the actual weather in the area of the airport and of the aerodrome control services. The controller at the command and control centre, in turn, did not request from the AMSG information about the actual weather situation in the area of the airport and the aerodrome control service, nor about the expected weather situation. Because of this, the controller was unable to pass the weather data to the crew, but at the same time did not ask the crew about the actual weather around them. Without knowing the meteorological conditions in the area of the aircraft's descent, the controller nevertheless cleared the crew to descend visually to 300 metres. Also, information arrived at the Syktyvkar AMSG from the storm-warning ring stations that a thunderstorm was being observed, but the duty forecasters did not pass this information on to the control centre, and the control centre, in turn, did not request it.
Because of such violations regarding weather information, on entering the aerodrome zone the crew unexpectedly encountered a severe thunderstorm and cloud with a base of 600 metres. When the controller gave the command to descend visually to 300 metres, the crew should have carried out the descent while going around the thunderstorm. But in this case the pilots did not have the necessary experience of flying in thunderstorm conditions, so the aircraft commander, during the descent, directed the aircraft straight into the thunderclouds.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Russian Wikipedia article “Катастрофа Ил-14 под Сыктывкаром” (revision 150406329, 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 Ил-14 под Сыктывкаром
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 150406329 · 2025-12-02 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q19916799
- 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 Ил-14 под Сыктывкаром" (page 5600820, revision 150406329), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- airline flight number 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.