Hijacking of an An-2 from Tuapse

Investigation

Search operations were carried out in the area where the aircraft fell, but apart from fragments of the aircraft confirming that it was aircraft 04959, nothing else was found.

In the course of investigative actions carried out “on the ground”, the identity of the aircraft's hijacker was established — he turned out to be former military pilot Pavel Alekseyevich Skrylyov, born in 1930. In “civilian life” he had for some time worked as a civil aviation pilot in Tomsk Oblast, but had been dismissed. He tried to get a job with “Aeroflot” in Krasnodar Krai, but in vain, in connection with which he decided to flee from the Soviet Union to Turkey by hijacking an aircraft. It is not ruled out that his decision was made spontaneously.

It was also established that Skrylyov needed no more than 35—40 seconds to steal the aircraft. The fencing of the regional Tuapse airfield, unlike larger ones (Sochi, Anapa, Novorossiysk, Gelendzhik), was a small fence that posed no obstacle to entering its grounds. The clamp locking the aircraft's “throttle” could easily be bent open by hand, and the anti-theft devices (the cockpit door locks) provided no protection against theft.

For the duration of the investigation both pilots — Melnik and Muravyov — were suspended from flying, but later continued working. After the incident, changes were made to the design of the anti-theft devices of aircraft of this type.