An-12 crash at Cam Ranh (1989)

The An-12 crash at Cam Ranh was an aviation accident of an An-12BP aircraft of the Soviet Air Force that occurred on 8 July 1989 at the aerodrome of the Cam Ranh naval base (Vietnam), in which 31 people died. The aircraft crashed while performing an emergency landing.

Crash

On 8 July 1989, An-12BP (aircraft commander Captain Sergei Generalov) was operating a flight from Kim Lien (Hanoi) to Ho Chi Minh City with an intermediate stop at Cam Ranh Air Base. On board were 35 people: children, women and the chief military adviser to the Ministry of Defence of the SRV. During a daytime approach to land at Ho Chi Minh City aerodrome in a downpour (visibility — 1500 m, cloud base 500 m), it descended to a height of 100 m and went around. During the go-around, the aircraft commander (KK) saw the runway and began to perform a second approach visually. He allowed a descent to a height below the established minimum descent altitude (UPM) and deviated 300 m to the left. While trying to turn right, continuing the descent, the KK created a right bank, lost control of the altitude and, 114 m before the runway, struck a drainage well on the runway end safety area (KPB) with the right main landing gear leg, the propeller of engine No. 4 and the right wingtip. The leg broke off, the propeller of engine No. 4 feathered automatically, and the right and left hydraulic systems failed. The crew went around and decided to return to the departure aerodrome, Cam Ranh.

During the landing at Cam Ranh aerodrome, while flying over the runway threshold, the crew feathered the propeller of engine No. 1. The aircraft began to deviate to the left. After an attempt to straighten it, a landing was made with an overshoot of 615 m simultaneously on the left main and nose landing gear legs. The aircraft ran off onto the ground. The impact with drainage wells tore off the remaining landing gear legs and the nose glazing. Then the fuselage broke in two after colliding with an embankment. After that the aircraft slid across a taxiway, stopped and caught fire. The cargo of air conditioners and mattresses on board shifted on impact and blocked the pressurised cabin in which the passengers were. Unable to get out, the passengers suffocated in the smoke of the fire. The aircraft commander, the air gunner-radio operator and one of the passengers, who was in the tail cabin, survived (all suffered serious injuries).