Il-14 crash in Sangar

The Il-14 crash in Sangar was an aviation accident that occurred on the evening of Tuesday, 31 October 1961. An Il-14 passenger aircraft belonging to the Yakutsk flight detachment (Aeroflot) was operating a cargo flight on the Yakutsk—Sangar route, but in poor visibility the crew mistook the village of Smorodichny for the urban-type settlement of Sangar and began descending, after which it crashed into the slope of Mount Vaatala Khayata 2 kilometres from the village of Smorodichny, at an elevation of 160 metres. All 5 crew members on board were killed.

Chronology of events

On 31 October 1961, aircraft USSR-61712 was to operate a flight on the Yakutsk—Sangar route. On board the aircraft, besides the other 4 crew members, was the deputy commander for flight service of the Yakutsk Independent Aviation Group (YaOAG), A.V. Neklyudov, as well as 3100 kilograms of apples. The weather forecast for the route from 18:00 to 21:00 was as follows: cloud cover 0—3 oktas. Stratocumulus, at a height of 1000—1500 metres. Visibility more than 10 kilometres. Weather forecast at Sangar airport: clear, haze. Visibility 4—10 km. The aircraft took off from Yakutsk airport at 17:55. 10 minutes before departure from Yakutsk, the weather forecasting engineer of the aforementioned airport received a counter forecast from Sangar airport. It was slightly worse than the previous one. But the Yakutsk weather forecasting engineer did not familiarise anyone with this forecast. The crew also did not know that the electricity had been cut off in Sangar. As was discovered after the aircraft made contact with the air traffic control tower (KDP) of Sangar airport. Some time later, the aircraft took up a flight level at an altitude of 1500 metres visually. At 18:35 the crew established radio contact with the Sangar airport KDP and requested landing conditions. At this time the electricity went off in Sangar. The Sangar KDP controller cleared a descent to 900 metres visually, and then transmitted the actual weather, which was practically the same as the counter forecast (which had been passed to the Yakutsk weather forecasting engineer, but she did not tell anyone about it). After clearance for further descent to 600 metres, in response to the controller's request about the weather, the crew reported that visibility was more than 10 kilometres. The crew reported: "600 metres visually, I see the settlement, request further descent". The controller cleared the descent. The crew reported: "I am over the settlement, I see the aerodrome, request permission to make a check circuit". The controller cleared this too. The crew reported "visibility good, passing the beacon, passing over you". According to the controller's statement, which is not confirmed by other witnesses, he saw the aircraft fly over the airport. There were no reports from the crew about completing the first and second turns. The crew reported completing the third turn. After it, they reported that they saw the runway and asked for so-called flares to be fired. At the airport two white flares and, by mistake, one red flare were fired. This information was transmitted to the aircraft, and the crew acknowledged it. After that there was no radio contact with the crew. The aircraft was found completely destroyed 8 kilometres southwest of the airport, on the slope of Mount Vaatala Khayata. All on board — 5 crew members — were killed. It was at an elevation of 160 metres. At a height of approximately 5—7 metres the aircraft collided with treetops. At that moment it was descending slightly on a heading of 310—320 degrees. Because of this, part of the right wing panel, 4 metres long, was torn off. After this the aircraft rolled over to the right, crashed into the ground and continued moving. Along the way it also crashed into other trees. Thus, from the first contact with the treetops the aircraft travelled a distance of 200 metres. After coming to a stop the aircraft caught fire. The approach to Sangar airport was to be made using the lights of the settlement of Sangar. Visibility at the time of the crash was 3-4 kilometres.