Aircraft accidents, incidents and air crashes in the USSR and Russia. Authorities conducting the investigation

The death of a Boeing passenger plane over Donbass in the summer of 2014 was not the first time a passenger airliner was destroyed by air defense systems. The most notorious of these disasters were the death of a South Korean Boeing, shot down by a Soviet fighter over the Tartary Strait in 1983, and the destruction by the US military of an Iranian A-300 airliner over Persian Gulf in 1988.

In the shadow of these cases remains a tragedy that occurred during a period when the Cold War had been forgotten, and a new round of confrontation was still ahead.

In the fall of 2001, immediately after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the world seemed to unite in a single impulse to fight international terrorism. The events that took place in the skies over the Black Sea on October 4, 2001, were also initially perceived as an attack by extremists. However, as it was later established, they had a completely different nature.

On the morning of October 4, 2001, a Tu-154M with tail number RA-85693 took off from David Ben-Gurion International Airport in Israel. The plane, which belonged to the Russian airline Siberia, was operating flight SBI 1812 on the route Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk. There were 66 passengers and 12 crew members on board.

The flight went smoothly until 13:45 Moscow time. At this moment, the Tu-154 disappeared from the radar screens. The plane was at an altitude of 11,000 meters, approximately 200 kilometers southwest of Sochi.

Almost immediately, dispatchers received a message from an Armavia An-24 located in the same area. The pilot reported that he observed a bright flash at a higher level.

“There is no reason not to trust the Ukrainian side”

After this, there was virtually no doubt that a disaster had occurred. Rescue ships went to the site of the alleged plane crash in the Black Sea, as well as planes from the Ministry of Defense and the Federal border service.

Wreckage of the Tu-154 and bodies were found on the surface of the water dead people. At the same time, most of the aircraft’s structures, as well as the remains of the victims, sank to the bottom.

In the place where the Russian plane crashed, the depth of the Black Sea exceeds 2000 meters, and the bottom is heavily silted. In the future, this fact will play an important role in this story.

By the time of the Tu-154 crash, less than a month had passed since the terrorist attack on New York. In addition, the plane was flying from Tel Aviv, so a theory immediately arose about a bomb on board.

Unlike the story that happened in 2014, in 2001 the United States did not seek to classify the data it had about the disaster.

Thanks to the leak of this information to the media, within a few hours US television companies reported sensational information: the Russian airliner was apparently shot down by a Ukrainian S-200 air defense missile launched during a military exercise.

Initially, the Russian side, relying on information received from Kyiv, denied such a possibility.

“Firstly, all necessary services in Ukraine were notified in advance. Secondly, the weapons that were used at that time, according to tactical and technical data, could not reach the air corridors in which our aircraft was located... In any case, there is no reason not to trust the Ukrainian side,” he said on the day of the disaster Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Where did you go?!”

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, in turn, confirmed that training firing of anti-aircraft systems was indeed carried out at the training ground at Cape Opuk, during which 23 missiles were fired. Representatives of Russia and other states attended the exercises. It was confirmed that the S-200 complex was also used, but it was argued that it could not hit the Siberia Airlines Tu-154.

However, already on October 5 Prime Minister of Ukraine Anatoly Kinakh stated that the version of a missile hitting the plane “has a right to exist.”

Israeli experts also worked together with Russian specialists. Particular attention was drawn to the data recorded by the tape recorder of the automated control center air traffic"Arrow".

At 13:45, the tape recorder recorded a signal corresponding to the crew’s access to external communication, accompanied by an emotional cry. Over the next few seconds, the external communication button was pressed several more times, due to which noise and screams on board were recorded. We were also able to make out the phrase “Where did you go?!”, shouted by one of the pilots.

On October 9, a representative of the commission investigating the disaster stated: an analysis of the holes in the fuselage showed that the plane could have been hit by a missile from the S-200 surface-to-air air defense system, since the size and shape of the holes are quite consistent with the shrapnel of the high-explosive fragmentation warhead of the missile of this particular complex .

"We are not the first and we are not the last"

At this point, rescuers reported that it was unlikely that it would be possible to lift the main part of the fuselage from the bottom - near the silted bottom at a depth of two kilometers, visibility was practically zero, and it was almost impossible to carry out work.

October 10 Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky stated that a forensic examination of the bodies raised from the water showed that all victims died from barotrauma. This meant that the liner quickly collapsed high altitude. The presence of carbon monoxide in the blood of the victims indicated that a fire had broken out on board.

The totality of the facts left no doubt - the Tu-154 was destroyed by an anti-aircraft missile.

On the same day, journalists asked President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, whether he agrees with the conclusions of Russian experts. The President replied that he would accept the conclusions that were finally approved by the joint working group.

Kuchma did not stop there and uttered words that went down in history: “Look what is happening around the world, in Europe... we are not the first and we are not the last, there is no need to make a tragedy out of this. Errors happen everywhere, and not only on this scale, but on a much larger, planetary scale. If we do not lower ourselves below the civilized level, everything will be fine. And if we pour a bucket of dirt on ourselves, then you’re welcome.”

The words of the President of Ukraine caused, to put it mildly, misunderstanding. The press service of the Israeli Prime Minister issued the following response: “When the person killed is not a representative of your people, then it is probably possible to make such academic conclusions. 78 people died, most of whom were Israelis - for us this is the greatest tragedy."

Erroneous "backlight"

The final conclusion of the Interstate Aviation Committee stated that the plane was unintentionally shot down by a Ukrainian S-200 anti-aircraft missile launched during military exercises in Crimea.

During the exercises on October 4, 2001, the Ty-154 aircraft accidentally found itself in the center of the intended firing sector of a training target and had a radial speed close to it, as a result of which it was detected by the S-200 radar and accepted as a training target.

The operator of the S-200 complex, working in the presence of high-ranking officers from several countries, became nervous and instead of an inconspicuous training target, he “highlighted” the passenger Tu-154. At the same time, the airliner found itself in an area that was not declared prohibited during the shooting and in which the S-200 missile, according to its characteristics, could hit the target.

In twenty days Minister of Defense of Ukraine Alexander Kuzmuk was dismissed. A number of other Ukrainian generals and colonels were dismissed from service or demoted in rank, but there was no official connection between these personnel decisions and the death of the Russian airliner.

Unlike the investigation into the death of flight MH-17 over the Donbass, the investigation into the Tu-154 crash over the Black Sea did not need to show “cartoons” and dubious photos from the Internet as evidence. According to experts, the collected data was quite enough to win the case against Ukraine in an international court.

Compensation without admission of guilt

However, at that time, the top leadership of Russia considered that the matter needed to be settled amicably. Moreover, Ukraine expressed an open desire for this.

On December 26, 2003, Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement on the settlement of claims, according to which $7.8 million was transferred to pay the relatives of the deceased Russian passengers. Ukraine signed a similar agreement with Israel, which was paid $7.5 million.

Payment of compensation was carried out ex gratia, that is, without recognition of legal liability. Thus, Israel and Russia agreed that Ukraine would save face by not officially admitting guilt for the destruction of the Tu-154.

In September 2004, the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine closed the criminal case into the crash, since the investigation did not establish objective data that would reliably indicate that the Tu-154 was shot down by an S-200 missile launched during an exercise by the Ukrainian air defense forces.

The tactics of the Ukrainian side are as follows: since the main part of the plane remained at the bottom of the Black Sea, then the fact that the plane was destroyed by a Ukrainian air defense missile cannot be considered proven. But it is too late to make claims against Ukraine at the state level - the issue was resolved “amicably” back in 2003.

It's Putin's fault

Such interstate agreements did not suit many relatives of the victims. Some considered the compensation insufficient, while others generally believed that it was not a matter of money, but of punishing the perpetrators.

Especially for such persistent ones, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine ordered an examination in 2008, which declared the IAC’s conclusions unfounded. According to Ukrainian experts, the S-200 complex could not shoot down the Tu-154. Experts did not rule out that the source of damage to the aircraft could have been located both outside and inside the airliner, in particular, it could have been an explosive device placed “between the ceiling of the interior of the aircraft” and its outer shell.

Based on this conclusion, in 2011, the Economic Court of Kyiv rejected a claim for $15 million filed by Siberia Airlines against the Ministry of Defense and the State Treasury of Ukraine.

But that's not all. In the early 2010s, “investigations” appeared in the Ukrainian media, the authors of which claimed that there was an air defense error, but the culprits were not the Ukrainian, but the Russian military.

This version began to be circulated especially actively after February 2014, and especially after the death of the Boeing over Donbass.

According to this version, the Tu-154 was allegedly shot down by the S-300 complex belonging to the Russian army. After this, according to supporters of this theory, Russian President Vladimir Putin secretly agreed with the head of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma that the Ukrainian side would “take the blame upon itself” for certain financial preferences.

Adherents of this version rely on the decision of Ukrainian courts, which is based on the conclusions of Ukrainian experts.

All this could have been avoided if Russia in the early 2000s had not harbored illusions about maintaining good neighborly relations with Ukraine, for the sake of which, in fact, the agreement “On the Settlement of the Claim” was concluded in 2003. But what's done is done.

Most of those who lost loved ones on October 4, 2001 cannot come to their graves - the resting place for passengers and crew members of the Tu-154 became the bottom of the Black Sea. And for the past decade and a half, Ukrainian “experts”, journalists and politicians have been mocking the memory of the victims. But, on the advice of President Kuchma, “there is no need to make a tragedy out of this.”

At 9.15 minutes local time (17.15 Moscow time), almost to the day, two months after the tragedy of September 11, an American Airlines Airbus A-300-600, tail number N14053, crashed into New York after takeoff from international airport named after Kennedy.

The plane was operating flight number 587 from Boston via New York to Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic). There were 260 people on board the plane, including 9 crew members. Two minutes after takeoff, an explosion occurred on the right side of the plane. Witnesses say that before the plane hit the ground, debris from the turbine and fuselage were already falling from the sky. There were no signals from the crew about an explosion on board.

According to eyewitnesses, after takeoff the plane gained altitude unusually slowly and tilted heavily to the left side. Apparently, a fire broke out in one of the engines. The pilots activated an emergency fuel dump to allow for an emergency landing. But a few moments later there was an explosion and the turbine was torn off the wing.

She fell into the parking lot of a Texaco gas station, just a few meters from underground gasoline tanks. And the plane itself crashed onto neighboring houses.

More than 10 residential buildings were engulfed in flames. There is a school five blocks from the crash site. It was empty because in America the holiday is Veterans Day. All New York airports, bridges and tunnels were closed. There was a huge column of smoke at the crash site and helicopters were circling. Judging by the fact that the black smoke turned white, fire crews were actively extinguishing the flames.

Representatives of the US Federal Transportation Safety Administration announced that the cause of the death of American Airlines Flight 587 to the Dominican Republic was most likely due to some kind of malfunction, although literally the day before departure the plane underwent another technical inspection. Processing the data from the voice recorder found at the scene of the tragedy did not give any reason to believe that there were terrorists on board.

According to official data from American Airlines, there were 251 passengers on board the plane (including five infants for whom separate tickets were not issued) and 9 crew members. They all died. In addition, “from 6 to 9 people” who were on the ground at the time of the disaster are listed as missing. 4 houses were completely burned down, another 12 received varying degrees of damage.

There were about 150 citizens on board the crashed A-300 plane Dominican Republic. This was announced by the President of the Dominican Republic, Hippolyte Mejia. According to official sources, there were no Russian citizens on board the crashed plane.

According to a local TV channel, representatives of American Airlines did not even go to the people gathered at the airport to explain the situation to them.

The final report of the commission investigating the crash (dated October 26, 2004) states that it was caused by the Airbus A300 getting caught in the wake of a Japanese airline plane taking off in front of it. The high sensitivity of the rudder (height? - O.K.'s note) to pedal actions was also noted.

Audio recording of crew conversations in the last minutes before the disaster.

The last words of the crew commander - “Where did it go?”, spoke unambiguously about what was happening.
After examinations, it turned out that the damage was caused by rocket shrapnel, which is used in air defense systems. The explosion occurred 15 meters from the plane, but this was enough to cause irreparable damage to it.

Versions of what happened

1. The very first version is a terrorist attack. Moreover, three weeks earlier there was a bloody attack on the United States associated with the explosion of the twin towers. And the plane itself was flying from a country well acquainted with this evil. But at Ben Gurion Airport, unprecedented control measures are always carried out and security services assured that terrorists could not sneak on board unnoticed. At least, during the entire existence of the air harbor there has not been a single such case.

2. Soon another explanation appeared - a technical malfunction of the aircraft or unprofessional actions of the crew. By that time, 18 accidents with the TU-154 had occurred due to various problems. Experts, first of all, drew attention to the weak points of the airliner - turbines, fuel tanks, landing gear. But after a thorough check, the version turned out to be irrelevant.

3. The plane was shot down by an S-300 missile fired by the Russian side. Supporters of this version argue that the Ukrainian S-200 air defense system could not hit the plane, since it simply would not have had enough time to reach the target. And the rocket itself needs illumination from ground equipment, which was turned off 3 minutes before the explosion of the plane. In addition, they refer to the words of V. Putin, who stated on the day of the disaster that, according to the tactical and technical characteristics, the fired missile could not reach the corridor in which the ill-fated plane was flying.

4. The airliner was shot down by a Ukrainian missile. This version was initiated...by the Americans. The Pentagon allegedly obtained a recording of negotiations between the Ukrainian military, in which the words “Where did this target come from?” can be heard. Then this version was actively supported by the Russian side. In particular, the head of the commission to investigate the causes of the tragedy, V. Rushailo, 10 days after the incident, announced the defeat of the airliner from the outside.

Conclusions from the investigation

A commission created from specialists from the Interstate Aviation Committee, which at that time included representatives of 11 CIS states, began studying all the circumstances of the incident. It was established that the plane was killed by an S-200 missile, the diameter of which shrapnel corresponded to the size of the holes in the plane's hull.

As a result, the commission came to the conclusion that on that ill-fated day, the radar station, which was supposed to control the missile’s flight path, was disconnected from electricity. The radial speed of the TU-154 most likely turned out to be close to the training target. For this reason, the missile was aimed at passenger airliner, mistakenly losing sight of the learning goal.

The organizers of the exercises did not take preventive measures to ensure the safety of the shooting. In particular, the corridor was “cleared” only within a radius of 50 km from the test site, although the technical range of the projectile is about 300 km. Later, the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Defense of Ukraine, V. Tkachev, stated that the stated facts and expert assessments indicate a possible hit by a Ukrainian missile.

In 2008, official Kyiv initiated a new investigation, which was carried out only by Ukrainian experts. It is not surprising that all charges on the Ukrainian side were dropped by this conclusion.
Litigation.

The airline filed claims against the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the State Treasury in the court of the city of Kyiv back in 2004. However, the KNIISE expert commission, which carried out the examination at the initiative of the military department, issued a verdict that the TU-154 could not be destroyed by a Ukrainian missile. Then Sibir demanded that a third party be involved in the investigation, which was MAK. Its experts, on the contrary, clearly noted the cause of the plane’s death from being hit by an S-200 missile.

Despite these circumstances, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine dropped the criminal case. In 2011, the appeal court rejected Siberia's claim, citing the lack of a clear evidence base from the IAC.
In 2012, the Supreme Arbitration Court of Ukraine decided to refuse the Sibir company's appeal for damages in the amount of $15.5 million.

In 2002, an interdepartmental commission was formed to resolve claims, and a year later a corresponding agreement was signed between Russia and Ukraine. On its basis, from 2003 to 2005, the Independence government compensated moral damages to the relatives of the victims in the total amount of $15.6 million. However, all payments were made without legal admission of guilt by the Ukrainian side.

Tu-154 crash over the Black Sea- a plane crash that occurred on Thursday, October 4, 2001. The Siberia Airlines Tu-154M airliner was performing scheduled flight SBI1812 on the Tel Aviv-Novosibirsk route, but 1 hour and 45 minutes after takeoff it crashed into the Black Sea. All 78 people on board (66 passengers and 12 crew members) were killed.

In 2003, Ukraine signed intergovernmental agreements with Russia and Israel on compensation to relatives of those killed in the plane crash without legal admission of guilt. In accordance with these agreements, Ukraine paid 200 thousand US dollars for each death - 7.8 million dollars to Russia and 7.5 million dollars to Israel. .

Airplane

Crew

The plane was flown by an experienced crew, its composition was as follows:

Five flight attendants worked in the aircraft cabin:

Vladimir Dmitrievich Khomyakov, 51 years old - senior flight attendant. Born on July 25, 1950 in Novosibirsk. In flight work since September 1972.
Natalya Georgievna Kostenko, 45 years old. Born on April 3, 1956 in Novosibirsk. In flight work since July 1977.
Alexander Gennadievich Savich, 35 years old. Born on November 3, 1966 in Novosibirsk in the family of a pilot civil aviation. In flight work since June 1992.
Elena Vladimirovna Gusarova, 32 years old. Born on June 24, 1969 in Novosibirsk. In flight work since January 1994.
Igor Viktorovich Voronkov, 42 years old. Born on April 2, 1959 in Novosibirsk. In flight work since 1991.

In addition, the crew included 37-year-old engineer Sergei Ivanovich Lebedinsky and 37-year-old technician Konstantin Petrovich Shcherbakov.

Chronology of events

Departure from Tel Aviv

On October 3, 2001, Tu-154M board RA-85693 made flight SBI1811 on the route Novosibirsk-Sochi-Tel Aviv and back to Novosibirsk. On the way to Israel, the plane landed in Sochi for the purpose of refueling. At Sochi airport, fuel was filled into the aircraft's tanks for the return flight.

Flight SBI1812 took off from David Ben Gurion Airport at 08:00 UTC (10:00 Israeli time). At 09:39 UTC, the aircraft entered area of responsibility No. 7 of the North Caucasus Automated Air Traffic Control Center (SCC AUTC) “Strela”, and the crew informed the dispatcher about the passage of the ODIRA mandatory reporting point. The flight was carried out at an altitude of 11,100 meters within the international air route B-145, which was not subject to any restrictions, including temporary ones, in force during the period of the exercises armed forces air defense of Ukraine.

Missile launch by Ukrainian air defense forces

In October 2001, Ukrainian air defense forces conducted exercises. On October 4 at 09:41:20 UTC (13:41:20 MSK), a division of the 96th anti-aircraft missile brigade of the Ukrainian Air Defense Forces launched a 5B28 missile of the S-200B complex.

The purpose of the launch was to defeat the Tu-143 “Flight” target, which was flying 26-28 km from the launch point of the 5B28 rocket. At the same time, a Tu-154 plane was flying with the same course coordinates, in the same direction, only at a distance of 260 km.

The 5V28 rocket covered the distance to the Tu-154 in 220 seconds. Almost all this time she was aiming at this plane. The rocket overtook the plane at an altitude of 11.1 km and exploded. Thousands of fragments riddled the Tu-154, after which it crashed into the sea.

Catastrophe

At 09:45 UTC (13:45 MSK), the tape recorder of the Strela SCC AUVD recorded a sound signal corresponding to the crew’s access to external communication, accompanied by a person’s scream. Subsequently, within 45 seconds, several more signals were recorded from the crew members pressing the button on the on-board VHF radio station, followed by noises and screams from the crew members (including a fragment of the phrase: ...where did it go...), indicating a sudden emergency on board the aircraft. Almost simultaneously, the plane's mark disappeared from the radar screens. The liner at that time was at an altitude of 11,000 meters, approximately 200 kilometers southwest of Sochi. At the same time, the crew of an Armavia An-24 aircraft located in the same area reported a recorded flash above it.

The crash site is located in the area of the point with coordinates 43°11′ N. w. 37°37′ E. d. HGIOL .

Search operation

A special commission was created to investigate the causes of the disaster. An An-26 of the Russian Federal Border Service urgently took off from Gelendzhik to the crash site. The border guard ship "Grif" and the cargo ship "Captain Vakula" also went there. The An-12 plane of the Ministry of Defense and the Mi-8 helicopter of the Sochi Search and Rescue Service with rescuers on board also flew to the crash site, two rescue tugboats - "Mercury" from Tuapse and "Captain Beklemishev" from Novorossiysk, as well as a ship from the Ministry of Emergency Situations situations "Rescuer Prokopchik". At the Agoy airfield near Tuapse, another MI-8 helicopter with rescuers and equipment for water rescue was ready for immediate departure. He waited for the emergency landing site to be discovered in order to save fuel on the search and focus exclusively on rescue. This helicopter never took off, and no survivors were found.

The An-12 aircraft found oil stains at the supposed crash site. Helicopters found several pieces of the plane and the bodies of dead passengers floating on the surface of the sea. In total, 14 of the 78 bodies were recovered. No one survived .

The search was carried out within a radius of 30 km from the location indicated by the crew of the Armavia aircraft. In this area of the Black Sea, the depth is over 2000 meters and the bottom is highly silted. The weather was normal. The sea was trawled, the bottom was examined with an echo sounder, and floating remains were collected from the surface. In addition to the remains of bodies, 404 fragments of the liner, personal belongings and clothing of passengers were found. The location of the aircraft and flight recorders could not be determined. Among the collected debris was about a quarter of the entire floor covering of the aircraft cabin, in which 183 holes were found from damage by metal balls. On the extracted fragments, 460 holes were counted. Not a single flight recorder was found.

Proposing versions of the incident

Technical Investigation

October 5. Information appeared about bullet holes found in the Tu-154 fuselage, but this information was called premature. Head of the West Siberian Regional Directorate air transport Vladimir Tasun stated that “according to unverified information, the controller on the locator saw a luminous point quickly approaching the plane. This is the only thing that was received from unofficial sources via telephone channels by employees of the Sibir company from Rostov.” Rescuers from Israel joined the Russian rescuers, an analysis of the Tu-154 crew’s negotiations and an analysis of the videotape recording radar readings began. Prime Minister of Ukraine Anatoly Kinakh made a statement that the version of a missile hitting the Siberia Airlines Tu-154 plane “has a right to exist.”

October 6. Secretary of the Russian Security Council V. Rushailo stated that objects that were not related to the structure of the aircraft were found at the scene of the accident, and that “the destruction of the aircraft occurred as a result of an explosive attack.” At the same time, the head of the Main Directorate of the North Caucasus Regional Center of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Ivan Teterin, expressed the opinion that the likelihood of discovering any remains of the Tu-154 aircraft at the bottom of the Black Sea is minimal due to the great depth and zero visibility.

October 7th. According to the commission, at 13:45:12 the scream of the Tu-154M pilot was recorded by a ground tape recorder.

October 9. According to the commission, an analysis of the holes in the fuselage showed that the plane could have been hit by a missile from the S-200 Surface-to-Air air defense system, since the size and shape of the holes are quite consistent with the shrapnel of the high-explosive fragmentation warhead of the missile of this particular complex. After the suggestion that the plane could have been shot down by a missile during exercises on the Crimean peninsula, the media stopped calling these exercises joint and noted them as exclusively Ukrainian exercises. Finding out the details of the disaster is complicated by the inability to determine the exact location of the plane crash - the search for the plane's wreckage was carried out in an area with a radius of more than 12 nautical miles.

October 10. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office reported preliminary data from a forensic medical examination of the victims - the cause of death of all 14 passengers, whose bodies were found during search and rescue operations, was barotrauma. According to the Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia Sergei Fridinsky, carbon monoxide was found in the blood of the victims, which indicates a fire on board the ship.

October 11. Vladimir Rushailo announced the conclusion of the technical commission that investigated the causes of the crash of flight 1812: “multiple damage in the form of similar holes indicate defeat Russian plane from outside." At the same time, Rushailo emphasized that “the remains of the plane that crashed into the sea were not found due to the complex structure of the bottom, the aggressive hydrogen sulfide environment and a large layer of silt - up to 6 meters.”

October 12. Press Secretary of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Konstantin Khivrenko, commenting on the preliminary results of the investigation into the incident, admitted that a Ukrainian missile could have caused the death of the Tu-154.

October 13. Vladimir Rushailo stated that, according to the analysis of the plane's wreckage and holes, the anti-aircraft missile exploded 15 m above the plane. The Minister of Defense of Ukraine, at a conference in Kyiv, apologized to the families and friends of those killed in the crash of the Russian Tu-154 aircraft: “We know that we are involved in the tragedy, although its causes have not yet been fully established.”

Authorities conducting the investigation

Interstate Aviation Committee

Teimurazov described the commission’s investigation as follows: “The situation was clarified quite quickly, within a few days, and we conducted its investigation in accordance with international standards, involving foreign experts, including from the United States. By comparing objective monitoring data from four different air traffic control stations, we accurately simulated the flight route of the airliner and the trajectory of the missile. This clearly showed that the launch took place from a military training ground. In addition, we gained an understanding of the nature of the damage received, since we were able to recover 15 bodies from the scene, as well as the wreckage of the aircraft. We have restored a number of fragments of the aircraft's internal and external skin, including almost the entire floor. It was made of wood, which floats well on water. We found five damaging elements of the missile warhead. We have established the exact brand and serial number of the rocket, the number of the warhead and even the series number of the striking steel balls. The developers of the S-200 missile system directly participated in the work.”

The IAC investigation was completed in 2004. According to the commission’s findings, the Tu-154 was shot down by “the 5B14Sh warhead of the 5B28 missile of the S-200V anti-aircraft complex.<…>The explosive device was detonated at 9.45 [UTC] at an altitude of 15 m above the aircraft body." Based on the analysis of radar data, it was established that the missile was launched from the area of Feodosia (Crimea), where Ukrainian air defense forces were conducting exercises at that time.

Russian State Commission to Investigate the Air Crash

In Russia, a state commission was created to investigate the Tu-154 disaster, headed by the Secretary of the Russian Security Council Vladimir Rushailo.

General Prosecutor's Office of Russia

Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia Sergei Fridinsky opened a criminal case into the Tu-154 crash, and he also headed the investigation team.

During the investigation, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office concluded that the cause of the disaster was the negligence of officials of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. On December 20, 2001, a criminal case opened in Russia regarding the disaster, along with material evidence, was sent to the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine.

State Commission of Ukraine to Investigate the Air Crash

On October 12, 2001, by order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine N 478-r, an Interdepartmental Commission to investigate the Tu-154 disaster was created. First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleg Dubina was appointed its leader. The work of the commission was attended by Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Yevgeny Marchuk, First Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Ivan Bizhan, Head of the Forensic Examination Center of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine V. Sukhoi, Deputy Secretary of State of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine Alexander Pasenyuk and others.

Ministry of Defense of Ukraine

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine conducted an official investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Tu-154 crash. Its results confirmed the main version of the incident (defeat by an S-200V air defense missile fired by the Ukrainian air defense forces).

KNIISE and Kharkov Institute of Air Force

On November 3, 2008, as part of the consideration of the claim of Siberia Airlines against the Ministry of Defense and the State Treasury of Ukraine, the Economic Court of Kyiv, at the initiative of representatives of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, ordered a comprehensive forensic ballistic, traceological, technical and radio engineering examination. The commission of experts included 6 employees (KNIISE) and 3 employees. These experts had no experience in air crash investigations. On May 21, 2010, the commission of experts completed its work. .

According to the examination, the Tu-154 aircraft was not hit by a Ukrainian missile. Experts studied the conditions under which, according to IAC findings, the Tu-154 aircraft could have been hit by a missile. The commission came to the conclusion that during the detonation of the missile warhead, the distance to the aircraft should have been 780 m. In this case, “up to three damaging elements” would have hit the aircraft. “The destruction of an aircraft under such conditions is practically impossible,” states the KNIISE conclusions. The report also says that the Reis target, three minutes before the Tu-154 crash, was destroyed by fire from another anti-aircraft missile system - the S-300PS, located 11 km from the S-200V. At 9.42 UTC (12.42 Kyiv time), the S-200V radar equipment stopped emitting, which eliminates the possibility of a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile hitting the plane. Denying that the plane was hit by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile, KNIISE experts do not indicate other possible reasons for the crash of the Tu-154. Answering questions during the court hearings, experts did not rule out that the source of damage to the aircraft could have been located both outside and inside the airliner, in particular, it could have been an explosive device placed “between the ceiling of the interior of the aircraft” and its outer shell.

Legal investigation and claims for damages

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case under the article "Terrorism" in connection with the disaster passenger plane Tu-154 over the Black Sea. . After the publication of the commission’s findings on October 16, 2001, the case was transferred for proceedings to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, and the Russian side officially closed the case.

On June 28, 2002, an interdepartmental commission was created to resolve claims in connection with the Tu-154 plane crash over the Black Sea, headed by Deputy. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation V.V. Loschinin, the head of the legal department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation R.A. Kolodkin was appointed his deputy. On the same day, the “Fund for Assistance to the Families of the Lost Passengers of Flight 1812 Tel Aviv Novosibirsk” was registered. B.V. Kalinovsky was elected head of the fund, coordinating the interdepartmental commission’s communications with the relatives of the victims.

In accordance with the Agreement on the Settlement of Claims, signed by Russia and Ukraine on December 26, 2003, the Ukrainian government transferred $7,809,660 to pay the relatives of the deceased Russian passengers. Payment of compensation was carried out ex gratia, that is, without recognition of legal liability.

On September 20, 2004, the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine closed the criminal case into the crash, since the investigation did not establish objective data that would reliably indicate that the Tu-154 was shot down by an S-200 missile launched during an exercise by the Ukrainian air defense forces. On October 19, 2004, the Military Court of the Kyiv Garrison overturned the decision of the Prosecutor General's Office to close the case, the Supreme Court did not satisfy the complaint of the Prosecutor General's Office asking to cancel this decision, and the investigation was resumed, but in July 2007 the case was finally closed with the previous wording.

Immediately after the court's decision, the head of the Fund for Assistance to the Families of the Victims, Boris Kalinovsky, and the Belonogov family, which refused to receive financial assistance, filed a lawsuit for compensation for moral damage - the defendants were the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of Defense and the State Treasury of Ukraine. The case was heard in the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv and on January 30, 2008, compensation was completely denied. The motivational part of the refusal stated that the guilt of the defendants in the disaster was not established by the investigation of the prosecutor's office, the evidence presented by the plaintiffs is contradictory and cannot be recognized as a basis for satisfying the claim. The losing party did not file an appeal against the court's decision.

Simultaneously with the claim from the relatives of the victims, Siberia Airlines OJSC filed a claim against the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the State Treasury of Ukraine for damages: the amount of the claim included the market value of the destroyed aircraft with additional equipment, costs associated with the investigation of the disaster, expenses for insurance, lost profits due to the loss of the aircraft and moral damages. The consideration of the case lasted more than seven years and ended in a victory for the defense of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine: based on an additional analysis of the materials of the State Commission of Investigation carried out by the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise, the claims were completely rejected. On October 10, 2011, the losing party filed an appeal to the Economic Court of Appeal of Kyiv.

On May 28, 2012, the Kiev Economic Court of Appeal rejected the complaint of the Russian airline Siberia (S7 Airlines) against the decision of the court of first instance, which did not admit the guilt of the Ukrainian military in the crash of the Russian Tu-154 in 2001. On December 11, 2012, the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine upheld the decision. Representatives of the airline announced their intention to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, however, after on April 21, 2013, the MHC refused to transfer the case to the Supreme Court of Ukraine, the airline, having gone through all possible authorities in Ukraine, did not take the opportunity to appeal to the ECHR. Thus, Siberia's financial claims were not satisfied.

Versions of the causes of the disaster

Operator error

The S-200 anti-aircraft missile system uses a semi-active guidance system, when the radiation source is a powerful ground-based radar (“target illumination”) and the missile is guided by the signal reflected from the target. In the S-200, there are two main operating modes of the target illumination radar - MHI (monochromatic radiation) and FCM (phase code modulation). The MHI mode is typically used to scan the airspace when searching for targets, which determines the elevation angle, azimuth and radial speed of the target, but does not determine the range to the target. The range is determined in the FCM mode; switching the radar to this mode takes up to 30 seconds and may not be done if there is not enough time.

Supporters of this version assume that during firing training with the participation of Ukrainian air defense, which was carried out on October 4, 2001 at Cape Opuk in Crimea (31 test range of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which is managed by the Russian Defense Ministry), the Ty-154 aircraft accidentally ended up in the center of the supposed firing sector of the training target and had a radial speed close to it, as a result of which it was detected by the radar of the S-200 system and accepted as a training target. In conditions of lack of time and nervousness caused by the presence of high command and foreign guests, the S-200 operator did not determine the range to the target and “highlighted” the Tu-154 (located at a range of 250-300 km) instead of an inconspicuous training target (launched at a range of 60 km). Thus, the defeat of the Tu-154 by an anti-aircraft missile was most likely the result not of the missile missing the training target (as is sometimes claimed), but of the direct aiming of the missile by the S-200 operator at an erroneously identified target.

The calculations of the complex did not assume the possibility of such a shooting outcome and did not take measures to prevent it. The size of the range did not ensure the safety of firing air defense systems of such a range. The organizers of the shooting did not take the necessary measures to free up the airspace: flights were prohibited only within a radius of 50 km, although the “certified” range of hitting targets with the S-200V complex is 255 km, and the technical flight range of the 5V28 / 5V28M missile is about 300 km.

Terrorist attack

Due to the lack of flight recorders, which were never found, the determination of the absolutely reliable causes of the disaster was considered impossible by the examination of the Ukrainian institute KNIISE, but based on the available information, Ukrainian experts suggested that the plane was damaged by an explosive device that could have been located “between the ceiling the interior of the aircraft" and its body.

Personnel implications

Based on the results of an internal investigation, 20 days after the tragedy, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Alexander Kuzmuk, resigned. Several other people were also “suffered”: the air defense commander-in-chief, Colonel-General V.V. Tkachev, his deputy for combat training, Lieutenant-General V.V. Dyakov (the head of missile firing at the Opuk training ground that day), and the head of the radio engineering troops were fired from the army Air defense of Major General Yu. Korotkov, Colonels A. Lunev and N. Zhilkov, Lieutenant Colonels M. Alpatov and V. Shevchenko. Lieutenant General V. Kalinyuk, commander of the 49th Corps, was removed from office. The commander of the S-200 division, Major Yu. Wenger, was transferred to a lower position. However, none of the military personnel were brought to trial.

Cultural aspects

Perpetuation of memory

Memorial plate at the Zaeltsovsky cemetery

Similar cases of airliners being destroyed by air defense systems

Notes

WE'RE IN (undefined) . 2001.novayagazeta.ru. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
I am not me and the rocket is not mine // Evening Novosibirsk. - 08/23/2007.
Plane crash of Tu-154 flight Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk (2001). Reference . RIA News .
The investigation is over, forget it / Lenta.ru June 18, 2004
Description of the accident on the Aviation Safety Network website.
Tu-154 crash: Kuzmuk apologized
Defense Minister Alexander Kuzmuk: I apologize to the Ukrainian people
Kuzmuk left. Kuchma banned military exercises and the use of anti-aircraft missile systems // Ukrainian Truth. - 10/24/2001.
The secret that lies at the bottom. Political interests intervened in the investigation of a plane crash over the Black Sea ten years ago, Expert Online (10/04/2011). Retrieved August 13, 2016.
TU-154 - SECRET CHRONICLE OF SHAME
The GPU will figure out how the plane was shot down under Kuzmuk. //Ukrainian truth. - 10/28/2005
Ukraine transferred $7.8 million in compensation to Russia for the downed Tu-154 Archived copy of September 27, 2016 on the Wayback Machine Lenta.ru, 12/15/2004
The court did not find the Ukrainian military at fault in the crash of the Russian Tu-154. RIA Novosti, 6.9.2011
RA-85693 - russianplanes.net - Board card
Flight 1812 Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk: Crew: Evgeniy Viktorovich Garov (undefined) (unavailable link). Archived from the original on September 24, 2015.
Flight 1812 Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk: Crew: Levchugov Boris Aleksandrovich (undefined) (unavailable link). OJSC "Siberia Airlines" in memory of passengers and crew of flight 1812 Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk. Retrieved August 6, 2014. Archived March 10, 2016.
Flight 1812 Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk: Crew: Revtov Konstantin Yurievich (undefined) (unavailable link). OJSC "Siberia Airlines" in memory of passengers and crew of flight 1812 Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk. Retrieved August 6, 2014. Archived March 7, 2016.
Flight 1812 Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk: Crew: Valery Glebovich Laptev (undefined) (unavailable link). OJSC "Siberia Airlines" in memory of passengers and crew of flight 1812 Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk. Retrieved August 6, 2014. Archived March 10, 2016.
Flight 1812 Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk: Crew: Alekseev Viktor Viktorovich (undefined) (unavailable link). OJSC "Siberia Airlines" in memory of passengers and crew of flight 1812 Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk. Retrieved August 6, 2014. Archived March 6, 2016.
Flight 1812 Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk (undefined) (unavailable link). OJSC "Siberia Airlines" in memory of passengers and crew of flight 1812 Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk: Crew. Retrieved August 6, 2014. Archived December 19, 2013.
Flight 1812 Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk: Chronicle of events (undefined) (unavailable link). OJSC Siberia Airlines in memory of passengers and crew of flight 1812 Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk. Retrieved August 6, 2014. Archived December 19, 2013.
Order of the Ministry of Transport of Russia dated December 4, 2001 No. NA-424-r “On an emergency incident with the TU-154M aircraft RA-85693”
Materials on the part of the defense party No. 30/261-2004 (undefined) (unavailable link). Retrieved September 17, 2011.

Tu-154 plane crash near Irkutsk - a crash that occurred on July 4, 2001 with an airline plane flying DD 352 Ekaterinburg - Irkutsk - Vladivostok. The plane crashed while landing. As a result of the disaster, 136 passengers and 9 crew members died.

Events

The Tu-154 airliner of Vladivostok Air was performing a standard flight Ekaterinburg - Irkutsk - Vladivostok. Having taken off from Yekaterinburg, the plane flew most of the way and approached Irkutsk airport at 01:50 local time. At 02:05, the aircraft commander reported that he could see the airport runway. Three minutes later, the plane disappeared from the radar screens of the Irkutsk air traffic control service.

At that moment, residents of the village of Burdakovka, located near the airport, heard a loud bang. The called police, together with the airport emergency services, arrived at the scene at 03:25. Arriving rescuers discovered the crash site of the plane, the wreckage of which was scattered over a huge area. There were no survivors. By morning, investigative teams managed to find the flight recorders.

Air crash investigation

By the morning of the day of the disaster, the investigation team managed to find all three flight recorders, which greatly simplified the investigation of the tragedy. On December 13, 2001, the conclusion was published state commission to investigate the crash of flight DD 352.

During the landing approach, the aircraft performed a turn with a left bank of 45°. However, the crew was unable to maintain the specified landing altitude of 850 meters and the required speed, as a result of which the autopilot increased the pitch angle (pitch) to compensate for the loss of altitude. Trying to prevent the threat of the airliner stalling, the crew manually reduced the altitude and increased thrust, increasing the speed, but seeing a too sharp loss of altitude, they excessively increased the angle of attack, lifting the plane nose up. The specified engine thrust at such angles of attack was not enough and the aircraft reached supercritical conditions. The crew hesitated and lost 10 seconds. By the time the engines reached maximum thrust, the plane had lost speed and was almost uncontrollable. Unable to stay in the air, the Tu-154, which had 145 people on board, crashed to the ground.