Aircraft accidents, incidents and air crashes in the USSR and Russia. State Commission of Ukraine to Investigate the Air Crash

Over the Black Sea, became the 73rd liner of this family lost as a result aviation accidents. The total number of deaths in such incidents over 44 years reached 3,263 people. The Yuga.ru portal looked into the history of the aircraft’s operation and remembered the most major disasters with his participation.

Tu-154 is a passenger aircraft developed in the 1960s in the USSR at the Tupolev design bureau. It was intended for the needs of medium-haul airlines and for a long time was the most popular Soviet jet passenger aircraft.

The first flight took place on October 3, 1968. The Tu-154 was mass-produced from 1970 to 1998. From 1998 to 2013, small-scale production of the Tu-154M modification was carried out at the Samara Aviakor plant. A total of 1,026 vehicles were produced. Until the end of the 2000s, it was one of the most common aircraft on medium-range routes in Russia.

The aircraft with tail number RA-85572, which crashed on December 25, 2016 over the Black Sea, was manufactured in 1983 and was a modification of the Tu-154B-2. This modification was produced from 1978 to 1986: an economy class cabin designed for 180 passengers, an improved automatic on-board control system. In 1983, RA-85572 was transferred to the USSR Air Force.

According to some Tu-154 pilots, the aircraft is too complicated for mass production. passenger airliner and requires high qualifications of both flight and ground personnel.

At the end of the 20th century, the aircraft, designed in the 1960s, became obsolete, and airlines began to replace it with modern analogues - the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320.

In 2002, EU countries, due to discrepancies in the level of permissible noise, banned flights of Tu-154s not equipped with special noise-absorbing panels. And since 2006, all Tu-154 flights (except for the Tu-154M modification) in the EU were completely banned. Aircraft of this type were operated mainly in the CIS countries at that time.

In the mid-2000s, the aircraft began to be gradually withdrawn from service. The main reason is the low fuel efficiency of the engines. Since the aircraft was designed in the 1960s, the developers did not face the issue of engine efficiency. The economic crisis of 2008 also contributed to accelerating the process of decommissioning the aircraft. In 2008, the entire Tu-154 fleet was withdrawn by S7, followed by Rossiya and Aeroflot the following year. In 2011, the operation of the Tu-154 was stopped " Ural Airlines" In 2013, aircraft of this type were withdrawn from the air fleet by UTair, the largest Tu-154 operator at that time.

In October 2016, the last demonstration flight was made by the Belarusian airline Belavia. The only commercial operator of Tu-154 aircraft in Russia in 2016 was Alrosa Airlines, which has two Tu-154M aircraft in its fleet. According to unconfirmed reports, two Tu-154 aircraft, including the oldest model of this family, produced back in 1976, are owned by North Korean airline Air Koryo.

In February 2013, serial production of the aircraft was discontinued. The last aircraft of the family, produced at the Samara Aviakor plant, was transferred to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

The largest disasters of domestic Tu-154

02/19/1973, Prague, 66 dead

The Tu-154 aircraft was performing a regular passenger flight from Moscow to Prague when, while landing, it suddenly went into a rapid descent, not reaching 470 m from the runway, crashed into the ground and collapsed. 66 people out of 100 on board died. This is the first accident in the history of the Tu-154 aircraft. The Czechoslovak commission was unable to establish the causes of the incident, only suggesting that during the approach to land the airliner suddenly encountered a zone of turbulence, which led to a loss of stability. The Soviet commission came to the conclusion that the cause of the disaster was an error by the aircraft commander, who, during landing, accidentally, due to imperfections in the control system, changed the angle of the stabilizer.

07/08/1980, Alma-Ata, 166 dead, 9 wounded on the ground

The plane, flying on the route Almaty - Rostov-on-Don - Simferopol, crashed almost immediately after takeoff. The plane demolished two residential barracks and four residential buildings, injuring nine people on the ground. According to the official version, the disaster occurred due to a sudden atmospheric disturbance that caused a powerful downward air flow (up to 14 m/s) and a strong tailwind (up to 20 m/s) during takeoff, at the time of mechanization removal, at a high take-off weight, in conditions of a high-mountain airfield and high air temperatures. The combination of these factors at a low flight altitude and with a sudden lateral roll, the correction of which briefly distracted the crew, predetermined the fatal outcome of the flight.

11/16/1981, Norilsk, 99 dead

The airliner was completing a passenger flight from Krasnoyarsk and was landing when it lost altitude and landed on a field, not reaching about 500 m from the runway, after which it crashed into a radio beacon embankment and collapsed. 99 people out of 167 on board were killed. According to the commission's conclusion, the cause of the disaster was the loss of longitudinal control of the aircraft at the final stage of landing due to design features airplane. In addition, the crew realized too late that the situation was threatening an accident, and the decision to go around was made untimely.

12/23/1984, Krasnoyarsk, 110 dead

The airliner was supposed to carry out a passenger flight to Irkutsk when an engine failure occurred while climbing. The crew decided to return, but during landing a fire broke out, which destroyed the control systems. The car crashed to the ground 3 km before runway No. 29 and collapsed. The root cause of the disaster was the destruction of the first stage disk of one of the engines, which occurred due to the presence of fatigue cracks. The cracks were caused by a manufacturing defect.

07/10/1985, Uchkuduk, 200 dead

This disaster was the largest in terms of death toll in the history of Soviet aviation and Tu-154 aircraft. The airliner, performing a regular flight on the route Karshi - Ufa - Leningrad, 46 minutes after takeoff at an altitude of 11 thousand 600 m, lost speed, fell into a flat tailspin and crashed to the ground.

According to the official conclusion, this happened due to the influence of high non-standard outside air temperature, a small margin in the angle of attack and engine thrust. The crew made a number of deviations from the requirements, lost speed - and could not cope with piloting the aircraft. Widespread unofficial version: the crew's rest schedule was violated before departure, resulting in total time The pilots' wakefulness amounted to almost 24 hours. And soon after the flight began, the crew fell asleep.

07.12.1995, Khabarovsk region, 98 dead

The Tu-154B-1 airliner of the Khabarovsk united air squad, flying on the route Khabarovsk - Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk - Khabarovsk - Ulan-Ude - Novosibirsk, crashed into Mount Bo-Dzhausa 274 km from Khabarovsk. The cause of the disaster was presumably asymmetrical pumping of fuel from the tanks. The ship's commander mistakenly increased the resulting right roll, and the flight became uncontrollable.

07/04/2001, Irkutsk, 145 dead

While landing at Irkutsk airport, the airliner suddenly fell into a flat tailspin and crashed to the ground. During the landing approach, the crew allowed the aircraft speed to drop below the permissible speed by 10-15 km/h. The autopilot, turned on in altitude maintenance mode, increased the pitch angle as the speed dropped, which led to an even greater loss of speed. Having discovered a dangerous situation, the crew added a mode to the engines, tilted the steering wheel to the left and away from themselves, which led to a rapid increase in vertical speed and an increase in roll to the left. Having lost spatial orientation, the pilot tried to bring the plane out of the roll, but his actions only increased it. The state commission blamed the cause of the disaster on the erroneous actions of the crew.

10/04/2001, Black Sea, 78 dead

The Siberia Airlines Tu-154M airliner was flying on the route Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk, but 1 hour 45 minutes after takeoff it crashed into the Black Sea. According to the conclusion of the Interstate Aviation Committee, the plane was unintentionally shot down by a Ukrainian S-200 anti-aircraft missile launched during Ukrainian military exercises held on the Crimean peninsula. Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexander Kuzmuk apologized for the incident. Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma acknowledged Ukraine's responsibility for the incident and dismissed the Minister of Defense.

08/24/2004, Kamensk, 46 dead

The plane took off from Moscow and headed for Sochi. During a flight over the Rostov region, a strong explosion occurred in the tail section of the airliner. The plane lost control and began to fall. The crew tried with all their might to keep the plane in the air, but the uncontrollable airliner crashed to the ground near the village of Glubokoye, Kamensky district Rostov region and completely collapsed. The explosion on the plane was carried out by a suicide bomber. Immediately after the terrorist attacks (on the same day, a Tu-134 plane flying from Moscow to Volgograd exploded), the terrorist organization Islambuli Brigades took responsibility for them. But later Shamil Basayev stated that he prepared the terrorist attacks.

According to Basayev, the terrorists he sent did not blow up the planes, but only hijacked them. Basayev claimed that the planes were shot down by Russian air defense missiles, as the Russian leadership feared that the planes would be sent to any targets in Moscow or St. Petersburg.

08/22/2006, Donetsk, 170 dead

The Russian airliner was carrying out a scheduled passenger flight from Anapa to St. Petersburg, but encountered a severe thunderstorm over the Donetsk region. The crew requested permission from the dispatcher for a higher flight level, but then the airliner lost altitude and three minutes later crashed near the village of Sukhaya Balka in the Konstantinovsky district of the Donetsk region.

“The lack of control over the flight speed and failure to comply with the instructions of the Flight Operations Manual (Flight Operations Manual) to prevent the aircraft from entering stall mode due to unsatisfactory interaction among the crew did not prevent the situation from becoming catastrophic.”, said the final conclusion of the Interstate Aviation Commission.

04/10/2010, Smolensk, 96 dead

Presidential airliner Tu-154M Air Force Poland was carrying out a flight on the Warsaw-Smolensk route, but when landing at the Smolensk-Severny airfield in heavy fog, the airliner collided with trees, capsized, crashed to the ground and was completely destroyed. All 96 people on board were killed, including Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria Kaczynski, as well as well-known Polish politicians, almost all the high military command and public and religious figures. They were heading to Russia on a private visit as a Polish delegation to the mourning events on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre. An investigation by the Interstate Aviation Committee found that all systems of the aircraft were operating normally before the collision with the ground; due to fog, visibility at the airfield was below acceptable for landing, of which the crew was notified. The causes of the disaster were cited as the incorrect actions of the aircraft crew and psychological pressure on them.

On October 4, 2001, exactly 16 years ago, Ukraine shot down a Russian passenger plane Tu-154M of Siberia Airlines over the Black Sea, flying from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk. Everyone on board died.

Forgotten over the years, the disaster over the Black Sea, which killed 78 people on the Tel Aviv-Novosibirsk flight, has not yet found its logical conclusion. Having admitted its guilt, Ukraine never paid compensation to the Russian airline Sibir in the amount of $15 million, limiting itself to payments of $200,000 for each Israeli and Russian killed. Shoot down, shoot down, but we won’t respond in full - this is in the style of Kyiv’s current policy.

Scheduled flight SBI1812 on the route Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk, performed on the morning of October 4, 2001 from David Ben Gurion Airport to Tolmachevo Airport, was interrupted after 1 hour 45 minutes of flight. The airliner was at an altitude of 11 thousand meters and was about to begin its descent at the Sochi airport, where an intermediate refueling was to take place. Before boarding in Russian resort town There were about 200 kilometers left when the crew recorded the fact that their plane had hit the missile sight and managed to send several signals on the air with a panic button. It was no longer possible to deviate from the destructive effect of the missile rushing to intercept it - the pilots only had time to notice that they were being attacked.

As you know, it was at this time that Ukrainian air defense exercises took place on the territory of Cape Opuk in Crimea, which were also attended by foreign observers. Firing at training air targets was carried out, among other things, from the S-200B complexes, the missile of which mistakenly hit a civilian ship.

“It’s difficult to imagine any malicious intent in the downing of a Tu-154 over the Black Sea in 2001; most likely there was none,” says military expert Vladislav Shurygin. - Then there was not such an amount of negativity in the minds of Ukrainian citizens towards Russians. Moreover, it was an international flight; there were mostly Israeli citizens on board the plane, and Ukraine would not have risked running into such a major scandal that it could not get out of. The reason seems to be different - by that time, graduates of specialized military schools had not entered the Ukrainian Air Defense Forces for ten years, and many of the active officers had either quit or left for Russia. Most likely, the operator of the S-200B complex was simply not professionally trained enough, plus he was under psychological pressure from high authorities, who demanded to show skill in the eyes of foreign observers. All this could have led to the fact that instead of the training target, which was 60 kilometers away, the operator aimed the missile at a target that was 250-300 kilometers away - he got it wrong! The main thing was to launch faster and show the bravery of the Ukrainian airborne vehicles. The result is known."

After the disaster, Kyiv immediately went into “unconsciousness” and for a long time denied participation in the tragedy of its rocket.

“Tragedies when a civilian aircraft becomes a victim of the military (for various reasons) are not so rare,” says media consultant Alexander Zimovsky. - In such cases, there is an iron rule: deny everything. In addition, the great powers can take one more liberty. Justify the destruction of a civilian aircraft by recognizing it as a military incident. This is how Americans behave, for example. Remember the Iranian airbus that was shot down by a missile from the American cruiser Vincennes? Then 290 people died, the ship’s commander received an order.

Ukraine, as a third-rate country, cannot afford such luxury. Therefore, in the case of the destruction of the Tu-154 over the Black Sea in 2001, Kyiv went into complete “unconsciousness”. I am well aware of all the circumstances of the tragedy, because in 2001 our television company reported that a Ukrainian air defense system shot down a passenger plane during shooting in Crimea. I myself supervised this special news release and carried out fact-checking based on the data American systems tracking and alerts. They immediately and without hesitation pointed out the Ukrainian origin of the missile that shot down the plane taking off from Tel Aviv.

Subsequently, Ukrainian commanders and officials refused. But then, in the first few hours, out of fear, almost everyone involved on the Ukrainian side did not dispute what had happened. The command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine recognized both the fact of the exercises, and the shooting itself in the specified area, and the loss of control over the fired missile by the combat crew of the air defense system. And even the command of the Minister of Defense Kuzmuk to the commander of the air defense system, who expressed doubt about the captured target, was preserved in Ukrainian military folklore: “Knock him down..!” Two weeks later, Kuzmuk was removed from his post.

On that fateful day, at the Opuk training ground, they staged a show for President Kuchma. The Minister of Defense of Ukraine, General of the Army Kuzmuk, conducted the event; with him were the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Defense of Ukraine, Colonel General Vladimir Tkachev and his deputy for combat training, Lieutenant General Vladimir Dyakov, and the commander of the 49th Ukrainian Corps, Lieutenant General Kalinyuk. Kuchma was saved only by the fact that he “fell ill” the day before (this often happened to him) and did not arrive at the training ground. However, he never denied either the incident itself or Ukraine’s guilt in what happened. Even if with the indispensable reservation that the tragedy was accidental.”

Then, as a result of an internal investigation into the tragedy in the skies over the Black Sea, many high-ranking military personnel who were even indirectly related to the downed Russian plane “resigned.” However, none of them were brought to trial - all escaped with censure. Moreover, all this time Ukraine has been putting forward and is putting forward versions of its innocence in the incident and, despite the results of investigations, it is “pushing through” the version of an internal explosion on board a civil aircraft. And even today, on the next anniversary, no one in Kyiv remembers that terrible tragedy - such “accuracy” of Ukrainian air defense is clearly not held in high esteem today.

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 of the state commission to investigate the crash of flight DD 352 was published.

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.

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 civil aviation pilot. 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 was waiting for the location to be discovered emergency landing, to save fuel on search and engage exclusively in 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 path 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 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). MHI mode is typically used for scanning airspace when searching for targets, the elevation angle, azimuth and radial speed of the target are determined, but the range to the target is not determined. 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

1. WE'RE IN (undefined) . 2001.novayagazeta.ru. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
2. I am not me and the rocket is not mine // Evening Novosibirsk. - 08/23/2007.
3. Plane crash of Tu-154 flight Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk (2001). Reference . RIA News .
4. The investigation is over, forget it / Lenta.ru June 18, 2004
5. Description of the disaster on the Aviation Safety Network website.
6. Tu-154 crash: Kuzmuk apologized
7. Defense Minister Alexander Kuzmuk: I apologize to the Ukrainian people
8. Kuzmuk left. Kuchma banned military exercises and the use of anti-aircraft missile systems // Ukrainian Truth. - 10/24/2001.
9. 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.
10. TU-154 - SECRET CHRONICLE OF SHAME
11. The GPU will figure out how the plane was shot down under Kuzmuk. //Ukrainian truth. - 10/28/2005
12. 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
13. The court did not find the Ukrainian military at fault in the crash of the Russian Tu-154. RIA Novosti, 6.9.2011
14. RA-85693 - russianplanes.net - Board card
15. Flight 1812 Tel Aviv - Novosibirsk: Crew: Evgeniy Viktorovich Garov (undefined) (unavailable link). Archived from the original on September 24, 2015.
16. 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.
17. 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.
18. 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.
19. 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.
20. 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.
21. 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.
22. 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”
23. Materials on the part of the defense party No. 30/261-2004 (undefined) (unavailable link). Retrieved September 17, 2011.

Tu-154M (registration number RA-85845, factory 86A735, serial 0735) was produced by the Aviakor aircraft plant on September 30, 1986. In the same year, under tail number B-2609, it was transferred to the Administration Civil aviation China. In July 1988, it was transferred to the Chinese airline China Northwest Airlines. In May 2001, it was purchased by the Russian airline Vladivostok Air and received tail number RA-85845 and the name Ussuriysk. Equipped with three D-30KU-154-II engines from the Rybinsk Engine Plant. On the day of the disaster, the airliner had completed 11,387 takeoff-landing cycles and had flown 20,953 hours.

Crew

The plane was flown by a very experienced crew, whose composition was as follows:

• The aircraft commander (PIC) is 51-year-old Valentin Stepanovich Goncharuk. A very experienced pilot, he worked for Vladivostok Air for 26 years. In the position of commander of the Tu-154 - from July 16, 1999. Flew 13,481 hours, 3,661 of them on a Tu-154 (1,223 of them as PIC).
• The second pilot is 40-year-old Sergei Aleksandrovich Didenko. Experienced pilot, worked for Vladivostok Air for 20 years. As a Tu-154 co-pilot since August 1, 2000. Flighted 6802 hours, 2004 of them on Tu-154.
• The navigator is 35-year-old Nikolai Nikolaevich Sakrytin. Worked for Vladivostok Air for 12 years. In the position of navigator of the Tu-154 - from September 1, 1994. Flighted 6429 hours, 4485 of them on Tu-154.
• The flight engineer is 35-year-old Yuri Aleksandrovich Stepanov. Worked at Vladivostok Air for 10 years. In the position of flight engineer of the Tu-154 - from September 6, 1999. Flew 954 hours, all on a Tu-154.

Five flight attendants worked in the aircraft cabin:

• Olga Mikhailovna Belozerova - senior flight attendant. 37 years old, with Vladivostok Air since May 19, 1985.
• Anna Viktorovna Biryukova. 23 years old, with Vladivostok Air since April 17, 2000.
• Evgenia Vasilievna Isaeva. 25 years old, with Vladivostok Air since April 17, 2000.
• Elena Vasilievna Kulikova, 31 years old.
• Victor Pavlovich Morozov. 40 years old, with Vladivostok Air since August 1, 1995.

Catastrophe

Flight DD-352 took off from Yekaterinburg at 19:47 IKT (02:47 UTC). The takeoff and flight took place as usual at an altitude of 10,100 meters.

At 01:50 IKT the crew began descending towards Irkutsk airport. At 02:05 the crew commander reported establishing visual contact with runway Irkutsk airport. During the landing approach, the crew allowed the aircraft's speed to drop below the permissible speed by 10-15 km/h during the third turn. The autopilot, turned on in altitude maintenance mode, increased the pitch angle as the speed dropped, which led to an even greater loss of speed. Having discovered a dangerous situation, the crew added a mode to the engines, tilted the steering wheel to the left and away from themselves, which led to a rapid increase in vertical speed and an increase in roll to the left. Having lost spatial orientation, the PIC tried to pull the plane out of the roll, but his actions only increased it. After the altimeter sensor, set to the minimum altitude of this stage of the landing approach, was triggered, the co-pilot sharply pulled the control wheel towards himself, while the elevator deflected to -24° to pitch up (almost all the way). Such an intense and significant deflection of the elevator led to an increase in normal overload to 2 units, a pitch angle to 20°, the aircraft reaching supercritical angles of attack and stalling into a flat spin. The plane sharply nosed down and rushed towards the ground.

The process of developing a special situation up to a catastrophic one was fleeting (15 seconds). A short-term “recoil” of the steering wheel by both pilots and switching the engines to takeoff mode could not ensure that the aircraft exited the stable flat spin mode. The aircraft's descent in this mode took place at vertical speeds of up to 100 m/s. and all attempts by the crew to pull the liner out of the spin and stop the descent were unsuccessful due to the lack of altitude. Flight 352 fell into a forest clearing, collapsed and burned. All 145 people on board were killed.

The plane disappeared from the radar screen of the Irkutsk air traffic control service at 02:08 IKT (11:08 UTC). Around this time, residents of the village of Burdakovka, 22 kilometers from Irkutsk, heard a loud bang. One of the villagers called the police. Fire brigades and ambulances rushed to the suspected crash site. At 03:25 IKT the crash site was discovered. The wreckage of Flight 352 was scattered over an area of ​​10,000 m². On the morning of the same day, all three “black boxes” were found. They were sent for examination.

Cause of the disaster

The cause of the disaster was cited as the erroneous actions of the crew. During the landing approach, the crew was unable to maintain an altitude of 850 meters when the aircraft was in a left turn at a speed lower than the recommended one, which forced the autopilot to deflect the elevator “pitch up” to maintain the necessary flight altitude, which led to an increase in the angle of attack. With a left bank of −45°, the co-pilot pulled the steering wheel towards himself. As a result, the angle of attack increased. At a high angle of attack, much more thrust is required than that used by the crew. As a result, the plane reached supercritical angles of attack and began to lose wing lift. The emergency situation continued to develop, and after a 10-second delay, with an increase in engine thrust, controllability disappeared. The incorrect actions of the crew commander (instinctive, contrary to instructions) only aggravated this situation, as a result of which the plane crashed.