Aeroflot Flight 302
Aeroflot Flight 302 was an aviation accident that occurred on 16 February 1966 near Pechora involving an Ilyushin Il-14M passenger plane operated by Aeroflot. An engine fire damaged the wing which came off as the aircraft attempted an emergency landing resulting in the deaths of 26 people.
Aircraft
The Il-14M with tail number CCCP-Л2058 was produced by the Tashkent Aviation Plant on 30 November 1957 and delivered to the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet under the USSR Council of Ministers, which sent it to the Syktyvkar aviation detachment of the Syktyvkar aviation group of civil aviation on 12 December. In 1958-1959 the aircraft was re-registered as CCCP-52058. At the time of the accident, the airliner had accumulated a total of 17,157 flight hours.Crew
The crew from the 75th flight detachment were Trainee captain: Valentin Ivanovich Putikov, Non-staff pilot-instructor Vasily Ivanovich Grishanov, First Officer: Albert Modestovich Popov, Flag Navigator: Pyotr Ivanovich Suvorov, Flight engineer: Vladimir Alexandrovich Shishkin, Radio Operator: Yury Mikhailovich Nikonov, stewardess Lyudmila Serafimovna Volkov and Senior Navigator-Inspector of the flight service department: Nikolai Fedorovich Vanyukov.Passengers
Among the 15 adults and 3 children passengers on board was Pyotr Erakhov — First Secretary of the Komi Regional Committee of the Komsomol, deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Komi ASSR. He was flying with the head of the agitation and propaganda department of the Komi Regional Committee of the CPSU, Alexander Peshkin, who persuaded Erakhov to fly with him.Crash
The plane was performing flights 301/302 on the route Syktyvkar – Vorkuta – Syktyvkar. The Il-14 took off from Vorkuta at 15:30 in clear weather and leveled off when it reached 2,100 meters. At 16:23, approaching the airspace of Pechora Airport, the crew contacted the approach controller, reported flight conditions, and requested permission to pass through the area. The controller informed the crew of their position relative to the airport and cleared them to approach and pass at an altitude of 2,100 metersAt 16:31, someone from the crew pressed the transmitter button, and the controller heard the fire alarm sound, but no messages came from the crew at first but a minute later a message came from the plane: "The right engine is on fire, we are descending." The controller responded: "Expect landing with us," and then communication ceased, and the crew did not respond to further calls.
After detecting the fire in the right engine, the crew activated its fire suppression system and reported the situation to the ground. Realizing that the fire was not extinguished and was rapidly spreading, the pilots decided to perform an emergency landing off-airfield and even selected a treeless site for this. However, at 16:35, when the Il-14M was 40 kilometers from Pechora Airport and 100 meters above the ground, the right engine detached due to the fire. The airliner lost control and, entering a steep dive, crashed into a frozen swamp near the Bolshaya Vyatkina river, then disintegrated and burned. All 26 people on board died.