1965 aviation accident

Aeroflot Flight 542

An Li-2 similar to the one involved in the accident

Accident
Date| 7 March 1965 (1965-03-07)
Summary| Severe turbulence, wing failure
Site| Yermakovsky District, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Soviet Union
Aircraft
Aircraft type| Lisunov Li-2
Operator| Aeroflot/Krasnoyarsk
Registration| CCCP-54971
Flight origin| Abakan International Airport
Destination| Kyzyl Airport
Occupants| 31
Passengers| 27
Crew| 4
Fatalities| 31
Survivors| 0

On 7 March 1965, an Aeroflot Li-2 operating as Aeroflot Flight 542 (Abakan to Kyzyl) crashed shortly after takeoff from Abakan. Approximately 40 minutes after departure, the aircraft banked left and dived into the mountains of the Krasnoyarsk Krai region of the USSR. All 31 passengers and crew died, making it the deadliest known accident involving the Li-2.

## Contents

* 1 Background
* 2 Accident
* 3 Investigation
* 4 See also
* 5 References

## Background[edit]

The aircraft in question was an Li-2 (itself a Soviet license-built version of the DC-3) with the serial number 23442810, produced by the Tashkent Aviation Plant in 1952 and transferred to the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet. On September 24, the airliner received the tail number USSR-L4971 and was sent to the 132nd (Tuva) squadron of the Krasnoyarsk Civil Air Fleet Directorate. In 1959, it was converted to a passenger airliner, and re-registered as CCCP-54971. The aircraft had flown for 17,098 hours at the time of the accident.[1]

## Accident[edit]

The plane had already flown from Kyzyl to Abakan, departing at 05:10 Local time (08:10 UTC) and landing safely at 06:55. 24 adult passengers and three children were on board the return flight, which weighed 10,946 kg (24,132 lb), exceeding the Maximum Takeoff Weight (MTOW) by 246 kg (542 lb), although the aircraft was still safe. At 07:04, Flight 542 had an on-time departure bound for Kyzyl with Captain Andrukhin Dmitry Fedorovich and First Officer Babich Nikolay Ilyich in command. The weather at the time was normal, with only moderate turbulence, and some early morning fog in the lowlands. At 07:41, the crew told Krasnoyarsk ATC that the plane had reach an altitude of 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) and was flying at 280 knots, In response, the dispatcher instructed them to switch to communication with Kyzyl airport. The crew acknowledged receiving this information, which was the last radio transmission from the aircraft. After the latter transmission, several attempts to hail the aircraft were met with failure. At 07:45, the Li-2 crashed into a forested mountain slope at an altitude of 1,740 metres (5,710 ft). The aircraft was flying on a course of 240o, and was descending at a steep angle whilst rolling left. All 31 passengers and crew were killed.[2]

## Investigation[edit]

Efforts to reach the crash site were hampered by a layer of snow up to two to three metres (6 ft 7 in to 9 ft 10 in) thick, postponing activity until it melted. On June 1, the search got underway and scattered debris was found from the air 600 metres (660 yd) north of the crash site, including the left aileron and fairing, rudder, and the upper part of the keel. Part of the left end fairing sheathing was found 300 metres (330 yd) from the main crash site. Studying the wreckage, the investigators envisioned the following: flying through a pass, the craft got into a descending turbulent air stream and began to lose altitude. Acting on the controls, the pilots tried to pull the nose of the aircraft up, and due to the resulting high aerodynamic loads, the end fairing of the left wing collapsed. At the same time, on the right wing, the end fairing was deformed but did not separate. The separation of a part of the structure of the left wing immediately led to an imbalance in lift, so the aircraft turned sharply along the lift axis to the left, while lateral aerodynamic overloads appeared, as a result of which the rudder and part of the keel were separated. The airliner lost control and went into a fall.[2]

During the investigation, it was noted that the wing showed no signs of damage, including corrosion and fatigue, that could have reduced the strength of the structure. The metal of the structure also met the requirements in terms of its quality. But at the same time, earlier in the course of the numerous static tests conducted, as well as during the operation of Li-2 aircraft, wing destruction was not revealed in the place where it happened with Flight 542. Only after a similar disaster that occurred on March 25, 1966, near Ramenskoye, which occurred for the same reason, did the commission came to the conclusion that the design of the left wing end fairing was unsafe [2]

## See also[edit]

* List of military aircraft of the Soviet Union and the CIS
* Douglas DC-3
* Boris Lisunov

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Lisunov Li-2 CCCP-54791 Aeroflot". russianplanes.net. Retrieved September 9, 2021.
2. ^ a b c "Aviation accidents, incidents and air crashes in the USSR and Russia". Retrieved September 9, 2021.

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Aeroflot

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1970s|

* Flight U-45
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* CCCP-11000 crash
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* Flight 1969
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1980s|

* Flight 4225
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* 1985 Zolochiv mid-air collision
* Flight 7425
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* Flight 2306
* Flight 6502
* Flight 892
* Flight U-505
* Flight N-528
* Flight 699
* Flight 3739

since 1990s|

* Flight 2808
* Flight 593
* Flight 821
* Flight 1492

* Sheremetyevo International Airport
* List of Aeroflot destinations

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* e

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1965 (1965)

* Jan 4 Aeroflot Flight 20
* Jan 16 USAF KC-135 Wichita crash
* Feb 6 LAN Chile Flight 107
* Feb 8 Eastern Air Lines Flight 663
* Mar 7 Aeroflot Flight 542
* Mar 8 Aeroflot Flight 513
* Apr 14 British United Airways Flight 1030X
* May 5 Iberia Airlines Flight 401
* May 20 Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705
* Jun 28 Pan Am Flight 843
* Jul 1 Continental Airlines Flight 12
* Jul 6 Little Baldon Hastings crash
* Jul 8 Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 21
* Jul 10 Skyways Coach-Air Avro 748
* Jul 20 Cambrian Airways Liverpool crash
* Jul 23 Allegheny Airlines Flight 604
* Aug 16 United Airlines Flight 389
* Aug 24 Hong Kong US Marines KC-130F Crash
* Sep 17 Pan Am Flight 292
* Sep 19 Gujarat Beechcraft incident
* Nov 2 1965 Argentine Air Force C-54 disappearance
* Nov 8 American Airlines Flight 383
* Nov 11 United Airlines Flight 227
* Nov 11 Aeroflot Flight 99
* Dec 4 Carmel mid-air collision
* Dec 5 Philippine Sea A-4 incident

1964  ◀  ▶  1966

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Aviation accidents and incidents in the Soviet Union and Russia

Soviet
Union|

| 1930s|

* Osoaviakhim-1
* SSSR-V6 Osoaviakhim

|

1950s|

* 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash
* Aeroflot Flight 04
* 1958 Aeroflot Tu-104 Kanash crash
* Aeroflot Flight 315 (1959)
* Aeroflot Flight 120

1960s|

* Aeroflot Flight 315 (1960)
* Aeroflot Flight 207
* Aeroflot Flight 036
* Austrian Airlines Flight 901
* Aeroflot Flight 068
* Aeroflot Flight 245
* Aeroflot Flight 902
* Aeroflot Flight 415
* Aeroflot Flight 213 (1962)
* Aeroflot Flight 191
* Aeroflot Flight 03
* Aeroflot Flight 25
* Aeroflot Flight 012
* Aeroflot Flight 366
* Aeroflot Flight 663
* Aeroflot Flight 721
* Aeroflot Flight 101/X-20
* Aeroflot Flight 542
* Aeroflot Flight 513
* Aeroflot Flight 99
* Aeroflot Flight 065
* Aeroflot Flight 2723
* Aeroflot Flight 5003 (1967)
* Aeroflot Flight 2230
* Aeroflot Flight L-51
* Aeroflot Flight 15
* 1969 Yukhnov mid-air collision
* Aeroflot Flight N-826

1970s|

* Aeroflot Flight U-45
* Aeroflot Flight 1661
* Aeroflot Flight 3630
* 1971 January 22 Surgut Aeroflot Antonov An-12 crash
* 1971 January 31 Surgut Aeroflot Antonov An-12 crash
* Aeroflot Flight 1969
* Aeroflot Flight 1912
* Malév Flight 110
* Aeroflot Flight 773
* Aeroflot Flight 2174
* Aeroflot Flight 1491
* Aeroflot Flight 558
* Aeroflot Flight 1036
* Aeroflot Flight 217
* Japan Air Lines Flight 446
* Aeroflot Flight 6263
* Aeroflot Flight 141
* Aeroflot Flight 630
* Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Flight 307
* Aeroflot Flight 6551
* Aeroflot Flight 109
* Aeroflot Flight A-13
* Aeroflot Flight 3932
* Aeroflot Flight 964
* Aeroflot Flight 19
* Aeroflot Flight 2022
* 1974 Leningrad Aeroflot Il-18 crash
* 1974 Surgut mid-air collision
* Aeroflot Flight 2003
* Aeroflot Flight 3739 (1976)
* Aeroflot Flight 909
* Aeroflot Flight 1802
* Aeroflot Flight 418
* 1976 Anapa mid-air collision
* Aeroflot Flight 2415
* Aeroflot Flight N-36
* Aeroflot Flight 3843
* Aeroflot Flight 5003 (1977)
* Aeroflot Flight 331
* 1977 Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134 hijacking
* Aeroflot Flight B-2
* Aeroflot Flight 6709
* 1978 Yegoryevsk Tu-144 crash
* Korean Air Lines Flight 902
* Aeroflot Flight 1080
* Aeroflot Flight 1691
* 1979 Dniprodzerzhynsk mid-air collision
* Aeroflot Flight 5484

1980s|

* Aeroflot Flight 4225
* 1981 Pushkin Tu-104 crash
* Aeroflot Flight 498
* 1981 Armenia mid-air collision
* Aeroflot Flight 811
* Aeroflot Flight 3603
* Aeroflot Flight 8641
* Aeroflot Flight 411
* Aeroflot Flight 343
* Aeroflot Flight 5463
* Korean Air Lines Flight 007
* Aeroflot Flight 601
* Aeroflot Flight 3352
* Aeroflot Flight 3519
* Aeroflot Flight 7841
* 1985 Zolochiv mid-air collision
* Aeroflot Flight 7425
* Aeroflot Flight 101/435
* Aeroflot Flight 2306
* Aeroflot Flight 6502
* Aeroflot Flight 892
* Aeroflot Flight U-505
* Aeroflot Flight N-528
* Aeroflot Flight 699
* Aeroflot Flight 3739 (1988)

Russia|

| 1990s|

* Aeroflot Flight 2808 (1992)
* Sakha Avia Flight 301 (1993)
* Baikal Airlines Flight 130 (1994)
* Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 9045 (1994)
* Aeroflot Flight 593 (1994)
* Khabarovsk United Air Group Flight 3949 (1995)
* Stavropolskaya Aktsionernaya Avia Flight 1023 (1997)
* Irkutsk Antonov An-124 crash (1997)

|

2000s|

* Omsk An-70 crash (2001)
* Vladivostok Air Flight 352 (2001)
* Grozny Mi-8 crash (2001)
* Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 (2001)
* Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Flight 9064 (2001)
* Shelkovskaya Mi-8 crash (2002)
* Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 9560 (2002)
* Khankala Mi-26 crash (2002)
* Russian aircraft bombings (2004)
* Armavia Flight 967 (2006)
* S7 Airlines Flight 778 (2006)
* UTair Flight 471 (2007)
* Shatoy Mi-8 crash (2007)
* Moskovia Airlines Flight 9675 (2008)
* Aeroflot Flight 821 (2008)
* Makhachkala Il-76 collision (2009)
* Yakutia Ilyushin Il-76 crash (2009)

2010s|

* Aviastar-TU Flight 1906 (2010)
* Smolensk air disaster (2010)
* Katekavia Flight 9357 (2010)
* Alrosa Flight 514 (2010)
* Dagestan Airlines Flight 372 (2010)
* Kolavia Flight 348 (2011)
* Garbuzovo Antonov An-148 crash (2011)
* RusAir Flight 9605 (2011)
* Angara Airlines Flight 9007 (2011)
* Avis-Amur Flight 9209 (2011)
* 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash (2011)
* UTair Flight 120 (2012)
* Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Air Flight 251 (2012)
* Red Wings Airlines Flight 9268 (2012)
* Polar Airlines Flight 9949 (2013)
* Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363 (2013)
* Unijet Flight 074P (2014)
* Flydubai Flight 981 (2016)
* Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations Il-76 crash (2016)
* Skol Airlines Flight 9375 (2016)
* Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 crash (2016)
* Khabarovsk Airlines Flight 463 (2017)
* Saratov Airlines Flight 703 (2018)
* UTair Flight 579 (2018)
* Aeroflot Flight 1492 (2019)
* Angara Airlines Flight 200 (2019)
* Ural Airlines Flight 178 (2019)

2020s|

* Volga-Dnepr Airlines Flight 4066 (2020)
* Kemerovo parachute Let L-410UVP-E crash (2021)
* Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Air Flight 251 (2021)
* Siberian Light Aviation Flight 42 (2021)
* Siberian Light Aviation Flight 51 (2021)
* Menzelinsk parachute Let L-410UVP-E crash (2021)
* Grodno Aviakompania Flight 1252 (2021)

This includes accidents and incidents in the Soviet Union, and Russia only. It does not include accidents in other post-Soviet states after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
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