Landing Tu-124 on the Neva

The new passenger liner Tu-124 of the Aeroflot company on August 21, 1963 made a regular flight en route Tallinn - Moscow . The aircraft commander was Viktor Yakovlevich Mostovoy. The plane took off from Ülemiste Airport at 08:55 ^[2] and headed for Vnukovo Airport .

Some time after takeoff, the crew found that the front landing gear was jammed in a half-mounted position. Landing at the Tallinn airport was impossible because of fog, and the dispatchers decided not to send the plane to Moscow, but to land at the nearest Pulkovo airfield in Leningrad ^[3] (then it was called “Highway” ^{[4] [5]} ). He followed to his destination at low altitude ^[2] . In the Highway itself, emergency services were brought to combat readiness: the fire-fighting equipment and ambulances were brought to the dirt lane, where the plane was supposed to land on the belly.

By 11:00, the liner was near the city and began to fly around the city at an altitude of about 500 meters ^[6] , producing fuel ^[2] in order to reduce the likelihood and strength of a possible fire during landing. Low altitude was chosen to avoid possible decompression, as well as for faster fuel production ^[7] . At the same time, the crew tried to completely release the chassis using a pole through a punched hole ^[8] .

At 12:10 on the eighth lap, 21 km from the airport, when, according to the testimony of the fuel gauge, there was about 750 liters of fuel left (according to other sources, 2.5 tons ^{[9] [10]} ), enough to reach Pulkovo , the left engine stopped ^{[2] [3]} (according to another version, there was fuel, but it did not enter the engine ^[11] ). The crew was given permission to pass through the city. However, after a short time, the second engine also stopped. Thus, the liner began to plan with a half-kilometer height above the center of the city. The crew had no choice but to try to make a landing on the surface of the Neva . The commander handed over control to second pilot Vasily Grigoryevich Chechenev, who served in the past in naval aviation and had experience of landing on water. The co-pilot Chechenev correctly oriented the plane before the landing and did not allow him to dive into the water or hit the tail part of the fuselage by water.

The plane, descending, flew over house 6 along Malookhtinsky Avenue , then 4 meters above the Alexander Nevsky Bridge (at that time under construction) and splashed down near the Finnish railway bridge . Landing on the water was made between the Alexander Nevsky Bridge and the railway bridge, opposite the Alexander Nevsky Monastery (on the left bank) and Tallinskaya Street (on the right bank of the Neva). The width of the river in this place is about 400 m ^[3] . A steam tug passing at that moment pulled the aircraft to the right bank of the Neva ^[12] . To attach the towing cable was broken glass in the nose of the aircraft ^[7] . Passengers were evacuated and sent to Moscow.

Later, a special steamer with spillway began to pump out water from the plane. However, the water from the holes arrived faster, and, as a result, by the morning the Tu-124 sank. On the next day, the pontoons were brought under the plane and the tugboat was dragged into the territory of the present Lenexpo complex, to the Skipper channel , where the military unit was based. It was later decided to write off the car due to damage. The aircraft after recovery ^{[13] was} sent to the Tambov Region , to the Kirsanov Aviation School (Kirsanovskoye ATU GVF, since September 15, 1964 - Kirsanovskoye ATU GA) in unassembled form, where it served as a simulator for school cadets ^[8] . In 1970, the aircraft was recycled ^[14] .

Initially, the investigating commission of the accident placed the responsibility for the abnormal situation on the crew. But later it was decided not to punish the pilots. The widow of the aircraft commander, Viktor Mostovoi, responding to questions from the Izvestia correspondent , said that he and his colleagues were presented with awards (the Order of the Red Star), but the decree on awarding was not signed as a result ^[15] . The crew commander V. Mostovoy and the navigator V. Tsarev received two-room apartments by order of Aeroflot management ^[10] . According to some reports, Mostovoy, after unsuccessful studies at the Academy of Civil Aviation, left for the Krasnodar squadron. The captain of the tugger Yu. V. Porshin was awarded a diploma and a watch ^[8] .

Prior to 1978, V. Mostovoy worked in the 200th squadron, then until 1988 he worked as a shift supervisor at the Vnukovo airport, from where he retired after a heart attack. In 1989 he emigrated with his family to Israel, where he died in Kiryat Gat in 1997 ^[10] . The last years before his death he worked as a worker in a factory. .

The co-pilot Vasily Chechenev soon after a successful landing became the commander of the aircraft (FAC), and then the pilot-instructor. He died in 2002.

35 years later, participants in those events participated in the television program “How It Was” on Russian television, and former co-pilot Vasily Chechenev mentioned that the crew’s “enthusiasm” for repairing the chassis while circling around the city led to the fact that still enough to the airport ^[16] . Another reason for the program was the imperfection of the fuel indication sensors.

• Mostovoi Viktor Yakovlevich, 30 years (d. 1997) - Aircraft Commander
• Vasily G. Chechenev (d. 2002) - co-pilot
• Tsarev Victor - navigator
• Beremin Ivan - airborne
• V. Smirnov - Flight Mechanic
• Alexandrova Alexandra - Flight Attendant

According to the website of the St. Petersburg Metropolis during the emergency landing on water on board the Tu-124 was the future Patriarch Alexy II ^[17] .

• Channel One: Documentary film “Landing on the Neva” (2015).

• Aviation accidents due to the diversion of the crew to problems with the chassis:
  • Disaster L-1011 in the Everglades
  • DC-8 crash at Kaysville
  • Catastrophe dc-8 in portland