Clash over Zolochev

Tu-134

The Tu-134A (registration number USSR-65856, factory 23253, serial 28-01) was released by the Kharkov State Aviation Production Enterprise (KSAMC) in 1975 (it made the first flight on February 20). On the same day, it was transferred to Aeroflot airline (Estonian CAA, Tallinn OJSC). Equipped with two turbo-jet engines D-30-III of the Perm Engine Company . On the day of the crash, he made 12 306 take-off and landing cycles and flew 18,548 hours ^[2] .

The plane was flown by an experienced crew, its composition was as follows: ^[3]

• The commander of the aircraft (FAC) - 53-year-old Nikolai Ivanovich Dmitriev . Pilot 1st Class, Hero of Socialist Labor .
• The co - pilot - V. N. Dyakin.
• Navigator - O. B. Dykuha.
• Mechanic - V. A. Potapov.

Two flight attendants , S. V. Sergeeva and Yu. S. Kuchinskaya, worked in the aircraft cabin.

There were 73 passengers aboard: 65 adults and 8 children ^[3] . Also among the passengers were:

• Alexander Aksinin - graphic artist.
• Alari Lindmäe ( est. Alari Lindmäe ) is a promising young athlete ( table tennis ).

An-26

An-26 (registration number of the USSR-26492, factory 9506, serial 095-06) was released by the Kiev Aviation Plant in 1980 (made the first flight on April 25). On the same day, he entered the 243rd ASAP of the USSR Air Force. Equipped with two AI-24VT turboprop engines of the Progr. ZMKB named after A.G. Ivchenko . On the day of the crash, it made 2346 take-off and landing cycles and flew for 1756 hours ^[4] .

The crew of the flight 101 of the USSR was as follows ^[3] :

• The crew commander is Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Petrovich Shishkovsky . The pilot of the 1st class, squadron commander of the 243rd OSAP, flew over 5000 hours ^[5] .
• Assistant Commander — 22-year-old Lieutenant Valery Valerievich Bykovsky. The son of cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky , flew over 500 hours ^[6] .
• The navigator - V. V. Kolomiets.
• Bortekhnik - V.I. Shapovalov.
• Bortekhnik - R. S. Koreiba.
• A sidedrag - L. V. Bubanov.

On board the aircraft was the top leadership of the Air Force of the Carpathian Military District , among them:

• Commander Major General Yevgeny Ivanovich Krapivin ,
• member of the military council of the district, Major General Viktor Mikhailovich Dotsenko ,
• Chief of Staff of the Air Force PriKVO S. Volkov.

Also in the plane flew both sons Evgeny Krapivin (Alexander and Andrei), as well as Natalia Gromova - the spouse of the future commander of the 40th army, Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov .

In total, there were 15 people aboard the An-26 (including 6 crew members) ^[3] .

Flight SU-8381 departed from Tallinn at 10:38 ^{[* 1]} . By 12:00, he was on the way to Lviv, when at 12:02 the USSR 101 flight departed from Lviv airport.

On that day, the weather was cloudy over Lviv, with an upper limit of 5-6 kilometers. At 12:05:45, the crew of flight 8381 (Tu-134A) contacted the Lviv RC ATC and contacted FL255 (7750 meters). The manager on the eastern sector that day was V. Shevchenko; he handed the crew the distance from Lviv airport 122 kilometers with an azimuth of 45 ° and allowed a descent to FL140 echelon (4,250 meters) at the Zolochiv detachment guard station. However, after a few minutes at 12:08:32, Shevchenko contacted Flight 8381 and canceled the permit to descend to FL140, allowing FL155 (4700 meters) to take, because at FL150 (4550 meters) it was following the oncoming course on the PRSD Dederkaly . After the Tu-134 took the FL155 echelon and reported it to the dispatcher, he allowed the liner to further descend to the FL140 echelon, since the counterboard had already crossed the course by that time. At the same time, Shevchenko also warned the Tu-134 crew about an oncoming aircraft flying on FL130 flight level (3,950 meters) ^[3] .

This oncoming plane was the flight of the USSR 101. At 12:05:22 its crew contacted the DPP of the Lviv airport and reported on the occupancy of FL60 (1850 meters). The approach controller P.A. Savchuk allowed the An-26 to recruit FL150, but at 12:06:13 ordered him to recruit FL130 due to the oncoming aircraft. At 12:11:58 the crew of flight 101 contacted the DPP and reported on the occupation of FL FL. At this moment, Savchuk (orienting himself on a surveillance radar ) confused the mark of flight 101 with the mark ahead of the An-24 (which missed flight 8381 missed) and reported to the crew of the An-26 about 65 kilometers from the airport (and in fact it was 56 kilometers) and transferred it to the dispatcher of the eastern sector ^[3] .

At 12:12:18 flight 8381 contacted the dispatcher Shevchenko and reported on the occupation of the FL140 train. Shevchenko told him to get in touch with the approach (Savchuk). At 12:12:28, the flight 101 already communicated to Savchuk, which reported on Zolochev’s passage and requested a rise to FL185 (5650 meters), reached the station. Shevchenko told the crew of the An-26 that it was flying in azimuth 86 ° and at a distance of 60 kilometers from the airport, and Tu-134A, which is 10 kilometers away, flies at FL140, so the request for the ascent was not yet approved. The crew of flight 101 confirmed the information received, while not paying attention to the fact that only 30 seconds ago, the approach controller told them to remove 65 kilometers ^[3] .

Almost simultaneously, at 12:12:30, the crew of the Tu-134 contacted the approach control unit Savchuk, who told him that he was flying azimuth 85 ° and at a distance of 65 kilometers, after which he instructed to descend to FL120 flight level (3650 meters ) to the fourth turn with MKpos = 312 ° for landing. The crew confirmed the information received and proceeded to decline. Shevchenko, who heard the negotiations, tried to warn Savchuk about the inadmissibility of reducing the Tu-134 because of the counter An-26, but neither Savchuk nor the flight director Alexander Kvashnin did not take timely measures. At 12:13, the crews of flights SU-8381 and the USSR 101 saw each other through gaps in the clouds and turned sharply to the right. But because of the small distance at 12:13:26 the planes collided with the left planes (Tu-134 - 45 ° right bank, An-26 - 14 ° right bank) and, collapsing in the air, they crashed to the ground and exploded. All 94 people flying in them (79 in the Tu-134 and 15 in the An-26) died ^[3] .

Record Negotiation

The commission found that the crews of both aircraft had a sufficiently high level of training, ensuring that they perform flight tasks under these conditions, and therefore the level of pilot training was not the cause of the disaster. Radio-technical means to support the flights of Lviv RC ATC (TRL-139 route locator, Koren-AS secondary locator and DRL-7SM aerodrome locator ^[8] ) were operational. Therefore, dispatchers began to be accused.

As a result of the commission’s investigation, it was established that the head of the flights, Alexander Kvashnin, committed the following violations ^[3] :

• released the DPP's radar control dispatcher from the workplace and, without ensuring that the senior dispatcher was in this position, allowed the DPP dispatcher to take this position;
• with a personal presence at the DPP and in the presence of gross errors in the work of the subordinate dispatcher, the DPP did not take measures to ensure flight safety.

At the same time, the DPP dispatcher P. A. Savchuk committed the following violations ^[3] :

• when the An-26 was seized with a height of 3,900 meters and approached the line of transfer to the eastern sector of the RC, using radar control, incorrectly determined the actual removal of the aircraft and transferred control to the adjacent dispatcher;
• when receiving an ATC by a Tu-134 aircraft, despite the presence of an oncoming aircraft, which was 10 kilometers on the course, it did not inform the crew of the Tu-134 about the current air situation;
• when issuing a permit to reduce the crew, the Tu-134 did not specify the air situation and the mutual position of the Tu-134 and the An-26, did not conduct permanent radar control over air traffic and did not provide the established separation intervals for aircraft divergence.

Savchuk himself previously worked as a pilot, but was retired after reaching 48 years old and therefore entered the Ulyanovsk training center , where he retrained as a dispatcher, and after two months of training in September 1984, he was allowed to work independently. According to the results of the investigation, his qualifications and practical work experience were considered unsatisfactory ^[3] .

• List of lost Tu-134

Comments

Sources

• Description of the crash of flight SU-8381 on Aviation Safety Network
• Description of the crash of the flight 101 of the USSR Aviation Safety Network