Accident of IL-18 in Sverdlovsk (1960)

IL-18A with tail number 75648 (serial number 188000402, serial number 004-02) was manufactured by the MMZ Znamya Truda in 1958 and then transferred to the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet . On October 6, he entered the Ulyanovsk Civil Aviation Training Center , and on September 10 of the following year he was transferred to the 120th squadron of the Ural Air Group of the Civil Air Fleet. In total, at the time of the crash, the airliner had 390 flight hours ^[1] .

The plane performed a training flight, and was controlled by a pilot instructorV.D. Lobanov , who was to train in approaches on the OSP and SP-50 systems under the blinds, that is, exclusively on radio beacons. Checking was and. about. commander of the 120th squadron L. M. Ulanova . The crew also included a navigator A.V. Zagorsky , flight engineer I.I. Kuznetsov and the radar operator I.M. Kormin . The sky at that time was covered by cumulonimbus clouds with a lower boundary of 250 meters, visibility was 6 kilometers and a moderate (7 m / s) northerly wind was blowing ^[2] .

The crew successfully completed four approaches with two landings. Carrying out the fifth approach at the landing rate of 76 °, the crew flew the DPRM and BPRM in accordance with the scheme, while upon approaching the BPRM, when the height was 100 meters, the inspector Ulanova gave the command to open the shutter. Also, at the command of the pilot Lobanov, flaps were released into the landing position (by 40 °). At an altitude of 70-80 meters with an instrument speed of 260 km / h during installation UTRT at 30 ° Il-18 flew BPRM and approached the runway . But, being 30 meters from the ground, the plane suddenly unexpectedly increased its descent angle, and then hit the front landing gear on a concrete strip. After the strike, the IL-18 bounced off the concrete, but rising by 4-5 meters and flying 100 meters, it again crashed into the strip with the front pillar, while destroying the brakes on it. Then the plane again climbed up already by 8-10 meters, after which it crashed into a strip for the third time. The landing gears broke and the airliner slipped on concrete "on the belly", working screws catching on the runway. IL-18 turned to the right and at a right angle it flew from the runway ^[2] .

The airliner crashed at 21:39 local time. There was a fire in which almost the entire aircraft and engines burned down. The flight engineer Kuznetsov died, the rest escaped with bruises, burns and light wounds ^[2] .

Initially, it was concluded that the disaster was due to an error in the piloting technique made by pilot Lobanov when landing at night. According to the commission, he brought the plane to the runway at low altitude and high speed and belatedly transferred it to the landing position, and then the crew began to take the wrong actions to correct the mistakes made. Among the concomitant reasons, installation of engines No. 2 and 3 (internal) in two previous UPRT landings was called zero before landing, that is, landing was performed on two engines, as well as loading the rear trunk with 600 kg ballast, instead of installed 1,000, which led to permissible front centering. The conclusions also noted Ulanova’s passive behavior, as well as Lobanov’s small attack on the IL-18, with long interruptions, and his early admission to work as an instructor ^[2] .

The commission ignored the comments of crew members that icing was observed in the clouds, and when the aircraft was pulled out of a steep decline, excessive control loads appeared. But after 8 months, on December 26 near Ulyanovsk, the Il-18A crashed , which also performed a training flight. Based on the results of the consideration of both catastrophes, it was found out that the reason was actually a design flaw of the aircraft - a small margin of the elevator, as well as an error in the RLE regarding the permitted angle of the flaps. In the case of icing of the stabilizer, when the flaps were released at an angle of 40 °, the flow stabilized on the stabilizer, and the elevator did not have enough headroom to withdraw from the dive ^[2] .

• Accidents in the Sverdlovsk Region
• Accident of IL-18 in Sverdlovsk (1967)
• Accident of IL-18 in Ulyanovsk