Accident of IL-18 near Nuremberg

IL-18V with tail number OK-OAD (serial number 180002102, serial number 021-02) was manufactured by the MMZ Znamya Truda in 1960 and was transferred to the Czechoslovak Československé aerolinie as (ČSA) by May 31 ^[1] .

The aircraft performed the OK-511 international flight on the route Prague - Zurich - Rabat - Dakar - Conakry - Bamako . Its crew was piloted, consisting of a 33-year-old commander (FAC) (flight time 8500 hours, of which 150 hours on the Il-18), 46-year-old co-pilot (flight time 11,000 hours, of which 180 hours on the Il-18), navigator , flight engineer and flight attendant . Two cabin crew and even a chef worked in the cabin. At 19:41, IL-18 took off from Prague Airport and after climbing at 19:53 it took a train of 200 (20 thousand feet or 6100 meters). On board were 44 passengers ^{[2] [3]} .

At approximately 8 p.m., the crew contacted the Rhine Dispatch Center and reported that the approximate travel time of the Nuremberg beacon was 20:10. At 20:09 a short strange noise was heard on the air, and then the flare of flight 511 disappeared from the radar screen. The dispatcher tried to contact them again, but to no avail. At 20:20, the approach manager of the Nuremberg airport received a telephone message that near the town of Grefenberg , which is located two dozen kilometers from Nuremberg , a crash site was found. Later, a helicopter flew to the crash site from a nearby military base, whose crew soon reported that no survivors were found. Killed all 52 people on board. At the time of the events, it was the largest plane crash in Germany with the participation of IL-18 aircraft (in 2013 - the 4th and 21st, respectively) ^{[2] [3]} .

Investigation of the causes of the disaster involved German, Czechoslovak and Soviet experts. Also, at first, the US military actively intervened in the process of studying the wreckage. In addition, this aircraft was not equipped with any flight recorders . Eyewitnesses on the ground heard a loud rumble of motors, which could indicate a rapid decline, which then stopped, but followed by claps or explosions. Those eyewitnesses who saw the plane itself said that it fell in a spiral and a flame could be seen from its wing or engines. According to the testimony of Czechoslovakian radars, after passing Bayreuth, the airliner went on a sharp descent and fell by 1,500 feet in 1 minute. Then he turned south and fell apart in the air. The total scatter of debris was 5 kilometers ^[2] .

German version

According to the conclusions of German investigators, the exact cause of the disaster cannot be established, there is only a version that the plane broke up in the air due to colossal aerodynamic drag caused by a sharp decrease, which, in turn, could be either unintentional or intentional emergency. So an unintentional decrease could be caused by a malfunction in the horizon (due to their failure or loss of power supply) or control planes ( ailerons , rudders and elevators ), or the loss of the ability of both pilots to control the aircraft (for example, loss of consciousness). A counterargument to the latest version may be that both pilots underwent a medical examination before departure and were found to be healthy. In addition, the likelihood that all those in the cockpit will lose consciousness (except for the pilots, there were also a navigator, flight engineer and flight engineer in the cockpit) is almost zero. Yes, even if this happened, for example, due to decompression , the plane at that moment was controlled by an autopilot ^{[2] [3]} .

Also, the reduction could have been intentional when the pilots had to resort to an emergency reduction, but they overestimated the capabilities of the airframe design, having accelerated it to supercritical speed. Such a decrease could be caused by heavy smoke or the presence of open flame. However, on the wreckage and on the bodies of the victims there were no signs of a fire on board, or any other effects that would force the crew to apply an emergency reduction. In addition, both pilots flew on airplanes for about one and a half to two hundred hours, that is, they were not newcomers ^{[2] [3]} .

After examining the wreckage, German investigators concluded that the most likely cause of the disaster was the sudden deviation of the elevator to dive, which introduced the airliner into a steep decline. Among the root causes of this may be a failure in the autopilot ^[2] .

Soviet-Czechoslovak version

Soviet-Czechoslovak experts criticized the German version and put forward the version that the plane was already damaged, as it was shot down by German or American troops. According to this version, there was an external explosion on the left side, which damaged the left wing plane and tail, which led to the transition to the dive. At the same time, this version was contradicted by the Soviet report of 1961, in which it was stated that, according to the results of the study of the wreckage, no traces of the destruction of the aircraft by small arms or missiles were found. Therefore, in the autumn of 1962, the Czechoslovak side sent several technical comments to the ICAO on the final report, which was adopted without comment. In fact, 2.5 years after the disaster, Czechoslovak experts recognized the version of the German side ^[2] .

Other versions

According to Miroslav Voráček ( Czech Miroslav Voráček ) - a former member of the Commission for the investigation of this disaster, it is most likely that the disaster was caused by poor adjustment of the elevator trimmer, or its automatic displacement and subsequent disabling of the autopilot. The same version was also supported by individual former Czechoslovak pilots and instructors who worked on the IL-18 ^[2] .

• The accident of IL-18 near Casablanca - occurred on July 12 of the same year, also performed flight OK-511
• The fall of the IL-18 with unknown reasons precisely:
  • The catastrophe under Adler
  • The catastrophe near Kalyazin
  • The catastrophe near Leninabad
  • Accident in Sverdlovsk
  • The catastrophe near Semipalatinsk