An attempt to hijack An-24 to Turkey (1978)

An-24B with tail number USSR-46789 (serial number 57301802, serial number 018-02) ^[3] was launched by the Kiev Aviation Plant in April 1965 in the passenger version with a passenger capacity of 50 seats. The liner was sold to the USSR Ministry of Civil Aviation (flying under the Aeroflot brand), which sent it to the 1st Krasnodar Joint Aviation Unit of the North Caucasus Civil Aviation Administration ^[4] .

The crew was from the 241st (Krasnodar) flight squad and consisted of five people ^[1] :

• The commander of the aircraft (FAC) - Igor Dmitrievich Sagaty;
• Co - pilot - Nikolai F. Lysenko;
• Navigator - Alexander A. Kurdyukov;
• Flight Engineer - Pavel D. Ryadchenko;
• Stewardess - Valentina P. Tooth.

That day, board 46789, piloted by the crew of Igor Sagatiy, performed passenger flight 6622 along the route Krasnodar - Grozny - Baku and landed safely at Grozny airport at about 6 p.m. Due to the repairs carried out in the building, registration and inspection of passengers was carried out in the city, after which they were delivered to the platform by bus. Boarding before leaving for Baku was already over when, suddenly, a police car drove up to the plane, which brought two more late passengers. But then one of the two latecomers, glancing at the An-24, said that he was not going to fly “on such a dirty airplane”, so he simply left, while the second, who was previously convicted 36-year-old E. Makhayev , came in with his bag to the salon. With 42 passengers ^[5] and 5 crew members on board, flight 6622 flew from Grozny and headed for Baku, occupying an echelon of 4,800 meters ^[1] .

When the Makhachkala traverse passed overboard 46789, Makhayev suddenly got up and began to distribute walnuts to everyone in the cabin, after which, commenting on what he would bring now, he went to the front luggage compartment, where his bag was located. However, in the trunk, he threw bags and suitcases over the door to the cabin, thereby cutting off the rest of the passengers access to the cabin. Then he took a Walther P38 pistol from his bag, which was converted into cartridges from a Makarov pistol , and knocked on the door to the cockpit ^[1] .

Deciding that it was Knock stewardess knocking, the commander Sagaty ordered flight engineer Ryadchenko to open the door. Before opening, Paul looked into the peephole , but because of the darkness he saw nothing, so he opened the valve. At the same second, Makhayev burst into the cockpit, who shouted Course to Turkey! shot twice at Ryadchenko. The first bullet pierced the floor of the flight engineer’s tunic, and the second hit his ankle , which Paul did not immediately notice. When trying to shoot a third time, the cartridge went into skew, so the hijacker was forced to distract himself by jerking the shutter, which was immediately used by the navigator Kurdyukov, who pounced on Makhaev and pushed him out of the cockpit, after which the door to the cockpit closed the door with the flight engineer. Seconds later, four shots rang out behind the door, and then the hijacker calmed down. The crew, meanwhile, headed for Makhachkala and soon landed safely at the Uytash airport , where the wounded Ryadchenko was taken to hospital ^[1] .

Makhaev was found dead at the front door of the cabin with a shot head; four bullet holes were found in the door itself. The cause of his death has not yet been determined. According to one version, realizing that the plane was heading to one of the Soviet airfields, the former criminal Makhayev did not want to give up and shot himself, firing the last bullet in his head (the P38 magazine is designed for 8 rounds, of which 3 were fired in the cockpit and 4 after a door). According to another, a criminal holding a pistol at the level of his stomach shot at the door almost point blank, not knowing that it was armored. As a result, the last bullet ricocheted and hit the unlucky hijacker in the head ^{[4] [1]} .

On January 2, 1979, the crew of flight 6622З was awarded state awards for failure to hijack an aircraft ^[1] :

• Commander Sagaty - Order of the Red Star ;
• Co-pilot Lysenko, navigator Kurdyukov and flight engineer Ryadchenko - medals “For Courage” ;
• Stewardess Tooth - medal "For Labor Valor" .

On February 27, 1979, by order No. 21 of the An-24 Ministry of Civil Aviation, the USSR-46789 board was decommissioned “for working off the assigned resource” ^[4] .