Aeroflot Flight 315 was a regularly scheduled
passenger flight operated by
Aeroflot from
Vnukovo International Airport
Vnukovo, formally Vnukovo Andrei Tupolev International Airport (named after Andrei Tupolev) ( rus, links=no, Внуково, p=ˈvnukəvə) , is a dual-runway international airport located in Vnukovo District, southwest of the centre of Moscow ...
in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
to
Lviv Airport in
Lviv, Ukraine
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...
. On 16 November 1959, the
Antonov An-10 operating this flight crashed short of the airport runway while on final approach. All 32 passengers and eight crew members were killed.
The Air Accident Investigation Commission concluded the cause of the accident was a combination of design flaw and icing.
Accident
Flight 315 departed Vnukovo Airport at 16:48 Moscow time, and was cleared to climb to 7,000 meters. As the airliner approached Lviv the weather was reported as temperature -1 degree C, humidity 97% with visibility at three km and the possibility of
icing conditions
In aviation, icing conditions are atmospheric conditions that can lead to the formation of water ice on an aircraft. Ice accretion and accumulation can affect the external surfaces of an aircraft – in which case it is referred to as ''airframe ...
. The descent was normal and the pilot reported reaching the
outer marker
A marker beacon is a particular type of VHF radio beacon used in aviation, usually in conjunction with an instrument landing system (ILS), to give pilots a means to determine position along an established route to a destination such as a runway. ...
at an altitude of 200 meters. Before reaching the inner marker the aircraft descended out of the clouds and the crew switched to
visual flight rules
In aviation, visual flight rules (VFR) are a set of regulations under which a pilot operates an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better ...
(VFR). At 19:06 while descending through 110 meters the
flaps were set to 45 degrees and the Antonov began a rapid
pitch down. 2,100 meters from the runway and in a 25 degree nose down attitude the aircraft crashed, flipped over and burst into flame. The impact and post-crash fire killed all on board.
Aircraft
Construction of the AN-10 involved, serial number 9401402-14-02, was completed at the Voronezh aircraft factory on 5 June 1959 and it was transferred to the civil air fleet. At the time of the accident, the aircraft had sustained a total of 277 flight hours.
[
]
Investigation
After examination of available evidence, the Air Accident Investigation Commission concluded that an anomaly in the engine power control system combined with substandard placement of other cockpit controls may have been a factor in the crash. They went on to speculate that the pilot in command
The pilot in command (PIC) of an aircraft is the person aboard the aircraft who is ultimately responsible for its operation and safety during flight. This would be the captain in a typical two- or three- pilot aircrew, or "pilot" if there is on ...
(PIC) may have reduced power because pitot tube
A pitot ( ) tube (pitot probe) measures fluid flow velocity. It was invented by a French engineer, Henri Pitot, in the early 18th century, and was modified to its modern form in the mid-19th century by a French scientist, Henry Darcy. It ...
icing caused the airspeed indicator
The airspeed indicator (ASI) or airspeed gauge is a flight instrument indicating the airspeed of an aircraft in kilometers per hour (km/h), knots (kn), miles per hour (MPH) and/or meters per second (m/s). The recommendation by ICAO is to use km ...
to read higher than actual airspeed.[
On 26 February 1960 approximately three months after this accident, another AN-10 ]crashed
"Crashed" is the third U.S. rock Single (music), single, (the fifth overall), from the band Daughtry (band), Daughtry's debut album. It was released only to U.S. rock stations on September 5, 2007. Upon its release the song got adds at those stat ...
during similar conditions. Testing eventually revealed that icing of the horizontal stabilizer created a supercritical angle of attack, that caused a sudden pitch down of the aircraft when the flaps are lowered to the maximum setting of 45 degrees. To combat this concern ice protection systems for the stabilizer were improved and selection of flaps beyond 15 degrees in known icing conditions was disallowed.[
]
See also
* Aeroflot accidents and incidents
* Aeroflot accidents and incidents in the 1950s
References
{{Portal bar, Soviet Union, Aviation, 1950s
November 1959 events in Europe
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1959
Aviation accidents and incidents in the Soviet Union
315 (1959)
1959 in the Soviet Union
Accidents and incidents involving the Antonov An-10
1959 in Ukraine
History of Lviv
Aviation accidents and incidents in Ukraine