The 1985 Zolochiv mid-air collision occurred on 3 May 1985 between Aeroflot Flight 8381 (Tu-134) and Soviet Air Force Flight 101 (An-26).

History

Aeroflot Flight 8381, a scheduled flight of a twin-engine

Tupolev Tu-134 The Tupolev Tu-134 (NATO reporting name: Crusty) is a twin-engined, narrow-body jet airliner built in the Soviet Union for short and medium-haul routes from 1966 to 1989. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain ot ...

that departed

Tallinn Airport Tallinn Airport ( et, Tallinna lennujaam, ) or Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport ( et, Lennart Meri Tallinna lennujaam) is the largest airport in Estonia, which serves as a hub for the national airline Nordica, as well as the secondary hub for Air ...

in Estonian SSR, Soviet Union, at 10:38 am on 3 May 1985, for Chişinău in

Moldavian SSR The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic ( ro, Republica Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească, Moldovan Cyrillic: ) was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1940 to 1991. The republic was formed on 2 August 1940 ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

making a stopover at

Lviv 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 Ukraine ...

, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. While descending to Lviv in overcast weather, it collided at 12:13 with Soviet Air Force Flight 101 which had just taken off from Lviv. The collision occurred at an altitude of (

flight level In aviation and aviation meteorology, a flight level (FL) is an aircraft's altitude at standard air pressure, expressed in hundreds of feet. The air pressure is computed assuming an International Standard Atmosphere pressure of 1013.25 hPa ...

130). Both aircraft lost their right wings and tails, went out of control and crashed about one or two minutes later near the village of

Zolochiv Zolochiv, ( ua, Золочів) may refer to the following places in Ukraine: * Zolochiv, Lviv Oblast, city in Lviv Oblast * Zolochiv, Kharkiv Oblast, urban-type settlement in Ukraine {{set index, populated places in Ukraine ...

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

, Soviet Union, killing all 94 people on both aircraft. Civil and military

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

lers mislocated both aircraft involved, leading to violations of air traffic control rules. Among the victims of the disaster were graphics artist

Alexander Aksinin Alexander Aksinin (2 October 1949 – 3 May 1985) was a Soviet printmaker and painter. His sophisticated etching technique, precision and perfectionist attention to details earned him the sobriquet the “ Dürer of Lviv”. Art critics hailed hi ...

, the young Estonian

table-tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

player Alari Lindmäe (born 15 September 1967) and two generals of the Soviet Army. The captain of the Aeroflot aircraft, Nikolai Dmitrijev (born 18 October 1931), was a

Hero of Socialist Labor The Hero of Socialist Labour (russian: links=no, Герой Социалистического Труда, Geroy Sotsialisticheskogo Truda) was an honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It repre ...

and one of the

's most decorated civil airline pilots.

References

External links

* Aviation accidents and incidents in 1985 1985 in the Soviet Union

Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...

Aviation accidents and incidents in Ukraine Aviation accidents and incidents in the Soviet Union Accidents and incidents involving the Tupolev Tu-134 Accidents and incidents involving the Antonov An-26 Mid-air collisions Mid-air collisions involving airliners Mid-air collisions involving military aircraft Aviation accidents and incidents caused by air traffic controller error History of Lviv Oblast 1985 in Ukraine {{Aviation-accident-stub