Malév Flight 110 was a scheduled flight from Budapest-Ferihegy Airport to

Boryspil Airport Boryspil International Airport ( uk, Міжнародний аеропорт «Бориспіль») is an international airport in Boryspil, east of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. It is Ukraine's largest airport, serving 65% of its passenger ...

. On 16 September 1971, the

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 ...

(HA-LBD) crashed near Kyiv-Boryspil Airport, Ukraine SSR, Soviet Union, due to poor visibility conditions, killing all 49 passengers and crew on board. The crash of Flight 110 was Ukraine's third most deadliest airplane crash at the time, and as of 2022, the 10th deadliest in Ukraine.

Accident

The flight from Budapest, Hungary had been delayed by more than an hour after the intended departure due to poor weather conditions. The flight eventually took off; however weather conditions created heavy fog leading to visibility of only roughly . These conditions made the crew unable to land on their first attempt.The plane could have returned to land at Budapest or another nearby airport, however the pilot chose to keep circling and try to land at Kyiv-Boryspil Airport. The airplane also signaled that the plane's generator had failed and had forced the crew to switch to the battery's

auxiliary power Auxiliary power is electric power that is provided by an alternate source and that serves as backup for the primary power source at the station main bus or prescribed sub-bus. An offline unit provides electrical isolation between the primary pow ...

, however, subsequent investigation found that this was a false signal which could have been (but was not) rectified. The crew informed ground control of this situation but did not report that it was an emergency according to protocol. In the event of such an emergency, it was recommended for crew to shut down excessive energy consumers like

refrigerators A refrigerator, colloquially fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment so th ...

, kitchen heaters or cabin lighting in order to allow the airplane to operate on battery power for longer, however this did not occur and battery life was halved as a consequence. Protocol was followed to safely lower the aircraft for a final attempt at descent but visibility had reduced even more, to , and the pilot was told incorrect yet crucial information about the conditions. The plane deviated significantly from the advised flight-path and flew over the airport, losing integral radio and radar connection with ground-control. Battery power would have been significantly depleted, likely causing instrument malfunctions and leaving the crew unaware of critical information for a safe landing in the weather conditions. Investigation revealed that the plane sank too low to avoid collision and the right

wing tip A wing tip (or wingtip) is the part of the wing that is most distant from the fuselage of a fixed-wing aircraft. Because the wing tip shape influences the size and drag of the wingtip vortices, tip design has produced a diversity of sha ...

impacted the ground at a speed of about , causing the aircraft to break into multiple pieces, killing the 8 crew members and 41 passengers aboard instantly. It was impossible to identify the victims from the wreckage. After an investigation, officials determined that the crash was caused by a series of events involving

pilot error Pilot error generally refers to an accident in which an action or decision made by the pilot was the cause or a contributing factor that led to the accident, but also includes the pilot's failure to make a correct decision or take proper a ...

, mismanagement of the situation by

ground crew In all forms of aviation, ground crew (also known as ground operations in civilian aviation) are personnel that service aircraft while on the ground, during routine turn-around; as opposed to aircrew, who operate all aspects of an aircraft whilst ...

, aircraft malfunctions, and poor conditions.

References

HIVATALOS KIKÜLDETÉSBEN ÉLETÜKET VESZTETTÉK
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malev Flight 110 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1971 Aviation accidents and incidents in the Soviet Union Accidents and incidents involving the Tupolev Tu-134 Aviation accidents and incidents in Ukraine Malév Hungarian Airlines accidents and incidents 1971 in the Soviet Union September 1971 events in Europe 1971 in Ukraine 1970s in Kyiv