Aeroflot Flight 7841 was a scheduled

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

domestic passenger flight from

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative stat ...

to Leningrad (now

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

), which crashed on 1 February 1985 killing fifty eight people on board. Twenty-two people (including three crew members) survived the accident. The crash was caused by

engine failure A turbine engine failure occurs when a turbine engine unexpectedly stops producing power due to a malfunction other than fuel exhaustion. It often applies for aircraft, but other turbine engines can fail, like ground-based turbines used in power ...

brought on by ice ingestion. On 8 May 1985 the Tupolev Tu-134A was officially

written off A write-off is a reduction of the recognized value of something. In accounting, this is a recognition of the reduced or zero value of an asset. In income tax statements, this is a reduction of taxable income, as a recognition of certain expenses ...

Aircraft

The Tupolev Tu-134A, registration number CCCP-65910, serial number 63969, involved in the accident was manufactured on 11 May 1982 and had 448 completed flight cycles prior to the accident, having entered service on 8 June 1982. Tu-134s are equipped with two tail-mounted

Soloviev D-30 The Soloviev D-30 (now the Aviadvigatel PS-30) is a Soviet two-shaft low-bypass turbofan engine, officially referred to as a "bypass turbojet". It is probably the single most important turbofan engine developed in the Soviet Union. Development o ...

turbofan The turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft engine, aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a portmanteau of "turbine" and "fan": the ''turbo'' portion refers to a gas turbine engine which ac ...

engines.

Crash

Six seconds after takeoff, at an altitude of and with a speed of , a rapid loss of power occurred, accompanied by pops and Jet Pipe Temperature (JPT) overheating. The crew levelled the wings and continued climbing, when the

co-pilot In aviation, the first officer (FO), also called co-pilot, is the pilot who is second-in-command of the aircraft to the captain, who is the legal commander. In the event of incapacitation of the captain, the first officer will assume command of ...

reported a failure of the left engine to

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 airsp ...

. At 65 seconds after takeoff, an excessive vibration alarm indicated failure of the right engine. Then, at an altitude of and a speed of , the right engine failed, while the aircraft was still in the clouds. In an attempt to retain speed, the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

initiated a descent with a vertical speed of . The aircraft was descending onto forest, with some trees up to 30 m in height. At an altitude of and with a five-degree right bank angle, the aircraft impacted the tree tops. The aircraft continued hitting the trees and ultimately burned down except the aft portion. The crash site was located east of

Minsk National Airport Minsk National Airport, formerly known as Minsk-2 (, ; russian: Национальный аэропорт Минск), is the main international airport in Belarus, located 42 km (26 mi) to the east of the capital Minsk, geographica ...

by search groups after three hours.

Investigation

The investigation concluded that both engines failed due to ice ingestion, which led to

compressor stall A compressor stall is a local disruption of the airflow in the compressor of a gas turbine or turbocharger. A stall that results in the complete disruption of the airflow through the compressor is referred to as a compressor surge. The severity of ...

, destruction of the compressors and over-temperature of the turbine blades. Citing significant damage to the aircraft and engines, the investigators were unable to determine where the ice came from.

References

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in Russia Accidents and incidents involving the Tupolev Tu-134 7841 Airliner accidents and incidents caused by engine failure Aviation accidents and incidents in 1985 1985 in the Soviet Union Aviation accidents and incidents in Belarus Aviation accidents and incidents in the Soviet Union