Aeroflot Flight 892 was a scheduled international passenger flight from

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

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

, which crashed on 12 December 1986 due to pilot error, killing seventy-two of the eighty-two passengers and crew on board.

Accident

Due to adverse weather conditions, the scheduled flight from Minsk to East Berlin diverted to Prague. Once the weather in Berlin improved, the flight took off for the original destination. Upon arrival the conditions allowed only an ILS landing. The airport controller cleared the flight to land on runway 25L (left), but when the aircraft was entering final approach, the runway lights for runway 25R (right), which was undergoing renovation at the time and was closed, were turned on. The controller warned the crew in English that this was a test, but due to the lack of English language proficiency among the Aeroflot flight crew, the radio operator understood that this meant that the airplane was to land on runway 25R. The pilot disengaged the autopilot and manually changed the course to runway 25R, which was 460 meters to the right of runway 25L and 2200 meters nearer to the position of the aircraft. The error was noticed on the ground, but the warnings went unnoticed for some time due to discussion among the crew. The ILS signal was dropped. Once the crew realized their mistake, they rapidly changed course and engaged the autopilot, but without increasing the thrust of the aircraft's engines. The Tu-134 stalled and struck trees some 3 km from runway 25L's threshold. Upon impact, the fuel in the aircraft's tanks ignited. The rescue services found 12 survivors, but two later died in the hospital. In all, all 9 crew members and 63 passengers (including 20 of the 27 schoolchildren from class 10A of the

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch dialect, Mecklenburgian Low German: ''Swerin''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germany, second-largest city of the northeastern States of Germany, German ...

high school) lost their lives.

References

External links

Aeroflot Flight 892 at Aviation Safety Network
{{coord missing, Germany Aviation accidents and incidents in Germany Aviation accidents and incidents in 1986

892 Year 892 ( DCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Poppo II, duke of Thuringia (Central Germany), is deposed by King Arnul ...

Accidents and incidents involving the Tupolev Tu-134 Aviation accidents and incidents in East Germany Aviation history of Berlin 1986 in East Germany 1986 in the Soviet Union December 1986 events in Europe