Aeroflot Flight 302

Accident
Date	16 February 1966 (1966-02-16)
Summary	Loss of control following engine fire
Site	70 km (43 mi) north of Pechora
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Ilyushin Il-14M
Operator	Aeroflot
Registration	CCCP-52058
Flight origin	Vorkuta
Destination	Syktyvkar
Occupants	26
Passengers	18
Crew	8
Fatalities	26

Aeroflot Flight 302 was an aviation accident that occurred on Monday, February 16, 1966 near Pechora involving an Ilyushin Il-14M passenger plane operated by Aeroflot. An engine fire damaged the wing which came off as the aircraft attempted an emergency landing resulting in the deaths of 26 people.

The Il-14M with tail number 52058 (until 1959 it was Л2058, factory number 7343609, serial number 36-09) was produced by the Tashkent Aviation Plant on November 30, 1957 and delivered to the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet under the USSR Council of Ministers, which sent it to the Syktyvkar aviation detachment of the Syktyvkar aviation group of civil aviation on December 12. At the time of the accident, the airliner had accumulated a total of 17,157 flight hours.^[1] The crew from the 75th flight detachment were^[2] Trainee captain: Valentin Ivanovich Putikov, Non-staff pilot-instructor Vasily Ivanovich Grishanov, First Officer: Albert Modestovich Popov, Flag Navigator: (Syktyvkar United Aviation Group) Pyotr Ivanovich Suvorov, Flight engineer: Vladimir Alexandrovich Shishkin, Radio Operator: Yury Mikhailovich Nikonov, stewardess Lyudmila Serafimovna Volkov and Senior Navigator-Inspector of the flight service department: (Ministry of Civil Aviation) Nikolai Fedorovich Vanyukov

Among the 15 adults and 3 children passengers on board was Pyotr Erakhov — First Secretary of the Komi Regional Committee of the Komsomol, deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Komi ASSR. He was flying with the head of the agitation and propaganda department of the Komi Regional Committee of the CPSU, Alexander Peshkin, who persuaded Erakhov to fly with him.^[3]

The plane was performing flights 301/302 on the route Syktyvkar – Vorkuta – Syktyvkar. The Il-14 took off from Vorkuta at 15:30 in clear weather and leveled off when it reached 2,100 meters. . At 16:23, approaching the airspace of Pechora Airport, the crew contacted the approach controller, reported flight conditions, and requested permission to pass through the area. The controller informed the crew of their position relative to the airport (98 kilometers away, reverse bearing 210°) and cleared them to approach and pass at an altitude of 2,100 meters.^[2]

At 16:31, someone from the crew pressed the transmitter button, and the controller heard the fire alarm sound, but no messages came from the crew at first but a minute later a message came from the plane: "The right engine is on fire, we are descending." The controller responded: "Expect landing with us," and then communication ceased, and the crew did not respond to further calls.^[2]

After detecting the fire in the right engine, the crew activated its fire suppression system and reported the situation to the ground. Realizing that the fire was not extinguished and was rapidly spreading, the pilots decided to perform an emergency landing off-airfield and even selected a treeless site for this. However, at 16:35, when the Il-14M was 40 kilometers from Pechora Airport and 100 meters above the ground, the right engine detached due to the fire. The airliner lost control and, entering a steep dive (at a 90° angle), crashed into a frozen swamp near the Bolshaya Vyatkina river, then disintegrated and burned. All 26 people on board (8 crew members and 18 passengers) died.^[2]

According to the commission's conclusion, the primary cause of the accident was the scuffing of one of the pistons—No. 5, caused by a design defect in the cylinder-piston group of the ASh-82T aircraft engine, which was regularly manifested in all engines of this model throughout their operation. The scuffing led to the destruction of the piston, followed by cylinders 3, 5, and 7 and the crank mechanism of the rear star. Oil was ejected through the breach onto the exhaust manifold, where it ignited. There was intense burning in the area of the nacelle attachment, which weakened its structure. As a result, the engine, along with its frame, soon detached in the air.^[2] According to the conclusions of the State Scientific Research Institute of Civil Aviation, there were no violations of the repair technology, maintenance rules, or operational deviations that could have caused the scuffing.^[2]