Aeroflot Flight 3932

Aeroflot Flight 3932

An Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-104B similar to the aircraft involved
Accident
Date	30 September 1973
Summary	Spatial disorientation after electrical failure
Site	10 km southwest of Koltsovo Airport
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Tupolev Tu-104
Operator	Aeroflot
Registration	СССР-42506
Flight origin	Koltsovo Airport, Sverdlovsk, Russian SFSR
1st stopover	Omsk Tsentralny Airport, Russian SFSR
2nd stopover	Tolmachevo Airport, Novosibirsk, Russian SFSR
3rd stopover	Kadala Airport, Chita, Russian SFSR
Last stopover	Khabarovsk Novy Airport, Russian SFSR
Destination	Knevichi Airport, Vladivostok, Russian SFSR
Occupants	108
Passengers	100
Crew	8
Fatalities	108
Survivors	0

Aeroflot Flight 3932 was a flight operated by Aeroflot from Koltsovo Airport to Omsk Tsentralny Airport. On 30 September 1973, the Tupolev Tu-104 operating the route crashed shortly after takeoff from Sverdlovsk, killing all 108 passengers and crew on board.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved in the accident was a Tupolev Tu-104B with two Mikulin AM-3M-500 engines, registered СССР-42506, originally to the Uzbekistan division of the state airline, Aeroflot. At the time of the accident, the aircraft sustained had 20,582 flight hours and 9412 pressurization cycles. The aircraft had 100 passenger seats, hence it was at full capacity when it crashed.

Crew

Eight crew members were aboard Flight 3932. The cockpit crew consisted of:

• Captain Boris Stepanovich Putintsev
• Copilot Vladimir Andreevich Shirokov
• Navigator Pyotr Gavrilivich Kanin
• Flight engineer Ivan Yakovlevich Raponov

Synopsis

Weather conditions at Sverdlovsk were reported to be mild; visibility was over 6 kilometers, and light northwest winds.

Flight 3932 was on the Sverdlovsk-Knevichi route with stopovers at Omsk, Tolmachevo, Kadala, and Khabarovsk airports. The flight crashed shortly after takeoff on the Koltsovo-Omsk part of the route.

The flight took off from Koltsovo Airport at 18:33 Moscow time and at 18:34:21 headed on a bearing of 256° for the route to Omsk. As a routine procedure, air traffic control instructed the crew to make a left turn and climb to an altitude of 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) after takeoff; the crew responded that they would report when they reached the altitude.

At 18:35:25 Moscow time, 5–6 seconds after setting the engines to standard power, with an altitude of 350–400 metres (1,150–1,310 ft) and a speed of 480 km/h (260 kn; 300 mph) the crew began the left turn while in the clouds, with a bank angle between 35-40°. At 20:37 local time (18:37 Moscow time), when the flight was at an altitude of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft), the bank angle reached 75-80°, after which the crew completely lost control of the aircraft. The plane crashed into a nearby forest at a speed of 270 km/h (150 kn; 170 mph).

Cause

The aircraft crashed due to incorrect indications by the main artificial horizon and the compass system, caused by a failure of the electrical supply, resulting in spatial disorientation of the pilots. The aircraft crashed approximately five miles from Koltsovo Airport.

See also

• Aeroflot Flight 964, also a Tupolev Tu-104, which crashed just two weeks after Flight 3932 experiencing similar electrical failures.
• Aeroflot Flight 1912, another Tupolev Tu-104, crashed after a hard landing caused by similar mechanical failures.
• Aeroflot Flight 2415, another Tupolev Tu-104, crashed after takeoff experiencing similar equipment failure.