Yakovlev Yak-40 - Notable Accidents and Incidents

Notable Accidents and Incidents

• On May 4, 1972, an Aeroflot/East Siberia Yak-40 with 18 passengers and crew on approach to Bratsk Airport, Russian SFSR crashed due to wind shear. All aboard perished.
• On February 28, 1973, an Aeroflot/Kazakhstan flight from Semipalatinsk Airport, Kazakh SSR to Ust-Kamenogorsk Airport, Kazakh SSR fell back onto the runway after take-off. All 28 passengers and 4 crew died.
• On July 15, 1975, an Aeroflot/Armenia passenger flight from Zvartnots International Airport, Armenian SSR to Batumi-Chorokh Airport, Georgian SSR on go-around crashed into Mount Mtirala in the Caucasus Mountains killing all 41 on board.
• On August 15, 1975, an Aeroflot/Azerbaijan aircraft from Baku Airport, Azerbaijan SSR to Krasnovodsk Airport (now the airport of Türkmenbaşy), Turkmenistan) stalled and subsequently crashed during approach due to pilot error and unfavourable weather conditions, killing 23 of the 28 on board.
• On September 9, 1976, an Aeroflot/North Kavkaz flight from Rostov Airport, Russian SFSR to Kerch Airport, Ukrainian SSR collided with an Antonov An-24 over the Black Sea 37 km (23 mi) off Anapa due to violation of separation rules, the error of both aircraft crews and probably ground ATC. All 18 occupants of the Yak-40 and 46 people on board the An-24 died.
• On October 7, 1978, an Aeroflot/Kazakhstan flight with 38 people on board departed Sverdlovsk-Koltsovo Airport, Russian SFSR for Kostanay-Narimanovka Airport, Kazakh SSR but the left engine failed about 30 seconds after take off, due to icing. The aircraft lost height and collided with a hill killing all occupants.
• On June 8, 1980, a TAAG Angola Airlines Yak transporting civilians was shot down by a MiG-19 (origin unclear) near Matala, Angola killing all 19 occupants.
• On June 12, 1980, an Aeroflot/Tajikistan on a passenger flight from Leninabad, Tajik SSR (Khujand, Tajikistan since 1991) to Dushanbe Airport, Tajik SSR with 29 on board crashed into a mountain 44 km (27 mi) north-west of the airport due to navigational errors by the crew, killing all occupants.
• On September 18, 1981, an Aeroflot/East Siberia flight from Irkutsk Airport, Russian SFSR to Zheleznogorsk-Ilimskiy Airport, Russian SFSR collided with a Mi-8 helicopter on a training flight while approaching its destination airport. The supposed site of the collision occurred in the clouds. All 33 on board the Yak-40 and seven occupants of the Mi-8 were killed, making it the deadliest Yak-40 incident at the time.
• On January 16, 1987, an Aeroflot aircraft operating Flight 505 crashed after takeoff in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR after encountering another aircraft's wake vortex.
• On January 24, 1988, an Aeroflot/Privolzhsk aircraft experienced failure of number 1 and 3 engines during take-off from Nizhnevartovsk Airport, Russian SFSR. Engine No. 2 also experienced some problems, but recovered while engines Nos. 1 and 3 eventually failed. The plane stalled, crashed and broke up, killing 27 of 31 on board. Cause was possible crew error.
• On August 2, 1988, at Sofia Airport, the Balkan Yak-40 LZ-DOK crashed on take-off. All civil traffic had been halted minutes before because of the departure of the Bulgarian leader Todor Zhivkov's Tupolev Tu-154. After the delay, air traffic control cleared LZ-DOK for take-off to Varna, asking the crew to expedite their departure. Trying to leave in a hurry, the crew did not set the trim correctly and began their take-off run from the middle of the 3000 m runaway. The aircraft failed to become airborne, overran the runway into a ravine and caught fire, with 28 of 37 occupants being killed.
• On August 1, 1990, an Aeroflot/Armenia Yak-40 traveling from Zvartnots International Airport, Armenian SSR to Stepanakert Airport, Azerbaijan carrying 47 passengers, crashed when the aircraft hit a mountain 22 km (14 mi) away from its destination killing all on board. The cause was most likely pilot error (premature descent).
• On November 14, 1992, Vietnam Airlines flight 474 with 31 passengers and crew flying from Ho Chi Minh City-Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Vietnam to the previously civilian Nha Trang Airport, Vietnam impacted obstacles on approach killing all but one passenger. Adverse weather conditions might have been involved (unclear at investigation).
• On August 28, 1993 a Tajikistan Airlines non-scheduled flight that was grossly overloaded with 86 passengers overran the runway at Khorog Airport, Tajikistan and fell into the Panj River. Three passengers survived. The crew was forced at gunpoint to overload the aircraft. This was the worst accident involving a Yak-40.
• On September 26, 1994, a Cheremshanka Airlines flight from Krasnoyarsk Airport, Russia to Tura was unable to land at Tura because of bad weather so was divereted to Vanavara. It ran out of fuel due to crew and ATC errors and crashed while attempting an emergency landing on a river, 41 km (25 mi) from Vanavara. All 28 passengers and crew were killed.
• On 19 February 1997, a Semeyavia Yakovlev Yak-40 overshot the runway on landing at Semey Airport, Kazakhstan following a scheduled domestic passenger flight. There were no fatalities amongst the 14 passengers and 4 crew members on board, but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.
• On May 17, 2001, a Faraz Qeshm Airlines flight departed Tehran, Iran heading for Gorgan Airport, Iran carrying 30 people, including the Iranian Transport Minister Rahman Dadman, two deputy ministers and seven more members of parliament was forced to divert due to bad weather conditions and was later discovered crashed into the Elburz mountains, Iran. All on board perished.
• On January 13, 2004, Uzbekistan Airways flight 1154 from Termez Airport, Uzbekistan to Tashkent International Airport, Uzbekistan, carrying 37 passengers and crew, crashed; the crew failed to descend for approach on time. Finding the runway too short to land, a go-around was attempted but failed. The plane touched down beyond the end of the runway and the left wing struck a concrete building, with the subsequent crash and fire killing all on board.