Tupolev-124 on the Neva River was one of the first cases of successful splashdown passenger aircraft.The crew of the ship suffering a collapse of the price of enormous efforts managed to land the plane in the center of Leningrad.Accidents avoided, no one was hurt.The circumstances of the accident
21 August 1963 passenger airliner Tu-124 of "Aeroflot" is ready to make a regular scheduled flight Tallinn - Moscow.The aircraft was assigned to the Estonian Squadron.The commander of the ship that day was an experienced pilot Victor Y. Mostovoi.The crew consisted of the co-pilot and flight engineer Chechenov Tsarev.
airliner took off from the airport Ülemiste early morning, 8.55, and headed for Moscow Vnukovo Airport.After a few minutes of flight, the pilots found that the nose landing gear jammed, and she remained in a state of poluubrannom.Return to the airport of Tallinn was not possible as it was enveloped in a dense fog.To make an emergency landing in such conditions was extremely dangerous.The crew was ordered to fly to Leningrad and try to land there.
fact that the emergency landing of the plane with faulty landing gear is possible only on an ad hoc, plowed a dirt lane.It allows you to minimize the risk of sparks during the landing, and thus avoid the risk of fire or explosion of the plane.This band was in Leningrad.The Pulkovo immediately take all necessary measures in order to take emergency board.In the short term all the aerodrome emergency services were put on full alert.
over Leningrad
airliner flew to Leningrad about 11.00.Experts Pulkovo asked the plane to fly over the airport to the ground to assess the damage.Visual inspection confirmed that the nose landing gear is in poluubrannom condition.
crew were ordered to prepare for an emergency landing.However, before you make it, it was necessary to work out the excess fuel.The aircraft started to make circles over the city at an altitude of 500 meters.
Meanwhile mechanic Tsarev did his best to release the jammed landing gear.To do this he had to cut a hole in the floor of the cockpit and using six, manually try to bring the stand to normal position.All the efforts were in vain.
plane managed to make 8 laps over the city, when the 12.10 was discovered that fuel for landing at Pulkovo is not enough.Suddenly, the left engine stalled.Due to complications arising crew was given permission to fly directly over the center of the city to reduce the distance to the airport.
However, at the very moment when the plane was directly over the Smolny, and the right engine stopped.The liner began to rapidly lose altitude, and under the threat turned out to everyone who was at the time in the center of Leningrad.In such an emergency, the commander on the advice of the co-pilot Checheneva former naval aviation pilot decides to land right on the Neva.
emergency landing
bridge ordered the crew to divert the passengers, and he, alone, began to plan the city.
plane flew Foundry bridge at a height of 90 meters and was able to pass Bolsheokhtinsky just 40 meters from the water, a miracle not to touch its high farm.Ahead was a bridge under construction Alexander Nevsky.When the ship flew over them at low level flight, working with scaffolding in horror jumped into the water.
at the cost of enormous efforts commander of the aircraft successfully splash down in a few tens of meters to the next supports, Finland railway bridge.It is said that the bridge grayer in these few minutes.
Tupolev-124 on the Neva River was completed successfully, and the aircraft remained afloat, but because of injuries sustained while landing in the fuselage of the water began to flow.It happened to be passing by and miracle avoid a collision with an airplane old buksirchik "Petrel" was able to pull a sinking ship closer to the shore, to the territory of the factory "Northern press."Another one fluke at the shore in this place there were wooden rafts.Wing aircraft fell on the rafts and formed a natural ladder on which all the passengers and crew disembarked safely.
Total in the aircraft were 44 passengers, including two children, and 7 crew members.There was no panic, but once on the beach, people gradually began to realize that only recently were in the balance of the death.The crew immediately sent for interrogation to the KGB, and the passengers were taken to the Pulkovo, where the first flight returned to Tallinn.
causes of the accident
Tupolev-124 on the Neva was the first case of successful splashdown of a large passenger plane.But what caused the accident, which nearly turned into a terrible catastrophe?
Tu-124 at that time was the latest brainchild of Bank "Tupolev".It was designed and tested in the shortest possible time, and therefore had a lot of small flaws.One of them played a fatal role in the fate of the Estonian side.It turned out that during take-off in Tallinn at the plane fell off the ball screw of the front landing gear, it then found on the runway.Without this small but important details of the front landing gear of the aircraft could not take the normal position, and it stuck.As experts say, landing with a failure threatened rollover machine.In this situation, successful splashdown aircraft may be the only way to save the lives of passengers.
second reason for the tragedy was almost become a fault toplivomera issued incorrect information about the amount of fuel on board.This common defect of the set of planes of that time was well known to all pilots, and many of them were asked to fill the plane a little more fuel than it should.However, the day did not.In addition to the emergency landing had to work out the maximum amount of fuel, leaving only a little to make it to the airport, and is an error in the readings of the instrument proved fatal.
fate of the aircraft
After everyone left the board to pump water out of the plane involved was a special ship.But he did not cope with rapidly flowing water, and soon the Tu-124 sank.The next day, under the aircraft pontoons were announced, he was raised from the bottom and towed along the Neva River to the west of Vasilevsky Island, where at that time was located a military unit.After inspecting the aircraft was written off due to the injuries.
His end was sad.The cabin was cut off and sent to a Flight simulators in Kirsanovsky flying school, located in the Tambov region.Beautiful armchairs sold to all comers at a price equal to the cost of a bottle of vodka.And the remains of the fuselage long rusting on the shore Skipper flow until they were cut up and sold for scrap.
Destiny crew
Initially, the KGB and the General Directorate of Civil Aviation heroic act Mostovoy viewed as sloppiness, declared him a reprimand and was fired from the squadron.However, because of the noise raised in the foreign press, the authorities changed temper justice with mercy.The commander even wanted to award the Order of the Red Star, but the order was never signed.In the end, Khrushchev decided not to award, but also not to punish the pilot.
whole crew again soon allowed to fly.Copilot Chechenov after a while he became the commander.The bridge has also continued to work, but already in the Krasnodar squadron.In the early 90s he and his family emigrated to Israel, where he was forced to leave the flight activity and work as a simple worker in the factory.He died of cancer in 1997.
consequences of the accident
Although the landing of Tu-124 on the Neva River was successful, after this event all airliners were strictly forbidden to fly over the center of Leningrad.This ban is still in effect.
Mostovoy Amazing experience made a strong impression on the pilots all over the world.Emergency landing on water is now worked through simulators in many world airlines.It has allowed American pilots have successfully put your emergency "Boeing" of the Hudson River in 1997.Unfortunately, in our country, such training does not take place.
August 1963 long remembered by many of Leningrad, which witnessed a unique landing.Many people have seen with their own eyes silver Tu-124 on the Neva River, and this show is certainly remains one of the most vivid memories of their lives.
