Tupolev Tu-154 Incidents

There have been 66 serious flight incidents with Tu-154s, including 37 hull-losses with human fatalities. [17][18] Six of those incidents resulted from terrorist or military action including an accidental missile shootdown by Ukraine, several from poor runway conditions in winter (including one which struck snow ploughs on the runway), cargo overloading by airlines in the lapse of post-Soviet federal safety standards (several cases), and mid-air collisions due to faulty air traffic control or mis-communication. Other incidents have resulted from mechanical problems (two cases prior to 2001), running out of fuel on unscheduled extended route, pilot error, and cargo fires. The Tu-154 has an average safety record considering its length of service and heavy use in the most demanding conditions.[19] On 30 September 1975, a Malév flight on the Budapest to Beirut regular route was allegedly shot down near the Lebanese coast, with the loss of 50 passengers and 10 crew. No official statement was ever made. On 8 August 1980, a Tarom flight from Otopeni International Airport, Bucharest to Nouadhibou International Airport, Nouadhibou, Mauritania crashed into the Atlantic Ocean and broke in half 300 m (984 ft) from the runway due to defective apparatus in the control tower at the Nouadhibou International Airport. Only one passenger, an elderly woman suffering from heart disease, died of a heart attack. The other 151 passengers and 16 crew escaped.[20] On 11 October 1984, Aeroflot Flight 3352 crash when approaching Omsk Airport, 169 passengers and 5 crew members out of 170 passengers and 9 crew members, and 4 more on the ground were killed. On 10 July 1985, Aeroflot Flight 7425 stalled and entered an unrecoverable spin at 11,600 m (38,000 ft), 200 were killed. On 8 February 1993, an Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154 was departing on a non-scheduled flight from Mehrabad International Airport, Tehran, to Khoram Dareh when it collided with an Iranian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 that was on approach. All twelve crew members and 119 passengers were killed.[21] On 6 June 1994, China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303 broke up in mid-air and crashed near Xi'an, China. A maintenance error was responsible. All 160 people on board died. On 29 August 1996, Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801. Departing from Vnukovo Airport outside of Moscow. Crashed in Operafjellet (Opera Mountain) on Svalbard. All 141 (128 passengers) lost their lives.[22] On 13 September 1997, a Luftwaffe Tu-154M (ex-East German Air Force) collided in mid-air with an USAF C-141 off the coast of Namibia, Africa. Both crews (24 on the Tu-154 and 9 on the C-141) perished.[23] On 4 July 2000, MALÉV Hungarian Airlines Flight 262, a chartered Tu-154 landed on its belly in Thessaloniki, Greece because the crew had not extended the landing gear. The plane skidded 400 m (1,312 ft) on the runway and became airborne as the pilots applied throttle. The plane landed successfully on its wheels.[24] There were no injuries, but it was deemed uneconomical to repair the aircraft. On 4 July 2001, Vladivostok Air Flight 352 from Yekaterinburg to Vladivostok crashed while on approach into Irkutsk, an intermediate stop, killing all 145 people onboard. The cause of accident was pilot error resulting in exceeding the safe angle of attack and the subsequent stall. On 4 October 2001, Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk crashed into the Black Sea, probably shot down by an Ukrainian surface to air missile fired during a training exercise. All 66 passengers and 12 crew were killed. On 12 February 2002, Iran Air Tours Flight 956: The aircraft hit high ground in the Sefid Kouh mountains outside Khorramabad, Iran while descending for Khorramabad. All twelve crew members and 107 passengers were killed.[25] On 1 July 2002, Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 collided with a DHL Boeing 757.[26] The accident was caused by problems with the air traffic control system in Zurich and erroneous instructions given by the air traffic controller on duty, which conflicted with orders given to them by their Traffic Collision Avoidance System that the controller didn't know about. Had both planes listened to TCAS, the accident would have most likely been avoided. On 24 August 2004, Sibir Airlines Flight 1047 from Moscow to Sochi crashed after being bombed by an on-board Chechen suicide bomber, killing all 46 people on the aircraft. This happened almost simultaneously with a similar bomb explosion on Volga-Aviaexpress airlines TU-134 flight from Moscow to Volgograd. On 22 August 2006, while en route from the Russian Black Sea resort of Anapa to Saint Petersburg, Pulkovo Airlines Flight 612 crashed near the Russian border over eastern Ukraine in an attempt to fly through a weather front. All 160 passengers (including 45 children) and 10 crew were killed. On 1 September 2006, Iran Air Tours Flight 945 skidded off the runway as it was landing in Mashhad International Airport and caught fire after a tire blew during landing. The aircraft was carrying 147 passengers, 29 of them died.[citation needed] On 15 July 2009, Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 with 153 passengers and 15 crew onboard and traveling from Tehran to Yerevan crashed 16 minutes after take-off near the Iranian city of Qazvin, killing all people onboard. Police reported that witnesses saw the aircraft's tail on fire as it circled and attempted an emergency landing. The crash, in an agricultural field, left a path of wreckage 200 yards long. Authorities were able to locate two out of the three aircraft flight recorders, although they do appear to be damaged.[27][28] On 24 January 2010, Taban Air Flight 6437 caught fire upon landing at Mashhad International Airport in Iran. The plane had initially left Abadan, in south-west Iran on Saturday, but bad weather had forced it to land in the city of Isfahan for the night. After taking off again on Sunday, the captain was forced to make an emergency landing at Mashhad International Airport because of a passenger's ill health. The aircraft suffered serious damage as it landed, losing its undercarriage and a wing. 46 people were injured in the incident.[29][30] On 10 April 2010, a Tupolev 154M Lux, serial number 90A-837 (aircraft 101 of the Polish Air Force, 36th Special Aviation Regiment), carrying the Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and a large number of high ranking government and military officials crashed whilst making the fourth attempt to land in fog at Smolensk-North air base in Russia, killing all 89 passengers and 8 crew aboard. [31]The crash, which was among the worst disasters in Polish history by death-toll (and also one of the worst accidents of the Tu-154), is currently under investigation. Russian military airfield management suggested alternate airfields in Minsk and Moscow due to Minsk and Moscow due to poor weather .[32][33] Pawel Wypych - presidential aide Mariusz Handzlik - presidential aide Jerzy Szmajdzinski - deputy parliament speaker and former defence minister Andrzej Kremer - Deputy Foreign Minister Gen. Franciszek Gagor - head of the army chief of staff Andrzej Przewoznik - minister in charge of WWII memorials Slawomir Skrzypek - head of the National Bank of Poland Janusz Kurtyka - head of the National Remembrance Institute, a state body that investigates communist-era crimes Przemyslaw Gosiewski - lawmaker Zbigniew Wassermann - lawmaker Grzegorz Dolniak - lawmaker Janusz Kochanowski - civil rights commissioner Bishop Tadeusz Ploski - army chaplain

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