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(Top) 1 Aircraft 2 Passengers and crew 3 Sequence of events 4 Investigation 5 See also 6 References 7 Further reading

Aeroflot Flight 331

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Aeroflot Flight 331
Accident
СССР-86614, the aircraft involved in the accident
Date	27 May 1977
Summary	Controlled flight into terrain, pilot error aggravated by bad weather
Site	Off José Martí International Airport 22°59′21″N 82°24′33″W / 22.98917°N 82.40917°W / 22.98917; -82.40917
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Ilyushin Il-62M
Operator	Aeroflot
Registration	СССР-86614
Flight origin	Sheremetyevo International Airport
1st stopover	Frankfurt Airport
Last stopover	Lisbon Airport
Destination	José Martí International Airport
Occupants	69
Passengers	59
Crew	10
Fatalities	67
Injuries	2
Survivors	2

Aeroflot Flight 331 was an international passenger flight operated by an Ilyushin Il-62M that crashed about 1 km (0.62 mi) from José Martí International Airport, in Havana, Cuba, on 27 May 1977. The accident occurred after the aircraft hit power lines on its final approach to the airport during poor weather.^[1]^[2] The aircraft was attempting an emergency landing due to a fire in one of its engines.^[2]^[3] Only two of the 69 occupants on board survived.^[1]^[4] The cause of the crash was ruled to be pilot error.^[4]

Aircraft[edit]

The aircraft involved was an Ilyushin Il-62M, registered as CCCP-86614 and operated by the International Civil Aviation Directorate of Aeroflot. At the time of the accident, the aircraft had 5,549 hours of flight and 1,144 use cycles. The aircraft was delivered to Aeroflot in 1975.^[1]

Passengers and crew[edit]

At a stopover in Lisbon, Portugal, a new crew took command of the aircraft. The five-man crew consisted of Captain Viktor Orlov, Co-pilot Vasily Shevelev, Navigator Anatoly Vorobyov, Flight Engineer Yuri Suslov, and Radio Operator Evgeniy Pankov. Five flight attendants were on the aircraft.

Nationality	Passengers	Crew	Total
Soviet Union	28	10	38
United Kingdom	12	0	12
Cuba	8	0	8
Sweden	3	0	3
Australia	2	0	2
Guinea-Bissau	2	0	2
West Germany	2	0	2
Mexico	1	0	1
Netherlands	1	0	1
Total	59	10	69^[5]^{[unreliable source?]}^[4]

Sequence of events[edit]

At 03:32 UTC, Flight 331 took off from Lisbon Airport and climbed to 35,000 feet (11,000 m). While on approach to Havana, the crew reported seeing false altitude and air pressure readings. They were then granted permission to descend from 35,000 to 15,000 feet (10,700 to 4,600 m), followed by a descent to 3,000 feet (910 m). At the time, cumulus clouds were present, visibility was 8 kilometres (5.0 mi; 4.3 nmi) with a dense fog at 40 metres (130 ft), atmospheric pressure was 758 mmHg (0.997 atm), and the temperature was 21 °C (70 °F).^[4]^[5] At 8:45:28 (12:45:28 UTC) local time, still 1,270 metres (1.27 km; 0.79 mi) from the runway, the crew spotted four power lines 28-metre (92 ft) high, and attempted to avoid them by pitching the nose up. However, at 23–25 metres (75–82 ft), they clipped all four lines, slicing the stabilizer and severing the right outboard wing flaps. The damage caused the aircraft to making a sharp 70° bank to the right over the next three seconds. The aircraft then struck the ground with its right wing and nose and caught fire, destroying it. Only the tail section remained.^[4]

The only two survivors of the crash were a West German woman and a Soviet man.^[3] One of the victims was José Carlos Schwarz, a poet and musician from Guinea-Bissau.^[6]

Investigation[edit]

An investigation revealed serious errors made by the crew in the last moments of the flight. The main cause of the accident was a blatant violation of approach procedure, errors in calculating altitude that resulted in incorrect altitude readings that led to a premature descent, and the crew's attempt at a visual approach in dense fog. Also cited was the incorrect use of the radio altimeter by the crew.^[4]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c Accident description for CCCP-86614 at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 3 September 2011.

^ ^a ^b "Airline accidents". Flight International: 1689. 11 June 1977. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. It is reported that the aircraft struck a power line while attempting an emergency landing in fog.

^ ^a ^b "Soviet Jet Crashes; 66 Die". Nashua Telegraph. Mexico City. Associated Press. 28 May 1977. p. 1.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Катастрофа Ил-62М ЦУ МВС близ Гаваны (Куба) [Accident Il-62M Havana] (in Russian). airdisaster.ru. Retrieved 7 August 2012.

^ ^a ^b "Plane crash IL-62M near Havana (Cuba). 1977". en.avia.pro. Retrieved 7 January 2017.

^ Anne Summers and David Marr, "One white man who won the trust of Aborigines", National Times (6–11 June 1977), p.24.

Further reading[edit]

"Flight Safety 1977 – Fatal accidents: Scheduled flights". Flight International: 182. 21 January 1978. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012.

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Accidents and
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1950s	Flight 31 Kiev mid-air collision Flight 04 Тu-104 Kanash crash Flight 120 Flight 200 Flight 315
1960s	Flight 315 Flight 207 Flight 036 Flight 068 Flight 245 Flight 902 Flight 415 Flight 03 Flight 213 Flight 191 Flight 25 Flight 012 Flight 366 Flight 663 Flight 721 Flight 101/X-20 Flight 542 Flight 513 Flight 99 Flight 065 Flight 2723 Flight 5003 Flight 2230 Flight L-51 Flight 1668 Flight 15 Flight 831 Flight N-826
1970s	Flight U-45 Flight 1661 Flight 3630 CCCP-11000 crash CCCP-12996 crash Flight 1969 Flight 1912 Flight 773 Flight 2174 Flight 1491 Flight 558 Flight 1036 Flight 217 Flight 6263 Flight 141 Flight 630 Flight 6551 Flight 109 Flight A-13 Flight 3932 Flight 964 Flight 19 Flight 2022 Flight 2420 CCCP-75559 crash Flight 662 Flight 2003 Flight 3739 Flight 909 Flight 1802 Flight 418 Flights 7957 and 31 Flight 2415 Flight N-36 Flight 3843 Flight 5003 Flight 331 Flight B-2 Flight 6709 Flight 1080 Flight 1691 Flights 7628 and 7880 Flight 5484
1980s	Flight 4225 Flight 498 Flight 811 Flight 3603 Flight 8641 Flight 411 Flight 343 Flight 5463 Flight 601 Flight 3352 Flight 3519 Flight 7841 Zolochiv mid-air collision Flight 5143 Flight 101/435 Flight 2306 Flight 6502 Flight 892 Flight U-505 Flight N-528 Flight 699 Flight 3739
since 1990s	CCCP-46472 crash Flight 2808 Flight 593 Flight 521 Flight 821 Flight 1492