On September 18, 1981, Aeroflot Flight V-652 was approaching Zheleznogorsk-Ilimskiy Airport after departing Irkutsk. The Yakovlev Yak-40, registered CCCP-87455, was carrying 29 passengers and four crew members.
At the same time, an Aeroflot Mil Mi-8T helicopter, registered CCCP-22268, was approaching the same airport after completing a training flight from Bratsk. Seven crew members were aboard the helicopter.
The accident unfolded during the aircraft’s descent toward the airport. Flight V-652 was descending through cloud while its crew attempted to establish the runway and continue the approach.
About 11 kilometers east of Zheleznogorsk-Ilimskiy Airport, at approximately 1,300 feet, the two aircraft converged.
At about 7:13 a.m., the Yak-40 and Mi-8 collided in mid-air. The impact caused catastrophic damage to both aircraft. The Yak-40 suffered severe damage to its left wing, fuselage and tail, while the helicopter’s main rotor and cockpit were destroyed.
With both aircraft critically damaged, neither could remain airborne. They plunged toward wooded, hilly terrain and crashed approximately 400 meters apart. The wreckage was subsequently destroyed by post-crash fire.
There were no survivors. All 29 passengers and four crew members aboard the Yak-40 died, along with all seven helicopter crew members, bringing the death toll to 40.
The investigation focused heavily on the management of the airspace around the airport. Investigators concluded that inadequate surveillance and coordination by air traffic control played the central role in the disaster.
Communication between the aircraft crews and controllers was insufficient, allowing the Mi-8 to enter the approach path of the incoming Yak-40.
The tragedy therefore was not attributed to a mechanical failure that suddenly disabled either aircraft. Instead, the investigation identified an air traffic control and coordination breakdown that allowed two aircraft operating near the same airport to occupy conflicting flight paths.
The Zheleznogorsk collision became another example of how dangerous an apparently routine approach could become when aircraft movements are not effectively coordinated. Both aircraft were operated by Aeroflot, yet a failure to maintain adequate separation brought a passenger jet and helicopter into the same piece of airspace with catastrophic consequences.
On this day 45 years ago, a routine arrival and a helicopter flight ended within seconds in one of the Soviet Union’s deadliest mid-air collisions of 1981, claiming 40 lives.
