Aviogenex Flight 130

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Aviogenex Flight 130
Tupolev Tu-134 of Aviogenex.jpg

A Tupolev Tu-134 from Aviogenex, identical in construction to the aircraft involved in the accident
Accident summary
Type of accident Crash landing through optical illusion
place Rijeka Airport , YugoslaviaYugoslavia Socialist Federal RepublicYugoslavia 
date May 23, 1971
Fatalities 78
Survivors 5
Injured 5
Aircraft
Aircraft type Soviet UnionSoviet Union Tupolev Tu-134 A
operator Yugoslavia Socialist Federal RepublicYugoslavia Aviogenex
Mark Yugoslavia Socialist Federal RepublicYugoslavia YU-AHZ
Departure airport London Gatwick Airport , UKUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom 
Destination airport Rijeka Airport , YugoslaviaYugoslavia Socialist Federal RepublicYugoslavia 
Passengers 76
crew 7th
Lists of aviation accidents

The Aviogenex Flight 130 (Flight number: JJ130 , call sign: GENEX 130 ) was an international charter flight of the Yugoslav airline Aviogenex from Gatwick Airport to Rijeka airport on the island of Krk , which was conducted on May 23, the 1,971th The Tupolev Tu-134 A, occupied by 83 passengers, had an accident on landing and 78 were killed. It was the first fatal incident involving a Tupolev Tu-134 in commercial flight operations. Up until the plane collision in Zagreb , it was the worst aircraft accident in what is now Croatia.

machine

The affected machine was a Tupolev Tu-134A, which had the factory number 1351205 and was only one month old at the time of the accident. The machine was delivered new to Aviogenex on April 22, 1971 and approved by it with the aircraft registration YU-AHZ . The twin short-range narrow-body aircraft was equipped with two Turbojettriebwerken type Solowjow D-30 II equipped. By the time of the accident, the machine had completed 111 operating hours, which accounted for 47 take-offs and landings.

crew

The captain was the 41-year-old Miloš Markićević. He had 9,230 hours of flight experience, 138 of which he had completed with the Tupolev Tu-134A. First officer was 34-year-old Stevan Mandić. He had 2,300 hours of flight experience, 899 of which with the Tupolev Tu-134A. Viktor Tomić, a pilot in training, had 99 hours of flight time. He was supervised by the 39-year-old flight engineer Ivan Čavajda, who had completed 7,500 flight hours, 1,373 of them with the Tu-134A. The cabin crew consisted of flight attendants Alma Svoboda, Mira Miše and Mirjana Janković.

Passengers

On board the machine were 76 passengers, most of them British tourists, who flew on vacation to Rijeka, the third largest city in Croatia. In addition to 72 British tourists, the Croatian poet Josip Pupačić was among the passengers, who was traveling with his wife and daughter.

nationality Passengers crew total
Yugoslavia Socialist Federal RepublicYugoslavia Yugoslavia 4th 7th 11
United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom 72 - -
total 76 7th 83

the accident

The aircraft took off from Gatwick at 4:33 pm local time (GMT). The flight went smoothly up to the approach to Rijeka Airport. The crew flew to the destination airport using the instrument landing system (ILS) at a slightly increased speed. Four kilometers from the runway threshold, at an altitude of about 980 feet (approx. 300 meters), the machine flew into heavy rain showers. The crew immediately activated the windshield wipers. Fifty seconds before touchdown, the Tu-134 reared and rolled to the right.

Due to the more difficult flight conditions, the crew could not continue the ILS approach, but had to align the machine according to the runway. However, the aircraft remained over the glide path. The crew tried to reduce the speed with the help of the elevator and by reducing the thrust. At a distance of 800 meters from the runway, the engines were idled and the descent was regulated with the help of the elevators. The machine then assumed a gradually increasing rate of descent. Due to a probable optical illusion, the crew believed they were closer to the runway and at a higher altitude than was actually the case. The machine hit the ground at a speed of 140 knots (approx. 260 km / h). The right wing broke off, the machine turned on its back and went up in flames.

All passengers and crew survived the original impact. A fire then broke out in the area of ​​the left wing and tail unit. Thick smoke immediately entered the cabin. Panicked passengers then tried to find the exit from the burning wreckage, which was made difficult for them by the poor visibility.

One group of passengers went to the rear of the aircraft to look for a possible exit, while another looked in the forward cabin area. Both groups found that the front and rear doors were warped due to the severity of the impact and could not be opened. As the fire intensified, rescue workers attempted to smash the cabin windows with an ax. This made the situation worse as air could enter the cabin and feed the fire.

The four pilots left the machine through the right cockpit window. The flight engineer Čavajda first tried to help the passengers and cabin crew with the evacuation, but failed because the cockpit door could not be opened.

Emergency services arrived a few minutes after the crash. Their attempts to smother the flames were hampered by the heavy rains. The rain washed the extinguishing foam , which was supposed to smother the fire, from the machine. A strong wind was blowing from the stern of the machine to the bow, which made the rescue operation even more difficult.

The cabin crew and passengers were able to partially open the front service door, but at this point the smoke was too thick and most of the passengers and the three flight attendants had succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning . The passenger Ranko Sarajčić found an opening in the rear of the aircraft and was able to exit the aircraft through it. He was the only survivor from the cabin area. Sarajčić had called to the other people inside the machine to follow him. However, due to the panic on board at the time, no one followed. Twelve minutes after the crash, the fire in the cabin reached the oxygen system and caused a huge explosion in the forward cabin area. All passengers still alive at the time were killed by the resulting fire.

Accident investigation

The investigation into the accident was carried out by the British Air Accidents Investigation Branch . The final report was published on December 1, 1973. As the machine flew through the rain, the refraction of light on the cockpit windshield created an illusion that made the runway appear closer than it actually was. This led the crew to believe that the runway was 60 meters lower than it actually was. The illusion caused the crew to point the aircraft nose down and to idle the engines when the machine was 800 meters from the runway. With the aircraft nose pointing downwards, the aircraft reached a flight speed of 310 km / h. The AAIB issued a recommendation that pilots be trained on optical illusions that could occur when landing in heavy rain.

According to the investigators, at least 30 percent of the dead were found with the seat belts still tightened.

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