Air accident involving the Douglas C-47 CCCP-L946 of Aeroflot

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Air accident involving the Douglas C-47 CCCP-L946 of Aeroflot
Rusavia, N12BA, Douglas C-47A (21256783940) .jpg

A Douglas C-47
Accident summary
Accident type Loss of control
place Moscow Vnukovo Airport , Soviet UnionSoviet Union 1923Soviet Union 
date November 5, 1946, 6:30 p.m.
Fatalities 13
Survivors 13
Aircraft
Aircraft type United StatesUnited States Douglas C-47B-5-DK (DC-3)
operator Soviet Union 1923Soviet Union Aeroflot
Mark Soviet Union 1923Soviet Union CCCP-L946
Departure airport Riga-Spilwe Central Airport , Latvian SSRLatvia 1940Latvian SSR 
Destination airport Moscow Vnukovo Airport , Soviet UnionSoviet Union 1923Soviet Union 
Passengers 22nd
crew 4th
Lists of aviation accidents

The flight accident of Aeroflot's Douglas C-47 was the second of three flight accidents that occurred on November 5, 1946 with Aeroflot aircraft . They were all on the approach to Vnukowo Airport and, due to chaotic conditions at the air traffic control there, were kept in the air until a safe landing was no longer possible. When the Douglas C-47B-5-DK (DC-3) CCCP-L946 crashed, 13 of the 26 occupants on board the machine died.

23 minutes before the crash of the C-47 was already the Lisunov Li-2 CCCP-L4181 gone to ground, as a third machine that day crashed 25 minutes after the C-47, the Lisunov Li-2 CCCP-L4207 from.

plane

The aircraft was a Douglas C-47B-5-DK (DC-3) , which was built in 1944 and then exported to the Soviet Union . The aircraft completed its maiden flight on September 25, 1944. The machine was initially intended with the registration number 43-48756 for the United States Army Air Forces . The aircraft type C-47B was a military variant of the Douglas DC-3 . The Douglas Aircraft Company was supplying at the time willingly the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease Act with airplanes, especially as this is an ally of the United States in the ongoing Second World War was. The machine had the serial number 14572-26017 and the aircraft registration CCCP-L946 . The C-47 was powered by two Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92 Twin Wasp double radial engines , each with an output of 1200 hp. By the time of the accident, the machine had had a cumulative operating performance of 1675 operating hours.

Passengers, crew and flight plan

With the Douglas C-47 CCCP-L946 a passenger flight from the central airport Riga-Spilwe to Moscow- Vnukowo was to be carried out on November 5, 1946 . 22 passengers had started the flight, and there was also a four-person crew on board the machine, consisting of a flight captain, a first officer, a flight engineer and a radio operator.

the accident

Difficult weather conditions had prevailed in the Moscow region for days. On November 5, 1946, the weather service at Vnukovo Airport published an inaccurate forecast that the visibility conditions in the Moscow region should improve between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. The report irritated the crews of the approaching aircraft. In addition, air traffic control failed to reroute machines to alternate airports in Solnechnogorsk or Klin . This led to the fact that at times up to 17 machines were approaching Vnukowo at the same time. This lively flight operation overwhelmed the air traffic controllers in Wnukowo, they let many aircraft fly on holding patterns before they gave the clearance for the approach.

The Douglas C-47 CCCP-L946 flew holding patterns over Moscow for about 2 hours on instructions from air traffic control. At 18:27 the machine approached from an approach angle of 110 degrees in thick fog (visibility approx. 600 meters, cloud cover 30–50 meters). At a height of 10 to 15 meters, 300 to 400 meters after flying over the radio beacon "T", the crew decided to make a missed approach and suddenly increased the engine power. The machine's angle of attack increased while the C-47 lost speed. The plane then crashed at 6:30 pm in the middle of the Wnukowo airport, at a distance of 600 to 700 meters from the "T" beacon. The captain, the first mate, the flight engineer and 10 passengers were killed. The radio operator and the other 12 passengers were injured.

causes

The investigators essentially attributed the causes of the accident to five factors:

  • An inadequately founded, incorrect weather forecast, which was created by the employees of the Wnukowo weather station between 12 and 5 p.m. The weather forecast was not created in accordance with the observed weather conditions and was not corrected in time, although the weather did not improve as predicted.
  • The clearance of flights from the departure airports at the discretion of the persons responsible there without consulting Vnukovo Airport. Due to this fact, air traffic control in Vnukowo did not have a precise schedule for the arrival times of aircraft.
  • The indiscipline of some airport managers at the departure airports, especially Vilnius airport, which, contrary to the regulations, allowed planes to fly to Moscow at least 30 minutes before sunset. The Lissunow Li-2 CCCP-L4207 , which had started in Vilnius, had also started from Vilnius Airport with defective navigation devices. The numerous missed approaches of the machine due to these circumstances hindered flight operations at Vnukowo Airport.
  • The poorly organized work processes at both Vnukovo Airport and Aeroflot.
  • The disoriented approach of air traffic control at Vnukowo airport, which did not correct the omissions of the handlers at the departure airports by diversion of flights, so that a large number of aircraft were in the airspace above the airport when it got dark.

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