Aeroflot Flight 3932

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}}{{Infobox Aircraft accident

|name = Aeroflot Flight 3932

|image = Aeroflot Tu-104B CCCP-42403 LBG 1974-8-2.png

|caption = An Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-104B similar to the aircraft involved

|date = 30 September 1973

|type = Electrical failure, spatial disorientation

|occurrence_type = Accident

|site = 10 km southwest of Koltsovo Airport

|coordinates =

|occupants = 108

|passengers = 100

|crew = 8

|fatalities = 108

|survivors = 0

|aircraft_type = Tupolev Tu-104

|origin = Koltsovo Airport, Sverdlovsk, Russian SFSR

|stopover0 = Omsk Tsentralny Airport, Russian SFSR

|stopover1 = Tolmachevo Airport, Novosibirsk, Russian SFSR

|stopover2 = Kadala Airport, Chita, Russian SFSR

|last_stopover = Khabarovsk Novy Airport, Russian SFSR

|destination = Knevichi Airport, Vladivostok, Russian SFSR

|operator = Aeroflot

|tail_number = CCCP-42506

}}

Aeroflot Flight 3932 was a flight operated by Aeroflot from Sverdlovsk-Koltsovo to Omsk Tsentralny Airport. On 30 September 1973, the Tupolev Tu-104 operating the route crashed shortly after takeoff from Sverdlovsk, killing all 108 passengers and crew on board.{{Cite web|url=http://www.airdisaster.ru/database.php?id=50|title=Катастрофа Ту-104Б Хабаровского ОАО близ а/п Свердловск-Кольцово (борт СССР-42506), 30 сентября 1973 года. // AirDisaster.ru - авиационные происшествия, инциденты и авиакатастрофы в СССР и России - факты, история, статистика|website=www.airdisaster.ru|access-date=2017-04-21}}{{Cite web|url=https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19730930-1|title=ASN Aircraft accident Tupolev 104B CCCP-42506 Sverdlovsk-Koltsovo Airport (SVX)|last=Ranter|first=Harro|website=aviation-safety.net|access-date=2017-04-21}}

Aircraft

The aircraft involved in the accident was a Tupolev Tu-104B with two Mikulin AM-3M-500 engines, registered CCCP-42506, originally to the Uzbekistan division of the state airline, Aeroflot. At the time of the accident, the aircraft sustained had 20,582 flight hours and 9412 pressurization cycles. The aircraft had 100 passenger seats, hence it was at full capacity when it crashed.{{Cite web|url=https://www.scramble.nl/database/soviet/details/173_67392|title=Tu-104B c/n 021904|website=Soviet Transport Database|access-date=7 February 2025}}

Crew

Eight crew members were aboard Flight 3932. The cockpit crew consisted of:

Captain Boris Stepanovich Putintsev
Copilot Vladimir Andreevich Shirokov
Navigator Pyotr Gavrilivich Kanin
Flight engineer Ivan Yakovlevich Raponov

Synopsis

Weather conditions at Sverdlovsk (now known as Yekaterinburg) were reported to be mild; visibility was over 6 kilometers, and light northwest winds.

Flight 3932 was on the Sverdlovsk-Vladivostok route with stopovers at Omsk, Novosibirsk (Tolmachevo), Chita (Kadala), and Khabarovsk airports. The flight crashed shortly after takeoff on the Sverdlovsk-Omsk part of the route.

The flight took off from Sverdlovsk - Koltsovo Airport at 18:33 MSK (Moscow time) and at 18:34:21 headed on a bearing of 256° for the route to Omsk. As a routine procedure, air traffic control instructed the crew to make a left turn and climb to an altitude of {{convert|1500|m|ft}} after takeoff; the crew responded that they would report when they reached the altitude.

At 18:35:25 MSK, 5–6 seconds after setting the engines to standard power, with an altitude of {{convert|350|-|400|m|ft}} and a speed of {{convert|480|km/h|kn mph|abbr=on}} the crew began the left turn while in the clouds, with a bank angle between 35-40°. At 20:37 local time (18:37 Moscow time), when the flight was at an altitude of {{convert|1200|m|ft}}, the bank angle reached 75-80°, after which the crew completely lost control of the aircraft. The plane crashed into a nearby forest at a speed of {{convert|270|km/h|kn mph|abbr=on}}.

Cause

The aircraft crashed due to incorrect indications by the main artificial horizon and the compass system, caused by a failure of the electrical supply, resulting in spatial disorientation of the pilots. The aircraft crashed approximately five miles from Koltsovo Airport.{{cite book |title=Aviation Disasters Second Edition |last1=Gero |first1=David |publisher=Patrick Stephens Limited |year= 1996 |page=121 }}