Novosibirsk – Sverdlovsk – Leningrad

On March 16, 1961 at 01:10 PM, Novosibirsk – Sverdlovsk – Leningrad experienced a crash involving Tupolev TU-104, operated by Aeroflot - Russian International Airlines, with the event recorded near Sverdlovsk Sverdlovsk oblast.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

51 people were known to be on board, 7 fatalities were recorded, 44 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 13.7%.

Crew on board: 10, crew fatalities: 2, passengers on board: 41, passenger fatalities: 3, other fatalities: 2.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. After takeoff from runway 27 at Sverdlovsk-Koltsovo Airport, while climbing to a height of 130-150 meters, the right engine failed. This caused severe vibrations and the crew was unable to read the instruments properly. Trying to manipulate the throttle, the flight engineer inadvertently shut down the left engine. Due to a loss of power and insufficient thrust, the airplane lost height and the captain elected to make an emergency landing in a frozen pond located nine km west of the airfield. The aircraft landed at high speed, collided with several obstacles and eventually came to rest, broken in three, after a course of 1,220 meters. Two crew members, three passengers and two people on the ground were killed. 31 occupants were injured and 15 were unhurt. The aircraft was destroyed.

Aircraft reference details include registration CCCP-42438, MSN 9 2 08 05, year of manufacture 24.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 56.8440°, 60.6541°.