Dushanbe - Leninabad - Moscow

On February 24, 1973 at 07:37 AM, Dushanbe - Leninabad - Moscow experienced a crash involving Ilyushin II-18, operated by Aeroflot - Russian International Airlines, with the event recorded near Leninabad Sughd Province.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was flight at a plain, valley crash site.

79 people were known to be on board, 79 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 8, crew fatalities: 8, passengers on board: 71, passenger fatalities: 71, other fatalities: 0.

While cruising at an altitude of 6,600 meters, the crew received the permission to descent to 4,500 meters when the automatic pilot system was deactivated. Suddenly, the airplane banked left to an angle of 90° then entered a dive. At an altitude of 2,200 meters, due to excessive g loads, the left wing separated and the aircraft caught fire. Out of control, it crashed at a speed of 840 km/h in an open field located 8,4 km southeast of Buston Station, about 38 km northwest of Leninabad Airport. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and all 79 occupants have been killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration CCCP-75712, MSN 189 0018 04, year of manufacture 1959.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 40.3080°, 69.6363°.