Vilnius - Moscow

On December 16, 1973 at 07:10 PM, Vilnius - Moscow experienced a crash involving Tupolev TU-124, operated by Aeroflot - Russian International Airlines, with the event recorded near Karacharovo Tver oblast.

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

51 people were known to be on board, 51 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 5, crew fatalities: 5, passengers on board: 46, passenger fatalities: 46, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. The crew was cleared to descent to 5,700 meters when a technical issue occurred on the elevator trim system. The airplane entered a dive and during the descent, the captain was able to regain control at an altitude of 2,000 meters. While flying by night, the gyro failed and the pilot suffered a spatial disorientation. So he lost again control of the airplane that dove into the ground and crashed in a near vertical attitude at a speed of 900 km/h in an open field located about 480 meters from Karacharovo. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and all 51 occupants were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration CCCP-45061, MSN 4 35 14 06, year of manufacture 1964.