Moscow – Krasnovodsk – Ashgabat

On January 18, 1988 at 05:19 AM, Moscow – Krasnovodsk – Ashgabat experienced a crash involving Tupolev TU-154, operated by Aeroflot - Russian International Airlines, with the event recorded near Krasnovodsk Balkan Province (Balkan welaýaty).

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

146 people were known to be on board, 11 fatalities were recorded, 135 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 7.5%.

Crew on board: 9, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 137, passenger fatalities: 11, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. Following an uneventful flight from Moscow-Domodedovo, the crew started a night approach to Krasnovodsk Airport. The visibility was reduced due to the night combined with clouds down to 400 meters. The copilot was the pilot-in-command and he completed the approach at a speed of 270 km/h with flaps down at 28°. During the last segment, flaps were downed to an angle of 45° when the rate of descent increased to 10 meters per second. At a height of 30 meters, the copilot did not have visual contact with the runway but the captain decided to continue the approach. At an excessive speed of 275 km/h, the aircraft touched down 3 meters to the left of the runway centerline. It bounced, rolled for few hundred meters and came to rest on the main runway, broken in two. Eleven passengers were killed, 120 people were injured while 15 other escaped uninjured.

Aircraft reference details include registration CCCP-85254, MSN 78A254, year of manufacture 1978.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 40.0006°, 52.9916°.