Kutaisi - Kiev - Saint-Petersburg

On October 20, 1990 at 02:10 PM, Kutaisi - Kiev - Saint-Petersburg experienced a crash involving Tupolev TU-154, operated by Aeroflot - Russian International Airlines, with the event recorded near Kutaisi Imereti.

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.

171 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 171 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 7, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 164, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. During the takeoff roll, at a speed of 255 km/h, the captain initiated the rotation but the aircraft failed to respond. In such conditions, he decided to abandon the takeoff procedure and started an emergency braking maneuver. Unable to stop within the remaining distance, the aircraft overran, lost one main gear and came to rest 781 meters further. All 173 occupants were evacuated, among them 11 were injured. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair. It appears that aircraft was overloaded and the CofG was out of the envelope. In such conditions, a rotation was impossible.

Aircraft reference details include registration CCCP-85268, MSN 78A268, year of manufacture 1978.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 42.2645°, 42.6596°.