Aeroflot Flight 109

Aeroflot

Industry	Airline
Founded	1923
Headquarters	Moscow , Soviet Union
Products	Air transport services

Template:Infobox aircraft occurrenceAeroflot Flight 109 operated as a scheduled domestic service from Moscow to Chita, including intermediate stops at Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, and Irkutsk. On the final segment of the journey on 18 May 1973, a terrorist hijacked the plane, demanding diversion to China. After an onboard air marshal shot the hijacker, his bomb exploded during flight. The aircraft disintegrated at altitude, resulting in the deaths of all 81 individuals aboard.

Aircraft

The accident involved a Tupolev Tu-104A with registration CCCP-42379, operated by Aeroflot. Initially configured to seat 70 passengers, the cabin was later modified to increase capacity to 85 seats. This Tupolev Tu-104 first flew on 17 May 1958. By the time of the crash, it had accumulated 19,329 flight hours and undergone 8,841 pressurization cycles.

Crew

Onboard were 72 passengers, including four minors, along with nine crew members. The flight deck team comprised:

• Captain Nikolai Obodyansky
• First Officer Yuri Ponomarev
• Navigator Vladislav Baryshnikov
• Flight Engineer Georgy Kuzenkov
• Radio Operator Nikolai Yefimtsev

The cabin team consisted of three flight attendants and one air marshal.

Synopsis

The segment from Moscow to Irkutsk was completed without complications. On 18 May at 03:02 Moscow time, the flight departed Irkutsk Airport heading toward Chita at an altitude of approximately 9,000 metres (30,000 ft). At 03:22, Flight 109 entered Chita’s air traffic control zone; by 03:32 permission was granted to descend to 3,900 feet (1,200 m). Shortly after, at 03:36, a distress signal was transmitted three times over the radio. The crew then reported to air traffic control that a passenger demanded a course change. The controller acknowledged this message. At 03:36:30, the crew indicated they would hold at an altitude of 6,500 metres (21,300 ft); fifteen seconds later, when queried about their altitude by the dispatcher, they responded they intended to climb to 6,600 metres (21,700 ft).

At approximately 03:38, a coded emergency transmission began but was cut off after nine dashes. During this time, onboard security officer Vladimir Yezhikov, aged 21, fired two shots at the hijacker. Subsequently, the bomb exploded. Although the dispatcher provided position information relative to Chita Airport after this event, no response was received from Flight 109. On radar screens, the aircraft’s signal appeared as a blurred spot before vanishing entirely.

At around 04:55 local time, a Mi-8 helicopter crew located wreckage approximately 97 kilometres (60 mi; 52 nmi) west of Chita Airport scattered across an area exceeding 10 kilometres (6.2 mi; 5.4 nmi) in length. All 81 people onboard perished in the crash.

Conclusions

Between 09:35 and 09:45 local time (03:35 to 03:45 Moscow time), five witnesses observed and heard an aerial explosion. The investigative commission concluded that the aircraft disintegrated mid-flight into multiple fragments, indicative of a sudden and severe pressure change.

The forensic analysis determined that the blast was triggered by passenger Chingis Yunusogly Rzayev, who was born in Irkutsk in 1941. When Rzayev attempted to gain access to the cockpit, police officer Vladimir Yezhikov fired a shot that struck him in the back near the eighth intercostal space, with the bullet penetrating his heart. Despite his critical injury, Rzayev managed to detonate the bomb he carried, which contained approximately 5.5–6 kilograms (12–13 lb) of TNT. The final investigation report concluded: "The airplane crash, resulting in the mid-air breakup and the loss of all onboard, was caused by a bomb explosion set off by a terrorist who tried to coerce the crew into altering the aircraft's route."

See also

• United Airlines Flight 93
• Air Vietnam Flight 706
• Pacific Air Lines Flight 773
• Pan Am Flight 103

External links

• Aviation Safety Network