Aeroflot Flight 15

Template:Infobox Aircraft accident

Aeroflot Flight 15 (Russian: Рейс 15 Аэрофлота Reys 15 Aeroflota) was a scheduled passenger service traveling from Moscow-Domodedovo to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Airport with an intermediate stop at Yemelyanovo International Airport. On 29 February 1968, the aircraft crashed while en route to Petropavlovsk, resulting in the loss of all but one individual onboard.

Aircraft

The plane involved was an Ilyushin Il-18D with registration CCCP-74252, operated by the Aeroflot Far East Civil Aviation Directorate. Prior to the accident, the aircraft had accumulated 342 flight hours and undergone 89 pressurization cycles.

Crew

The flight deck team comprised:

• Captain Eugene A. Berezhnov (Pilot in command)
• Vladimir Makarov (First officer)
• Benedict E. Dernov (Navigator)
• Nikolai Vasilyes (Flight engineer)
• Ivan M. Pashchenko (Radio operator)

Accident

The segment from Moscow to Yemelyanovo was completed without incident. Departing Yemelyanovo at 22:03 local time (17:03 Moscow time), the Il-18 carried 64 adult passengers and 11 children; two passengers were not listed on the manifest. Following takeoff, the flight maintained a cruising altitude of 8,000 meters. At approximately 22:37 local time (17:37 Moscow time), communication was transferred to air traffic control at Bratsk. Weather conditions were reported as normal. The aircraft was positioned roughly 234 kilometers from Bratsk airport on a heading of 270°. The crew acknowledged receipt of this information, confirming that they were flying at an altitude of 8,000 meters with a speed of 780 km/h and anticipated passing Bratsk at 23:06.

At 22:38:38, the aircraft abruptly entered a rapid descent. By 22:41:28, the situation had escalated into a critical emergency. When descending through an altitude of approximately 3,000 meters, air traffic controllers intercepted a brief and unclear transmission at 22:43:12 from the flight crew, which investigators later interpreted as relating to the aircraft’s condition. In an attempt to correct pitch attitude, the crew inadvertently caused further nose-down movement leading to overspeed conditions. The fasten seatbelt sign was illuminated during this period, and at one stage the aircraft became inverted. At around 1,000 meters altitude and traveling at approximately 890 km/h, structural failure began as the airframe broke apart. The crash occurred at 22:43:47 near Parchum—about thirteen kilometers from the site and roughly 165 kilometers west of Bratsk airport—impacting dense taiga forest. Only one occupant survived—a young soldier who sustained injuries but was found alive at the wreckage.

Causes

The investigation proposed that an onboard emergency prompted the crew to initiate a descent, during which control of the aircraft was lost due to the underperformance of engine number three. Inspection of the left wing revealed signs of a fuel leak, which was believed to have triggered a fire inside the aircraft; notably, this section of the wing lacked both fire detection and suppression systems. Nonetheless, the investigative commission ultimately dismissed the assertion that an in-flight fire in the left wing, caused by a leak, was responsible, concluding that the precise origin of the emergency remains undetermined.