Aeroflot Flight 5463

Aeroflot

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

Template:Infobox aircraft occurrence Aeroflot Flight 5463 was a domestic Soviet passenger service operating between Chelyabinsk and Almaty. On 30 August 1983, during its approach to Almaty, the Tupolev Tu-134A impacted the western slope of Dolan Mountain at approximately 690 m (2,260 ft) elevation. This tragic event resulted in the loss of all ninety individuals on board. The accident was attributed primarily to errors made by the flight crew.

Accident

Following receipt of the aircraft’s position, air traffic control (ATC) issued an incorrect turn instruction. Concurrently, the flight crew selected an erroneous heading of 199 degrees rather than the intended 140 degrees. Although ATC later provided the correct heading, they directed the crew to descend to 600 m (2,000 ft), despite the minimum safe altitude for the terrain in that area being 4,620 m (15,160 ft). Aware that they were on a collision path with mountainous terrain and empowered by Soviet civil aviation regulations to disregard ATC commands under such circumstances, the crew opted to execute a turn while continuing their descent to 600 m (2,000 ft). After notifying ATC about their situation, the pilots received a ground proximity warning. However, instead of initiating an immediate climb, they delayed this maneuver until just one or two seconds before impact.

The aircraft ultimately struck Dolan Mountain at an altitude near 690 m (2,260 ft), approximately 30 km (19 mi; 16 nmi) from Almaty airport. The collision caused the plane to break apart and ignite. Weather conditions at the time included cumulo-nimbus clouds between approximately 3,000–4,500 m (9,800–14,800 ft) altitude, with cloud tops reaching 7,000–8,000 m (23,000–26,000 ft) and visibility measured at around 10 km (6.2 mi; 5.4 nmi).

Investigation

The cause of the Flight 5463 accident was determined to be the following factors:

• Disregard for the established approach procedure to Alma-Ata airport
• Lack of oversight by the acting flight manager during the operation
• Breach of the flight operations manual by the flight crew, who complied with the final controller's directive to descend beneath a safe altitude.

External links

• Aeroflot Flight 5463 at Aviation Safety Network