Interflug Flight 102

Interflug Flight 102 experienced a crash involving an Ilyushin Il-62M on 17 June 1989. While attempting to depart from Berlin Schönefeld Airport in East Germany, the airplane collided with ground obstacles following a failed takeoff, resulting in the loss of 21 lives.

Incident

At 6:20 am Berlin local time, the crew initiated the startup of the four Soloviev D-30KU engines in preparation for departure. The next procedural step was to unlock the flight controls; however, according to the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), this was not performed. Additionally, the crew neglected to verify the elevator status indicator on the warning panel. While taxiing toward the runway, the captain conducted a second check of elevator movement but did not detect that the elevators remained locked and immobile.

The aircraft received clearance to take off from runway 25L, with engine thrust set to a reduced power setting due to the relatively light takeoff weight of 113 tons. At precisely 6:28:05 local time, the airplane reached its rotation speed (VR). The pilots attempted to lift the nose by pulling back on the yoke, but there was no response from the aircraft. Four seconds later, with an airspeed of 293 km/h (158 kn; 182 mph), the captain elected to abort the takeoff. The flight engineer immediately shut down all four engines, which eliminated the possibility of applying Thrust reversal for deceleration. At this point, the plane was traveling at approximately 303 km/h (164 kn; 188 mph) and was 940 metres (3,080 ft) from the runway's end.

The aircraft overran the runway at a speed of 262 km/h (141 kn; 163 mph), veering left away from the centerline. During emergency braking, five tires on the main landing gear were destroyed. The plane then entered a construction pit roughly 40 cm (16 in) deep, causing collapse of the main landing gear. At that time, this model lacked active steering capability. Subsequently, it struck a water tank, sections of concrete fencing surrounding the airport, an embankment alongside a road, and six trees. These impacts caused the fuselage to break into three segments and ignited a fire. The aircraft came to rest at 6:28:37 local time.

Emergency responders arrived at the crash site by 6:38 am and managed to rescue 82 passengers within two minutes. The forward fuselage containing the cockpit remained largely intact, enabling some cabin and cockpit crew members to escape through cockpit window openings amid flames. Airline personnel supported rescue efforts by aiding passenger evacuation. Firefighters extinguished all flames by 8:09 am. In total, 21 people lost their lives—19 died on-site while two others passed away later in hospital care. A key factor contributing to this accident was partial locking of flight controls; however, investigators could not conclusively determine whether this resulted from mechanical malfunction or human error.

Aftermath

Following the accident, all eleven Il-62 aircraft operated by Interflug were temporarily taken out of service. However, nine of these planes were authorized to resume operations the day after the incident.