Malév Flight 110

Malév Hungarian Airlines

Industry	Aviation
Founded	1946
Headquarters	Budapest , Hungary
Products	Airline services

Malév Flight 110 was a regularly scheduled service operating between Budapest-Ferihegy Airport and Boryspil International Airport. On 16 September 1971, the Tupolev Tu-134 with registration HA-LBD crashed in the vicinity of Boryspil International Airport, located in the Ukraine SSR of the Soviet Union. The accident occurred amid severely limited visibility caused by dense fog, resulting in the deaths of all 41 passengers and 8 crew members aboard. At that time, this tragedy ranked as the third deadliest aviation disaster in Ukraine, and as of 2022, it remains the tenth most fatal incident in the country.

Accident

The departure from Budapest, Hungary experienced a delay exceeding one hour due to adverse weather conditions. Despite this setback, the aircraft took off; however, heavy fog reduced visibility to approximately 1,800 metres (5,900 ft), complicating landing procedures. The crew was unable to complete a successful landing on their initial approach. Although diversion to Budapest or an alternate airport was possible, the pilot opted to continue holding patterns while attempting to land at Kyiv-Boryspil Airport. During this time, an alert indicated failure of the aircraft's generator, forcing reliance on auxiliary battery power, yet later investigations revealed this warning was erroneous and potentially correctable. While the flight crew notified air traffic control about this issue, they did not declare an emergency as protocol would require. In such situations, standard procedure advises shutting down non-essential electrical equipment such as refrigerators, galley heaters, and cabin lighting to conserve battery life; however, these measures were not implemented, resulting in battery endurance being halved. The crew followed established protocols for a final descent attempt, but visibility had deteriorated further to about 700 metres (2,300 ft), and critical but inaccurate information regarding conditions was provided to the pilot.

The aircraft strayed considerably from its assigned flight path and passed over the airport area while losing vital radio and radar contact with ground controllers. With battery power likely severely drained, instrument failures probably occurred, leaving the pilots without essential data needed for a safe landing under such poor weather. The investigation concluded that the plane descended too low to avoid impact; its right wingtip struck the terrain at an estimated speed between 550–580 kilometres per hour (300–310 kn; 340–360 mph), causing the airframe to break apart and resulting in immediate fatalities of all onboard. Identification of victims through wreckage was not feasible. Authorities attributed the crash to a combination of factors including pilot mistakes, inadequate handling by ground personnel, technical faults within the aircraft, and adverse environmental conditions.

References

• OFFICIAL MISSIONS RESULTING IN LOSS OF LIFE Archived 2014-03-23 at the Wayback Machine (in Hungarian)