Tu-124 landing on the Neva was one of the first cases of successful splashdown of a passenger aircraft. The crew of the crashed liner, at the cost of incredible efforts, managed to land the plane in the very center of Leningrad. The disaster was averted and no one was hurt.
Circumstances of the accident
On August 21, 1963, the passenger airliner Tu-124 of the Aeroflot company was preparing to make a regular regular flight Tallinn - Moscow. The aircraft was assigned to the Estonian squadron. The commander of the ship that day was an experienced pilot Viktor Yakovlevich Mostovoy. The crew included co-pilot Chechenov and flight engineer Tsarev.
The liner took off from Ülemiste airport early in the morning, at 8.55, and headed for Moscow's Vnukovo airport. After a few minutes of flight, the pilots discovered that the front landing gear jammed and it remained in a semi-retracted state. It was not possible to return to Tallinn airport, as it was shrouded in dense fog. It was extremely dangerous to make an emergency landing in such conditions. The crew was ordered to fly to Leningrad andtry to land there.
The fact is that an emergency landing of an aircraft with a faulty landing gear is possible only on a special, plowed dirt strip. It allows you to minimize the risk of sparks during landing, which means avoiding fire or explosion of the aircraft. Such a band was in Leningrad. Pulkovo immediately took all the necessary measures in order to take an emergency board. In a short time, all emergency services of the airfield were brought to full readiness.
Over Leningrad
The liner flew up to Leningrad around 11.00. Pulkovo specialists asked the plane to fly over the airport in order to assess its damage from the ground. Visual inspection confirmed that the nose landing gear was in a semi-retracted state.
The crew was ordered to prepare for an emergency landing. However, before committing it, it was necessary to develop excess fuel. The plane began to circle over the city at an altitude of 500 meters.
Meanwhile, flight mechanic Tsarev tried with all his might to free the jammed landing gear. To do this, he had to cut a hole in the floor of the aircraft cabin and, using a pole, manually, try to bring the rack to its normal position. All efforts were in vain.
The plane managed to make 8 circles over the city, when at 12.10 it turned out that there was no longer enough fuel for landing in Pulkovo. Suddenly, the left engine stalled. Due to complications, the crew was given permission to fly directly over the city center to shorten the distance to the airport.
However, at the very moment when the plane wasright above Smolny, the right engine also stopped. The liner began to quickly lose altitude, and everyone who was at that moment in the center of Leningrad was under threat. In such an emergency, the commander, on the advice of co-pilot Chechenev, a former naval aviation pilot, decides to land directly on the Neva.
Emergency Landing
Mostovoy ordered the crew to distract passengers, and he, alone, began to plan over the city.
The plane flew over the Liteiny Bridge at a height of 90 meters and managed to pass Bolsheokhtinsky just 40 meters from the water, miraculously not hitting its high trusses. Ahead was the Alexander Nevsky Bridge under construction. As the airliner swooped over him, scaffold workers jumped into the water in horror.
At the cost of the incredible efforts of the commander, the plane managed to successfully splash down a few tens of meters before the supports of the next railway bridge in Finland. It is said that Mostovoy turned gray in these few minutes.
Tu-124 landed on the Neva successfully, and the plane remained afloat, but due to damage received during landing, water began to flow into the fuselage. The old Burevestnik tugboat, which accidentally passed by and miraculously avoided a collision with the plane, managed to drag the sinking liner closer to the shore, to the territory of the Severny Press plant. By another lucky chance, wooden rafts stood at this place near the shore. The wing of the aircraft lay down on these rafts and formed a natural ladder, along which all passengers and crew safely disembarked.
In total, there were 44 passengers on the plane, including two children, and 7 crew members. There was no panic, but once on the shore, people gradually began to realize that they had recently been on the verge of death. The crew of the plane was immediately sent for interrogation to the KGB, and the passengers were taken to Pulkovo, from where they were returned to Tallinn on the first flight.
Causes of the accident
Tu-124 landing on the Neva became the first case of successful splashdown of a large passenger aircraft. But what caused the accident, which almost turned into a terrible disaster?
Tu-124 by that time was the latest brainchild of the Tupolev Design Bureau. It was designed and tested in a short time, and therefore had many minor flaws. One of them played a fatal role in the fate of the Estonian board. It turned out that during the takeoff in Tallinn, the ball bolt of the front landing gear fell off the plane, which was later found on the runway. Without this small but important detail, the front landing gear of the aircraft could not take its normal position, and it jammed. According to experts, landing with such a malfunction threatened to overturn the car. In such a situation, a successful landing of the aircraft may have been the only way to save the lives of passengers.
The second reason for the almost unleashed tragedy was a malfunction of the fuel gauge, which gave incorrect data on the amount of fuel on board. This common defect in many aircraft of that time was well known to all pilots, and many of them asked to refuel the aircraft a littlemore fuel than expected. However, this did not happen that day. In addition, before an emergency landing, it was necessary to develop the maximum amount of fuel, leaving only a little to reach the airport, and here the error in the readings of the device turned out to be fatal.
The fate of the aircraft
After all the people left the board, a special steamer was used to pump water out of the plane. But still, he could not cope with the rapidly incoming water, and soon the Tu-124 sank. The next day, pontoons were brought under the plane, it was raised from the bottom and towed along the Neva to the west of Vasilyevsky Island, where a military unit was located at that time. After inspection, the aircraft was written off due to damage.
His end was sad. The cockpit was cut off and sent as a flight simulator to the Kirsanov aviation school, located in the Tambov region. Beautiful soft chairs were sold to everyone at a price equal to the cost of a bottle of vodka. And the remains of the fuselage rusted for a long time on the banks of the Skipper channel, until they were cut up and sold for scrap.
The fate of the crew
Initially, in the KGB and the Main Directorate of Civil Aviation, Mostovoy's heroic deed was regarded as sloppiness, they severely reprimanded him and fired him from the squadron. However, due to the noise raised in the foreign press, the authorities changed their anger to mercy. They even wanted to award the commander of the ship with the Order of the Red Star, but the order was never signed. In the end, Khrushchev decided not to award, but not topunish the pilot.
The entire crew was soon allowed to fly again. The co-pilot Chechenov after some time himself became the commander. Mostovoy also continued to work, but already as part of the Krasnodar squadron. In the early 90s, he and his family emigrated to Israel, where he was forced to leave flying and work as a simple worker in a factory. He passed away from cancer in 1997.
Consequences of the accident
Despite the fact that the landing of the Tu-124 on the Neva was successful, after this incident, all airliners were strictly forbidden to fly over the center of Leningrad. This ban is still in effect.
The amazing experience of Mostovoy made a strong impression on pilots all over the world. An emergency landing of an aircraft on water is now being practiced on simulators in many airlines of the world. This is what allowed the American pilot to successfully land his emergency Boeing on the Hudson in 1997. Unfortunately, there are no such trainings in our country.
August 1963 was long remembered by many Leningraders who witnessed the unique landing. Many have seen the silver Tu-124 on the Neva with their own eyes, and this sight, of course, remains one of the most vivid memories of their lives.
