Aeroflot Flight 331

Aeroflot Flight 331

An Aeroflot Il-62M similar to the one involved in the accident is seen here on approach to London Heathrow Airport in 1983
Accident summary
Date 27 May 1977
Summary Pilot error
Site Off José Martí International Airport
22°59′21″N 82°24′33″W / 22.98917°N 82.40917°W / 22.98917; -82.40917Coordinates: 22°59′21″N 82°24′33″W / 22.98917°N 82.40917°W / 22.98917; -82.40917
Passengers 61
Crew 9
Fatalities 69 (1 on ground)
Injuries (non-fatal) 2
Survivors 2
Aircraft type Ilyushin Il-62M
Operator Aeroflot
Registration СССР-86614
Flight origin Sheremetyevo International Airport
1st stopover Frankfurt Airport
Last stopover Lisbon Airport
Destination José Martí International Airport

Aeroflot Flight 331,[1] refers to an Ilyushin Il-62M, registration СССР-86614, that was operated by the International Civil Aviation Directorate of Aeroflot as an international scheduled Moscow–Frankfurt–Lisbon–Havana passenger service, and crashed approximately 1 km (0.62 mi) away from José Martí International Airport, Havana, Cuba, on 27 May 1977 after it hit power lines on its final approach to the airport in poor weather.[2][3] It was disclosed the aircraft was attempting an emergency landing, having one of its engines on fire.[3][4] Only two of the 70 occupants on board survived; another person on the ground was also killed.[2]

At the time the accident took place it was the deadliest aviation accident in Cuba's history; as of August 2012, it remains the second deadliest one,[2] behind Cubana Flight 9646.[5] The cause of the crash was determined as pilot error according to the official report.

The only two survivors of the crash were a West German woman and a Soviet man.[4] One of the victims was José Carlos Schwarz, a poet and musician from Guinea-Bissau. Another was the Australian solicitor and Aboriginal Legal Service pioneer Peter Tobin.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Катастрофа Ил-62М ЦУ МВС близ Гаваны (Куба) [Accident Il-62M Havana] (in Russian). airdisaster.ru. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 Accident description for CCCP-86614 at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 3 September 2011.
  3. 1 2 "Airline accidents". Flight International: 1689. 11 June 1977. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. It is reported that the aircraft struck a power line while attempting an emergency landing in fog.
  4. 1 2 "Soviet Jet Crashes; 66 Die". Nashua Telegraph. Mexico City. Associated Press. 28 May 1977. p. 1.
  5. ↑ "Accident record for Cuba". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  6. ↑ Anne Summers and David Marr, "One white man who won the trust of Aborigines", National Times (6–11 June 1977), p.24.

Further reading

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