Nizhnevartovsk Air Disaster: People Froze Waiting for Help
38 years ago, an air disaster occurred in Nizhnevartovsk, claiming the lives of 27 people. On the anniversary of the tragedy, we recall the events of that terrible day.
The Yak-40 was on a flight from Nizhnevartovsk to Bugulma with an intermediate stop in Tyumen. The aircraft was piloted by an experienced crew consisting of the captain, the co-pilot, and the flight engineer. A flight attendant was working in the cabin. There were also 27 passengers on board.
At 18:50, the plane began takeoff from Nizhnevartovsk Airport. But during acceleration on the runway at a speed of 150 km/h (93 mph), the flight engineer noticed that the «air starter open» indicator light had activated. This became known later from the flight data recorder.
Then, immediately after liftoff, the high-pressure compressor rpm dropped in two engines, and a second later in the third. Then two engines shut down, and the only remaining engine«s rpm first dropped to 75%, then it returned to takeoff mode.
At that time, the plane had climbed to an altitude of 35 meters (115 feet). Having lost the thrust of two out of three engines, the airliner began to lose speed and roll. One and a half minutes after liftoff, it crashed into the slope of a ravine, then into a power line, and was completely destroyed.
People had to wait a long time for help. The airliner was found only several hours after the crash. Meanwhile, the air temperature on 24 January 1988 was –31°C (–24°F).
By the time rescuers arrived, only 4 passengers remained alive. The other 4 crew members and 23 passengers had died.
«They were shift workers flying to Bugulma. I was just a child and personally saw this plane, my father took me to see it,» shared Nizhnevartovsk resident Alexey Gordin on the social network VKontakte. «It was a tragedy for the city, but in Soviet times they didn«t particularly publicize it. They searched for it for a long time, the search services were not prepared. They found it after 6–8 hours. If there were any survivors, they froze.»
Other residents of Nizhnevartovsk also remember the January air disaster of the late 80s. Thus, Tatiana Shtukina and Alfia Yevseyeva told about the deceased head of kindergarten No. 52, Zinaida Zakarlyuk.
«The kindergarten at that time was under the jurisdiction of the airport. Zinaida Nikiforovna didn«t have a ticket for this flight, but she received approval and permission from the airport commander,» the Nizhnevartovsk women shared.
«People waited a very long time for help and froze. I also remember this case,» wrote Nadezhda.
«In this plane, my classmate Natasha and her sister died. They worked on a shift basis. I feel very sorry for the sisters,» wrote Nadezhda.
The commission did not establish the exact cause of the air disaster. There are only two main versions.
According to one of them, when the flight engineer detected the activation of the «air starter open» indicator light, he moved the engine control lever to idle, shutting down the others. Or in that situation, the engines shut down by themselves due to a sharp change in operating parameters. At that moment, it was already impossible to abort the takeoff, the captain ordered the flight engineer to move the engine control lever to takeoff mode, or did it himself.
According to the second version, an air lock occurred in the fuel system due to air ingress. This either led to a drop in engine rpm and then their automatic shutdown, or the crew, noticing the engine failure, themselves moved the control levers, which also led to their automatic shutdown.
Earlier we told the story of two air disasters that occurred in Yugra (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug) with a 9-day difference in 1971. The tragedies claimed the lives of all on board. And also about an air disaster that occurred in Yugra on 3 January 1984. A heavy transport helicopter crashed to the ground, claiming 38 lives.
