Aeroflot Flight 6709

Aeroflot Flight 6709

An Aeroflot Tu-154, similar to the one involved
Accident
Date	19 May 1978 (1978-05-19)
Summary	Triple engine failure due to fuel starvation
Site	Near Maksatikha, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union 57.7766°N 35.9692°E / 57.7766; 35.9692
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Tupolev Tu-154B
Operator	Aeroflot
Registration	CCCP-85169
Flight origin	Heydar Aliyev International Airport
Destination	Pulkovo Airport
Occupants	134
Passengers	126
Crew	8
Fatalities	4
Injuries	27
Survivors	130

Aeroflot Flight 6709 was a Tupolev Tu-154B on a domestic route from Baku to Leningrad on 19 May 1978. While cruising, fuel starvation affected the flow of fuel to the aircraft's three Kuznetsov NK-8 engines, causing the engines to stop. This issue was possibly as a result of poor aircraft design.

Accident details

Aeroflot Flight 6709 took off from Bina International Airport at 10:30 a.m. MSK. It was bound for Pulkovo Airport in Leningrad, a distance of 2,550 kilometres (1,580 mi). Roughly two hours into the flight, the engines lost power. Some sources state that this was due to an accidental shutoff of fuel pumping to the aircraft's sump tank by the flight engineer, though the accuracy of this claim is uncertain. Due to the poor design of the Tu-154B, a single fuel pump failure could result in the stoppage of all three engines. Soon after the engines lost power, the aircraft's AC generators stopped. This resulted in an abrupt pitch and roll of the aircraft, the first sign of malfunction that the pilots noticed.

During descent, the pilots tried multiple times to restart the engines. Some of these attempts worked, but did not supply enough power to the generators to restart the fuel pump. The pilots also attempted to use the aircraft's auxiliary power unit (APU) to restart the fuel pump, but its operation was disabled by design at altitudes above 3,000 metres (9,800 ft).

The aircraft landed in a potato and barley field 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) southeast of Maksatikha at 1:32 p.m. The aircraft bounced several times, separating into three pieces upon contact with trees. Two to three minutes after stopping, the aircraft's fuselage caught fire and was destroyed. The crash and resulting fire caused 4 fatalities and 27 injuries.