7 February 1981 year
At the airfield in Leningrad Pushkin A Tu-104 aircraft carrying the Pacific Fleet command crashed. The disaster claimed the lives of 50 people and effectively "decapitated" one of the most powerful units of the Soviet Navy.
A group of admirals, generals, officers, warrant officers, ensigns, sailors, and personnel of the Pacific Fleet died in an air crash while on duty. Our deepest condolences to the families and friends of our fallen comrades.
(The newspaper "Red Star" was the only obituary that made it into the media)
High-ranking naval sailors were returning from a week-long command staff training session held in Leningrad.
At 4:00 p.m., the Tu-104 jetliner, which was used as the command aircraft of the Pacific Fleet commander, began its takeoff roll. The flight Vladivostok The mission was expected to take about nine hours. However, just eight seconds after takeoff, the aircraft abruptly pitched onto its tail and, falling from a height of 50 meters, exploded (the tanks were filled to the brim with 30 tons of kerosene).
43 passengers and 6 crew members died instantly, including the commander of the Pacific Fleet. Emil Spiridonov and his deputies. This became the largest air disaster in the history of the USSR in terms of the number of senior military personnel killed: 13 admirals and 11 captains of the first rank (in the entire Great Patriotic War, the navy lost only four admirals).
The only one who didn't burn was a 43-year-old senior lieutenant. Valentin Zubarev: He was a passenger, but was in the cockpit at takeoff and was thrown out the window after impact. Zubarev suffered broken legs, arms, and spine. On the way to the hospital, he repeated the same phrase:
They screamed, they screamed so loudly!
They didn’t have time to get him to the intensive care unit—his heart stopped.
In the first hours, investigators pursued the theory of an assassination attempt on a group of high-ranking officers, and the Pacific Fleet was placed on full alert (fears that the elimination of the command would lead to an enemy attack on the eastern seaboard). However, this theory was not confirmed: the plane was located at a well-guarded military airfield, and saboteurs had no access to it.
Another theory is that the aircraft was experiencing control problems. The Tu-104 was the first Soviet jet-powered passenger airliner and terrified its flight crews: it would suddenly lose control, earning it the nickname "Mad Bird." Of the 200 aircraft built, 37 crashed, killing 1137 people. The tragedy in Pushkin was the last: after it, these airliners were discontinued.
Moreover, the decoding of the black boxes revealed that the death of the Pacific Fleet command was not caused by sabotage or crew error. According to the official version, the commanders took advantage of the trip to Leningrad to purchase goods that were in short supply at the time: they loaded heavy rolls of paper onto their plane and filled the aisles with furniture and televisions. All this resulted in the aircraft being overloaded: with a maximum permissible takeoff weight of 74,5 tons, the actual weight was 77 tons.
Because of this, the airliner was unable to reach its normal takeoff speed: the crew lifted it off the ground at 180 km/h (112 mph), instead of the specified 220 km/h (130 mph). The situation was further complicated by a strong crosswind and unsecured cargo, which shifted rearward during the aircraft's acceleration, causing the aircraft to tip onto its tail and lose its center of gravity.
Moreover, the passengers themselves did not observe basic safety rules: they wandered throughout the cabin, and at takeoff, they gathered in the tail, which tilted the plane even more.
Following the disaster, the Ministry of Defense issued several special regulations: from now on, military personnel, like civilians, were required to weigh carry-on baggage, and staff aircraft seats were equipped with seat belts.
Fleet commanders also prohibited aircraft from flying together, to minimize damage in the event of a disaster. However, commanders followed this last order for only a few years, and then resumed flying together to conserve aircraft life.
