Multi-aircraft Event — Antonov Design Bureau Test Flight / Antonov Design Bureau Chase Plane

On February 10, 1995, the first prototype of the Antonov An-70 transport aircraft collided mid-air with its An-72V chase plane during a test flight near Borodianka, Ukraine. The An-70 was conducting its fourth test flight to evaluate stability and controllability when its crew initiated a hazardous maneuver to approach the chase plane. The An-70's tail struck the fuselage and propfan of the An-72V, which caused the An-70 to lose its left horizontal stabilizer and part of its tail unit. While the damaged An-72V managed to return to Gostomel for a safe landing, the An-70 entered an uncontrollable dive and crashed into a wooded area, killing all seven crew members on board.

Aircraft 1

Antonov Design Bureau — Flight Test Flight

Antonov An-70 · UR-NTK

Souls 7 · Fatal 7

Aircraft 2

Antonov Design Bureau — Flight Chase Plane

Antonov An-72V · UR-72966

Souls 5 · Fatal 0

Phase

Cause

Total Souls

Total Fatalities

Report

Investigation Summary

The flight was part of the certification program for the revolutionary An-70, which featured four Progress D-27 propfan engines. During the maneuver at 3,200 meters, the An-70 crew misjudged the distance to the An-72V chase plane. The collision resulted in the total failure of all four hydraulic systems on the An-70, rendering the aircraft completely uncontrollable. Investigators noted that the collision occurred while both aircraft were facing the sun, which likely impaired the crews' vision. Furthermore, the investigation revealed that the An-70 prototype had exhibited flight control problems during its second and third test flights, the latter occurring just one day before the accident. The crash was a significant setback for the Ukrainian-Russian joint project, destroying the only flying prototype at the time.

Final Conclusions

A Ukrainian-led commission concluded that the primary cause of the accident was human error. The commission cited the careless actions of both crews during formation flying, specifically the An-70 crew's decision to initiate a hazardous maneuver without maintaining adequate situational awareness of the chase plane's exact position. Contributing factors included poor radio communication between the two aircraft and the blinding effect of the sun.

Video Analysis

No video analysis linked for this case file yet.

Airframe & Maintenance

Antonov Design Bureau Test Flight — Antonov An-70 · UR-NTK

Airframe Hours

Engines

Progress D-27

Systems & Failure Modes

Progress D-27 Propfan Engines

Experimental open-rotor engines intended to combine the fuel efficiency of a turboprop with the speed of a turbofan.

Hydraulic Systems

The An-70 featured four redundant hydraulic systems; however, the structural damage to the tail during the collision severed all lines, leading to a total loss of control.

Interesting Facts

01The An-70 involved was the first prototype (MSN 01-01) and had only 3 total flight hours at the time of the crash.
02The An-70 was the first aircraft designed to fly using only propfan (open-rotor) engines.
03The collision caused the An-70 to lose all four of its hydraulic systems.
04The An-72V chase plane (UR-72966) was declared a constructive total loss due to severe structural damage, despite its successful emergency landing.
05Flight control issues had been recorded on the An-70 during two of its three previous test flights.

Safety Actions & Advisories

Prototype Redesign

Following the loss of the first prototype, the second An-70 was constructed using a fuselage originally intended for static ground testing, incorporating modifications to address control issues identified during the early flight tests.