Investigation Summary
The investigation centered on the gust lock system of the Ilyushin Il-62M, which is designed to protect control surfaces from wind damage while parked. According to Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) data, the crew did not complete the mandatory unlocking process after engine start at 06:20. Furthermore, the crew failed to verify the status of the elevators on the warning panel and during a secondary manual check while taxiing. When the aircraft reached rotation speed (VR) of 293 km/h, the captain found the control column unresponsive. The decision to abort was made four seconds after VR, but the stopping sequence was compromised when the flight engineer shut down the engines entirely, removing the possibility of using reverse thrust to decelerate. The aircraft, weighing 113 tons, still had 940 meters of runway remaining when the abort began, but it exited the paved surface at 262 km/h. The collapse of the right main landing gear in a 40cm deep construction pit led to the final breakup and fire.
Final Conclusions
The investigation concluded that the primary cause was the takeoff attempt with locked elevator controls. A contributing factor was the flight engineer's decision to shut down the engines during the rejected takeoff, which prevented the use of thrust reversal and increased the overrun speed. While the failure to unlock the controls was attributed to the crew, investigators noted they could not definitively rule out a mechanical malfunction in the locking mechanism or a technical problem with rudder controls and components, though no evidence of such a failure was proven.
Photographic Evidence (1)
Video Analysis
No video analysis linked for this case file yet.
Airframe & Maintenance
Crew Experience
Captain
First Officer
Systems & Failure Modes
Gust Lock System
A mechanical system used to lock flight control surfaces (elevators, ailerons, and rudder) to prevent wind damage while the aircraft is on the ground.
Thrust Reversers
Systems on the Soloviev D-30KU engines intended to redirect thrust forward to assist in braking; these were rendered inoperative when the flight engineer shut down the engines.
Elevator Warning Panel
A cockpit display intended to alert the crew if the elevator surfaces are not in a flight-ready (unlocked) condition.
Interesting Facts
- 01The aircraft was manufactured in 1988 and was approximately ten months old at the time of the accident.
- 02All 10 crew members survived the initial impact and fire.
- 03The flight engineer's shutdown of the engines was a critical error that prevented the use of reverse thrust.
- 04The aircraft struck a 40cm deep construction pit off the end of the runway, which caused the landing gear to collapse.
- 05Nineteen people died at the scene, and two others died later in the hospital.
Safety Actions & Advisories
Temporary Grounding
Interflug temporarily grounded its entire fleet of eleven Ilyushin Il-62s immediately following the crash for safety inspections.