Investigation Summary
The aircraft, registration 08 Black (RA-82005), was operating a military cargo flight to Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, via Vladivostok. The flight was operated by the Russian Air Force but leased by Cargotrans; some sources also associate the operation with Ukrainian Cargo Airways. Shortly after lifting off from Runway 14 at Irkutsk-2 (Northwest), the aircraft encountered a catastrophic loss of thrust. At just 5 meters above the ground, engine number 3 surged. Six seconds later, while at 22 meters, both left-side engines (numbers 1 and 2) also failed. With only engine number 4 providing thrust, the aircraft entered a high angle of attack and began a left roll. It struck apartment block number 45 on Grazhdanskaya Street and a neighboring orphanage. The crash was followed by a massive fireball fueled by 140 tons of aviation kerosene, which intensified the destruction of the residential buildings. Investigation efforts were severely hampered because the flight data and cockpit voice recorders were located in the center of the post-crash fire and were too badly damaged to yield usable data.
Final Conclusions
The official commission concluded that the disaster was caused by the sequential shutdown of three engines during the critical takeoff phase. Engine 2 ceased operation due to the activation of the MKT-163 fuel shutoff solenoid valve, though the reason for this activation could not be determined. Engines 1 and 3 suffered compressor surges. The commission attributed these surges to a structural defect in the first-series Lotarev D-18T engines, where significant differences in thermal inertia between the rotor and stator prevented the maintenance of permissible radial clearances at takeoff power. Contributing factors included uneven wear of special engine coatings and airflow distortions at high angles of attack.
Video Analysis
No video analysis linked for this case file yet.
Airframe & Maintenance
Systems & Failure Modes
Lotarev D-18T Engines
High-bypass turbofans used on the An-124. First-series models had known issues with thermal inertia differences between the rotor and stator, leading to clearance issues and surges at high power.
MKT-163 Fuel Shutoff Solenoid
An electromechanical valve designed to cut fuel flow to the engine. An unexplained activation of this valve caused the shutdown of engine number 2.
Interesting Facts
- 01The aircraft was carrying two Sukhoi Su-27UBK fighters (tail numbers 8524 and 8525) weighing a total of 40 tons.
- 02Both the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR) were too badly damaged by fire to provide data.
- 03The crash destroyed apartment block number 45 and significantly damaged block 120.
- 04Fatality counts vary by source: while 72 is widely cited, some official records and BAAA-Acro report 68 total deaths (23 on board and 45 on the ground).
- 05The aircraft had only 1,034 total flight hours and 576 cycles at the time of the accident.
- 06The aircraft's Manufacturer Serial Number (MSN) was 4516003.
Safety Actions & Advisories
D-18T Engine Modifications
The investigation highlighted structural defects in the high-pressure compressor of early D-18T engines, leading to mandatory reviews of radial clearances and thermal inertia characteristics in the series.
Known Controversies & Unanswered Questions
Fuel Contamination Theory
Reference ↗Fedor Muravchenko, designer at Ivchenko-Progress, argued that the surges were caused by high water content in the fuel forming ice crystals in the filters due to -20°C temperatures, rather than a purely mechanical defect.
Electromagnetic Interference Claim
Reference ↗Test pilot Alexander Akimenkov suggested that a passenger's use of a Chinese radiotelephone might have interfered with the aircraft's electronic engine control systems.