Aeroflot accidents and incidents in the 1950s

Following is a list of accidents and incidents Aeroflot experienced in the 1950s. The deadliest event the Soviet Union's flag carrier went through in the decade occurred in October 1958 (1958-10), when a Tupolev Tu-104 crashed en route to Sverdlovsk, then located in the Russian SSR, killing all 80 occupants on board.[1] In terms of fatalities, the accident ranks as the eighth worst accident involving a Tu-104, as of July 2016.[2] Another aircraft of the type was involved in the second deadliest accident the airline experienced in the decade, this time in August 1958 (1958-08), when 64 people were killed when the aircraft crashed near Chita after entering an updraft. The Tu-104's tail was modified and the service ceiling lowered in the wake of these two accidents.

The number of recorded fatalities aboard Aeroflot aircraft during the decade fell to 1050; likewise, 118 of its aircraft were written off in accidents or incidents, split into one Antonov An-10, 12 Antonov An-2s, two Avia 14Ps, 28 Ilyushin Il-12s, 15 Ilyushin Il-14s, one Ilyushin Il-18, 54 Lisunov Li-2s, 3 TS-62s, and 2 Tupolev Tu-104s. Most of the fatal accidents took place within the borders of the Soviet Union.

Certain Western media accounts have speculated that the Soviet government was reluctant publicly to admit the occurrence of such events. The true number of accidents, they suggest, might have been higher, as fatal events would have only been admitted when there were foreigners aboard the crashed aircraft, the accident took place in a foreign country, or they reached the news for some reason.[3][4] However, since the dissolution of the USSR, no evidence of significant numbers of unreported serious accidents has emerged, in any of its then-constituent republics.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference 19581017-0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Accident record for the Tupolev Tu-104". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  3. ^ "Aeroflot flies blind". Flight International. 110 (3535): 1691. 11 December 1976. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2016.
  4. ^ "Flight safety 1977—a safe year for scheduled passengers". Flight International: 182. 21 January 1978. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 November 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2012.