1977 Aeroflot Ilyushin 62 crash

Aeroflot Flight 331

An Aeroflot Il-62M similar to the one involved in the accident is seen here on approach to London Heathrow Airport in 1983
Accident summary
Date	27 May 1977
Summary	Pilot error
Site	Off José Martí International Airport 22°59′21″N 82°24′33″W / 22.98917°N 82.40917°W / 22.98917; -82.40917Coordinates: 22°59′21″N 82°24′33″W / 22.98917°N 82.40917°W / 22.98917; -82.40917
Passengers	61
Crew	9
Fatalities	69 (1 on ground)
Injuries (non-fatal)	2
Survivors	2
Aircraft type	Ilyushin Il-62M
Operator	Aeroflot
Registration	СССР-86614
Flight origin	Sheremetyevo International Airport
1st stopover	Frankfurt Airport
Last stopover	Lisbon Airport
Destination	José Martí International Airport

Aeroflot Flight 331, refers to an Ilyushin Il-62M, registration СССР-86614, that was operated by the International Civil Aviation Directorate of Aeroflot as an international scheduled Moscow–Frankfurt–Lisbon–Havana passenger service, and crashed approximately 1 km (0.62 mi) away from José Martí International Airport, Havana, Cuba, on 27 May 1977 after it hit power lines on its final approach to the airport in poor weather. It was disclosed the aircraft was attempting an emergency landing, having one of its engines on fire. Only two of the 70 occupants on board survived; another person on the ground was also killed.

At the time the accident took place it was the deadliest aviation accident in Cuba's history; as of August 2012^[update], it remains the second deadliest one, behind Cubana Flight 9646. The cause of the crash was determined as pilot error according to the official report.

The aircraft involved was an Ilyushin Il-62M, registered CCCP-86614 to Aeroflot. At the time of the accident, the aircraft had 5549 hours of flight and 1144 use cycles. The aircraft was finished and delivered to Aeroflot in 1975

At the stoppover in Lisbon a new crew was charged with the aircraft. The five-member crew consisted of Captain Viktor Orlov, co-pilot Vasily Shevelev, navigator Anatoly Vorobyov, flight engineer Yuri Suslov and radio operator Evhen Pankov. The five cabin stewards were as follows; Galina Grigorieva, Polishchuk Lyudmila, Eugene Kvasnikova, Tamara Galkin and Vladimir Rukotov. The only two survivors of the crash were a West German woman and a Soviet man. One of the victims was José Carlos Schwarz, a poet and musician from Guinea-Bissau. Another was the Australian solicitor and Aboriginal Legal Service pioneer Peter Tobin.