Aeroflot Flight 3352
A Tupolev Tu-154B-1, similar to the one involved in the accident, is seen here at Zurich Airport in 1982.
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| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 11 October 1984 |
| Summary | Runway incursion due to ATC error |
| Site | Omsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Passengers | 170 |
| Crew | 9 |
| Fatalities | 178 (including 4 on the ground) |
| Injuries (non-fatal) | 5 |
| Survivors | 5 |
| Aircraft type | Tupolev Tu-154B-1 |
| Operator | Aeroflot |
| Registration | CCCP-85243 |
| Flight origin | Krasnodar International Airport |
| Stopover | Omsk Airport |
| Destination | Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport |
Aeroflot Flight 3352 was a Tupolev Tu-154 airline flight on a domestic route from Krasnodar to Novosibirsk, with an intermediate landing in Omsk. While landing at Omsk Airport on Thursday, 11 October 1984, the aircraft crashed into maintenance vehicles on the runway, killing 174 people on board and 4 on the ground. While a chain of mistakes in airport operations contributed to the accident, its major cause was an air traffic controller falling asleep on duty. As of 2015, this remains the deadliest aviation accident on Russian territory.
At 5:00 am local time (UTC/GMT + 7 hours), Flight 3352 was preparing to land at Tsentralny Airport in Omsk, a key Russian city in southwestern Siberia, which has a population of over 1 million and is the administrative center of Omsk Oblast. At the time, this was the only aircraft approaching Omsk, and it was cleared for landing when it contacted the airport.
At 5:20 am, worried that the continuing rain would make the runway overly slippery, the airport ground maintenance crew requested permission to dry the runway. The ground controller on duty gave permission and proceeded to fall asleep soon after, in the process forgetting to switch on the "runway occupied" warning. In any case, under airport regulations, this whole procedure should never have happened; permission to close and do maintenance on a runway could only be given by the chief controller, and he was absent.
The maintenance crew, following the airport's routine, moved three vehicles to the runway: a UAZ-469 all-terrain vehicle with an attached trailer, operated by a driver and crew manager in front; followed by KrAZ and Ural trucks. The latter were equipped with dry air compressors and loaded with fuel, and weighed 16–20 tons. The drying detail then proceeded to violate their own safety rules while performing their tasks: all of their vehicles should have their top, flickering lights on continuously. However, the lights were too bright for the maintenance workers' liking, so they kept them lit only until they started and after they finished their work.
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