1995 Borodianka mid-air collision

50°44′38.3″N 29°55′19.1″E / 50.743972°N 29.921972°E / 50.743972; 29.921972Total fatalities7Total survivors5First aircraft
The aircraft involved in the accident during ground tests, the month before its first flightTypeAntonov An-70OperatorAntonov Design BureauCrew7Fatalities7Survivors0Second aircraft
An Antonov An-72 similar to the one involvedTypeAntonov An-72OperatorAntonov Design BureauCrew5Fatalities0Survivors5

On 10 February 1995 at 16:09 CET, the first Antonov An-70 prototype aircraft collided with an Antonov An-72 that was assisting with the An-70 test program over Borodianka Raion in Ukraine. All seven crew members on board the An-70 were killed; the An-72 was able to make a safe emergency landing at Gostomel Airport in Kyiv with no fatalities.^[1]

Causes

A Ukrainian-led commission reported that the cause was human error and blamed the flight maneuvers by the crew as the major contributing factor to the crash. Leonid Berestov is quoted as saying "The careless actions of both crews in their formation flying led to a collision and crash.^[2]

Several faults were observed in the three test flights that took place before the accident flight, including flight control problems during the second flight and again during the third flight, on the day preceding the crash.^[2]

References

Bibliography