Aeroflot Flight 227 (1956)

For the crash in 1969, see Aeroflot Flight 227 (1969).

Aeroflot Flight 227

Ilyushin Il-14 of "Aeroflot"
Accident
Date	22 April 1956 (1956-04-22)
Summary	Crashed after takeoff for reasons unknown
Site	Black Sea, near the coast of Sukhumi
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Ilyushin Il-14P
Operator	Aeroflot (MUTA GVF, 65th Air Detachment)
Registration	CCCP-Л1718
Flight origin	Vnukovo Airport, Moscow
1st stopover	Kharkiv Airport, Kharkiv
2nd stopover	Rostov-on-Don Airport, Rostov-on-Don
3rd stopover	Sukhumi Airport, Sukhumi
Last stopover	Kutaisi Airport, Kutaisi
Destination	Tbilisi Airport, Tbilisi
Passengers	1
Crew	5
Fatalities	6
Survivors	0

Aeroflot Flight 227 was an Ilyushin Il-14 aircraft operated by Aeroflot that crashed shortly after takeoff near Sukhumi on April 22, 1956, resulting in the deaths of all six people on board.

Aircraft

The Il-14P with tail number L1718 (factory number 146000202, serial number 02-02) had been manufactured by the MMZ "Znamya Truda" plant on April 14 1956, and on April 18, it was delivered to the 65th Air Detachment of the Moscow Transport Aviation Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet. At the time of the crash, the airliner was still brand new, with only 19 flight hours and 12 landings.

Crash

Flight 227 was operating a mail route from Moscow—Kharkiv—Rostov—Sukhumi—Kutaisi—Tbilisi. This was the second commercial flight in the aircraft's history. The crew consisted of the commander (PIC) Pyotr Alekseyevich Drizhenog, second pilot Konstantin Georgiyevich Kiselev, flight engineer Yuri Aleksandrovich Ivanov, and radio operator Evgeny Mikhaylovich Alekseyev. The stewardess was Natalya Fyodorovna Bernhardt. The cargo primarily consisted of mail and metal castings, weighing 2 117 kilograms. During the stopover in Sukhumi, a passenger ticket was also sold.

The sky was clear at that time, with scattered stratocumulus clouds at an altitude of 600 meters, and visibility exceeding 10 kilometers. At 20:50 MSK, the aircraft took off from Sukhumi Airport. However, upon reaching an altitude of 60 meters, the Il-14 maintained its course and, with engines running, fell into the Black Sea 2910 meters from the starting point and sank to a depth of 15–17 meters. All six people on board perished.

Causes

Most of the wreckage and the bodies of the victims were recovered from the sea. After studying the components and systems, it was concluded that there had been no technical failures. Although the cause of the crash was not determined, a searchlight from a nearby military base may have blinded the pilot.