Aeroflot Flight 31

A similar aircraft to the one involved
Accident
Date	13 January 1955 (1955-01-13)
Summary	Possible sabotage, engine failure
Site	8 km (5.0 mi) northwest of Moscow-Bykovo Airport
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Lisunov Li-2T
Operator	Aeroflot
Registration	CCCP-Л5000
Flight origin	Bykovo Airport, Moscow
Stopover	Gorky Airport, Gorky
Destination	Koltsovo Airport, Sverdlovsk
Passengers	0
Crew	5
Fatalities	5

Aeroflot Flight 31 was a cargo flight from Moscow-Bykovo Airport to Koltsovo Airport with a stopover in Gorky Airport. On 13 January 1955 (1955-01-13), the Lisunov Li-2 operating the route crashed during takeoff after the right engine failed. The investigation assumed a sabotage to be the cause of the crash.^[1][2]

Aircraft

The accident aircraft was a Lisunov Li-2T (registration CCCP-Л5000, serial number 33444902).^[3] It first flew in 1953, and its airframe had logged 2,188 hours by the time of the accident.^[1]

The aeroplane was carrying 1,989 kg (4,385 lb) of cargo, which consisted of 1,828 kg (4,030 lb) of mail and newspaper, 92 kg (203 lb) of clothes, and 69 kg (152 lb) of aircraft parts to Sverdlovsk.^[4]

Accident

The pilot performed takeoff at 11:28. At 20–30 m (66–98 ft), the right engine failed. Quickly, the aircraft lost height, colliding with multiple trees and hitting a house a kilometre away from the airport at 11:30, killing all five crew members on board. The wreckage then caught fire, destroying it and the house. There were no ground fatalities, as the owner had left just minutes before the crash.

Cause

The investigation determined the cause to be a sabotage, evidenced by a nut^[2] or an M4 female screw^[1] placed in the fuel system of the Li-2, causing the fuel pump to fail. Eight days before the crash, a similar case was reported.^[1][2]

References