Aeroflot Flight 1491

Aeroflot Flight 1491 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Moscow-Vnukovo Airport to Kharkiv Airport in the USSR that crashed on 18 May 1972 while descending to land in Kharkiv, killing all 122 passengers and crew aboard the Antonov An-10.

Aircraft
The Antonov An-10A, registration СССР-11215 (factory number 0402502, MSN 25-02), was manufactured at the Voronezh Aviation Plant on 3 February 1961. On 7 February 1961 it was delivered to Aeroflot's Kharkiv division. It was equipped with 4 turboprop Ivchenko AI-20 engines. At the time of the accident, the aircraft accumulated 11,105 flight cycles and 15,483 flying hours.

Crew
The flight crew responsible flying the aircraft was from the 87th Flight Squad (Kharkiv United Squadron). Captain Vladimir Vasiltsov was in charge of this flight; first officer Andrei Burkovskii, navigator Aleksandr Grishko, flight engineer Vladimir Shchokin, and radio operator Konstantin Peresechanskii were also in the flight deck.

Synopsis
Flight 1491 took off from Moscow-Vnukovo Airport at 10:39 en route to Kharkiv in the Ukrainian SSR. While descending from its cruising altitude of 7200 m to an altitude of 1500 m, the aircraft suffered structural failure resulting in the separation of both wings. The fuselage then plunged into a wooded area, killing all 114 passengers and 8 crew onboard the aircraft.

Aftermath
Pravda reported on the crash of Flight 1491 shortly after it happened. At the time, it was unusual in the Soviet Union for there to be press reports on domestic air crashes.

The probable cause of the crash was determined to be the center wing section failing due to a fatigue crack in the lower central wing panel.

Following this accident, Aeroflot ceased An-10 operations.