Tu-104 - the first in the USSR jet passenger aircraft, which was discontinued just five years after release. The reason for this was a huge number of deadly disasters.
Development of 104 Tupolev Design Bureau models
Work on the design of a new type of passenger aircraft (jet) began even before the Council of Ministers officially commissioned this to the design bureau. The first drawings were prepared for the years 1952-1953. The new development received an increased fuselage diameter, and the wing was moved lower. The rest of the design was designed based on the successful model of the Tu-16 bomber. The new jet liner received index 104, and in the first drawings it appears as Tu-2AM-3-200. By the way, all the following developments of the Tupolev design bureau received a three-digit index with a four at the end.
Creating an airplane and training pilots
They developed a 104 model quickly enough: according to the drawings of 1953, the aircraft first flew in the summer of 1955. Factory tests of the machine, which will be put into operation by the fall of that year and become the first Soviet jet aircraft, began at the Moscow airfield in Zhukovsky.
The development of a new model and the introduction of continuous operation required the restructuring of the entire structure of airfields. Especially for the Tu-104, the reconstruction of runways was carried out: their length increased, and the coverage improved. With the advent of the jet aircraft, special fueling vehicles, tractors, vehicles for refueling with water and oxygen, luggage cars, autolifts and self-propelled ramps began to appear. Then, at the airports, the usual system for selling tickets and baggage check-in began to work, and buses appeared that delivered passengers to the ramp.
Tu-104 is a new level of comfort for passengers. Unlike its predecessors, new seats with an anatomical back and height adjustment were installed on its board. On board, passengers were provided with drinks and hot meals, and stewards conducted mandatory safety briefings before departure. It was Tu-104 that became the first aircraft to introduce the standard of service familiar today.
Some pilots switched to a jet aircraft from Tu-16 - the base for the development of Tu-104. These people did not require retraining. Other pilots retrained for some time on the converted IL-28.
The first passenger flight, the 104th model of the Tupolev design bureau, completed on November 5, 1955. A year later, the aircraft went international. During the visit of Nikita Khrushchev to London, three new aircraft flew there. Then it made a splash, and the Tu-104 became the pride of the USSR.
Participation in the military space program
Three Tu-104s were converted for training future cosmonauts. The aircraft was launched along a descending parabola, and the crew maintained zero overload, which created the effect of a state of zero gravity. It was on this model that preparations were made for the launch into outer space of Andrei Leonov, here participants of the lunar program of the USSR trained.
The first problems in operation
From the very beginning, it became clear that a jet plane is very difficult to fly, unstable in flight, with a significant failure of systems and installed equipment, it was defeated. Sometimes a passenger airliner very quickly gained altitude with a strong rise, and then fell into an almost sheer peak. A serious drawback of the developers, who assumed that the aircraft would fly at high altitudes, was that when the machine got into a difficult position, the AHD simply “knocked out”, and the pilots did not have the opportunity to level the liner.
Accidents with TU-104
The emergency of the new machine, which was made in a hurry, by modern standards, exceeded all reasonable limits. The catastrophe statistics of the Tu-104 are terrifying. Over the entire history of flights, accidents occurred with 37 airliners, which is 18% of the total number of cars produced. This is the worst figure among Soviet aircraft. But still, in flight, the Tu-104 behaved more decently than its English rival, the Komet, which fell apart right in the air due to excessive loads on carelessly designed fuselages.
Losses occurred mainly due to the fault of the flight crew (53% of Tu-104 accidents), a little more than a third of the cases were the result of equipment and equipment failure (35%). The exact causes of only 6% of the incidents with the Tu-104 are unknown.
The first disaster (1958)
The first incident with the Tu-104 happened in 1958 near Khabarovsk. The plane carried out a passenger flight along the route Khabarovsk-Irkutsk-Moscow, but after half an hour of flight went into a tailspin and fell into the taiga. The controllers realized that the plane was facing serious problems in the air, but after a few seconds the connection was lost. The accident of Tu-104 in 1958 claimed the lives of 64 people - all who were on board. The plane exploded when it hit a dense forest, the car was completely destroyed. The scatter of debris amounted to almost half a kilometer. The commission of inquiry called the cause of the Tu-104 crash a loss of control due to strong turbulence at high altitude.
Turbulence in the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1958)
Another Tu-104 disaster occurred with a delegation of Chinese and North Korean Komsomol activists who were heading from Beijing to Moscow via Omsk. The controllers refused to land at the final point due to adverse weather conditions, so the airliner headed for the alternate aerodrome in Gorky. There, too, it was impossible to land, and after Kazan the dispatchers said to follow in Sverdlovsk. At this time, the Tu-104 fell into a powerful upward flow of air and went into a vertical dive. Pilots did everything possible to save passengers - at an altitude of two thousand kilometers, crew members managed to level the side a little.
Soon, however, it became clear that the aircraft was doomed. In the Tu-104 crash, Kuznetsov (crew commander) continued to comment without panic on what was happening and ordered his words to be transferred to the ground. The plane crashed into the ground near the Apnerka railway station in the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. An accidental witness to the tragedy was the crew of the IL-14, which reported to Kazan that it saw a burning plane on the ground.
The causes of the disaster were later called the imperfection of the aircraft structure. The information transmitted by the airborne commander made it possible to make some changes, as a result of which the tendency of the liner to catch the air stream was reduced. Tragedies with the same reasons did not happen in the future, but the Tu-104 catastrophes did not end there. The reasons for the further incidents were already different.
The crash of Tu-104 near Sverdlovsk (1960)
The plane operated a flight along the route Sverdlovsk - Vladivostok through Omsk, Novosibirsk, Chita, Khabarovsk. The causes of the tragedy was the malfunction of on-board equipment. The accident killed everyone who was on board, namely 108 people.
The incident in Odessa (1961)
Another Tu-104 crashed while landing in Odessa in 1961. Fortunately, there were as many casualties as the previous time. One man died, ten more were injured. The liner flew from Leningrad. Normal weather was expected, but upon approaching it turned out that heavy clouds were thickening over Odessa, a thunderstorm was approaching. The plane crashed into 6 pillars of approaching lights, the BPRM building, the liner threw into a forest belt, it crashed into the ground with its nose and caught fire. Passengers were quickly evacuated, but part of the crew was injured. The navigator later died in the hospital.
The catastrophe near Moscow (1962)
The aircraft underwent scheduled maintenance, after which flight tests were scheduled. On the day of the flight, six technicians and five crew members were on board. The liner took a run and started to rise, but went into a roll, hooking the ground. From the blow it turned around, then the 104 model crashed into trees, completely burned and collapsed. Killed all on board. The cause of the accident was later called improper installation of the control system.
The catastrophe near Krasnoyarsk (1962)
The flight was operated from Khabarovsk to Moscow with several stops. At some point, the pilots stopped responding to the dispatcher’s requests. Doubts that the plane will not reach the final destination crept in even then - there were too many tragedies with this airliner. The crash of Tu-104 near Krasnoyarsk still happened. The crew managed to once again contact the ground. Pilots asked in an excited voice that ground services monitor them. In the background, noise and rumble were already heard.
The liner fell near the village of Voznesenka, 28 km from the airport in Krasnoyarsk. Killed all 84 people on board. According to the initial information of the reconnaissance group and investigators, the cause of the disaster was either a fire or some kind of emergency in the cabin. But at that time, exercises were taking place near the training ground. It was later established that this was precisely what caused the Tu-104 disaster near Krasnoyarsk. According to official figures, the plane was shot down by a rocket.
Crash on departure from Vnukovo (1971)
The Tu-104 crash in Vnukovo occurred on the evening of October 10, 1971. The liner was supposed to go from Moscow to Simferopol, but immediately after climbing it fell to the ground and completely collapsed. As a result, all 25 people on board were killed. An investigation was conducted that established that the cause of the Tu-104 plane crash in this case was a bomb explosion on board. The one who planted the bomb was never found.
The catastrophe near Domodedovo (1973)
The board flew from Kutaisi to the capital of the USSR. There were 8 crew members and 114 passengers on the plane. The sky was overcast, the pilots were preparing to land, exchanging messages with the airport dispatcher. At some point, the crew stopped responding, and after a few minutes there was a disaster. Tu-104 near Domodedovo crashed into a field 16 km west of the landing strip. When falling, the liner tore the wires, which disconnected several villages. Killed all on board. This mysterious crash of the Tu-104 has become the most deadly model in history.
The incident at the airport (1973)
A month later, the tragedy again occurred with the Tu-104 in Moscow. The flight from Kutaisi crashed into the ground during landing and crashed. The weather was unfavorable, so the dispatchers warned in advance that they might have to land at the alternate airport. After the weather improved (the liner landed in Mineralnye Vody in anticipation of better conditions) the flight headed for Moscow. When landing, the plane took off to the right. Killed 16 people out of 85. The cause of the incident was called the wrong decision of the flight commander.
Attempted theft in Leningrad (1973)
The flight flew from Leningrad to Moscow, but in the ninth minute of the flight one of the passengers turned to the stewardess. It was 47-year-old I. Bidyuk. He asked to be transferred to the first salon, which the stewardess did. A few minutes later the same passenger again called the stewardess and handed her a letter, which he ordered to transfer to the crew of the liner.
In the letter, the passenger demanded to send the plane to the capital of Sweden. After a successful landing, he admitted the possibility of returning to his homeland, but only after personal negotiations with representatives of the party elite of the USSR. In the event that the crew refuses to follow the instructions of the attacker, he will blow up more than two kilograms of explosives used in mines. Then it became clear that the further Tu-104 catastrophe near Leningrad was a terrorist attack.
No instructions for the crew on how to act in such cases then existed. The pilot decided to return immediately to Leningrad and immediately informed the dispatcher about what was happening on board.
The bomb, which was in the hands of the passenger, was arranged in such a way that it worked immediately when the button was released, so it was not possible to neutralize the attacker. That is why the flight engineer began to convince Bidyuk that the plane is turning and heading to Sweden.
But the criminal already managed to see the Leningrad airdrome through the windows. He activated the bomb. At some point, the pilots managed to level the plane, the crew landed the liner on the strip, but a fire broke out. He was quickly eliminated by the airport ground services. The explosion killed two people: a crew member who held the door of the cockpit, and the terrorist himself.
Subsequently, all crew members were awarded:
- Board Commander V. Yanchenko was awarded the Order of Lenin and the "Golden Star" of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
- Bortmekhanik V. Gryaznov - Hero of the USSR (posthumous).
- The co-pilot is the Order of the Red Banner.
- Stewardesses - Orders of the Red Star.
Tu-104 near Chita (1973)
Another attempted theft took place in 1973. The liner followed from Moscow to Chita through Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk and Irkutsk. In Irkutsk there was a change of pilots and cabin crew. Already when the crew began to decline from the cabin, there was a demand to change course. Several danger signals came from the plane, the dispatcher requested altitude, but there was no answer. Then the plane disappeared from the radar, turning into a "cloud". A few hours later, the wreckage of the liner was discovered by the Mi-8. Killed all who were on board (81 people).
The investigation revealed that the plane crashed while still in the air. This could have happened from explosive decompression in the cabin. After the investigation was completed, it was revealed that one of the passengers detonated. The accompanying policeman made an attempt to defuse him, but the dying terrorist managed to activate the bomb.
Crash after departure from Sheremetyevo (1976)
Aeroflot flight 2415 was heading to Leningrad, but soon after departure it entered a roll. The speed continued to grow, and the plane went into roll more and more. The crew took the plane out of the fall with overload. But removing the liner from one roll, the pilots entered it into another. The plane crashed into a forest near the village of Klushino. An explosion occurred on the ground, all 73 people died.
Disasters near Irkutsk (63, 71, 76)
There were three Tu-104 accidents near Irkutsk - in 1963, 1971 and 1976. In the first case, the plane with foreigners on board began to decline sharply and stopped responding to dispatcher messages, after which it crashed into the ground at the airport. Only two passengers (33 dead) of USSR citizenship survived the crash.
In 1971, more people died in the accident. When landing, the instruments showed speed incorrectly, so the crew was misinformed. The plane hit the concrete of the runway, rushed "on the belly." The fuselage is partially torn, partly it burned down. The entire path of the aircraft along the strip was strewn with debris. As a result of the accident, 97 passengers died, a third of them died not from injuries, but from carbon monoxide.
In 1976, the plane several times crashed into the ground near the airport, the fuselage tore apart. As a result, eight passengers and seven crew members were killed.
The disaster in Vnukovo (1979)
The crash of Tu-104 near Moscow (1979) claimed the lives of 59 people, another 60 were injured. Almost immediately after the plane took off from the runway, the left engine caught fire. It was not clear whether the fire really occurred, or if this was just a system malfunction. The crew decided to return to the airport. With one engine, the liner did not obey, he rushed through the forest, began to shoot down trees, collapsing. Many survivors remained disabled.
The investigation blamed the cause of the Tu-104 crash near Moscow in 1979 as the commander of the airliner, who, when piloting, made the wrong decision. However, the crew themselves believe that the reasons were the strong deterioration of the aircraft (this Tu-104 was already 20 years old) and takeoff in adverse weather conditions. After the disaster in November of that year, the operation of the Tu-104 was discontinued.
The incident in Pushkin (1981)
The Tu-104 has already been removed from regular passenger flights, but the aircraft still continued to be used in Soviet aviation - this fact temporarily completely decapitated the Pacific Fleet when the Tu-104 accident in Pushkin happened. The command of the Navy of the USSR was trained in a city near Moscow. When flying back to Leningrad, the plane fell into stall mode and fell 500 meters from the runway. All died on the spot. A technician was found not far from the scene, who was thrown through his nose during take-off. He later died in a hospital.
The chief of the Pacific Fleet and the commander of the Kamchatka Flotilla miraculously escaped death. The first flew by another flight to Severomorsk, where he was allowed to visit his relatives, the second flew by another plane.
Other incidents with the Tu-104
The fatal accidents with the 104 model do not end there. Only a few accidents are listed above. There was also a disaster near Tripoli (1970), where 13 people died, near Sofia (5 victims), near Ust-Orda (3 people), the accident in Rzhevka (without dead or injured), the tragedy in Sverdlovsk (7 victims), and so on .
The cause of all the trouble
After many investigations and additional tests, it was possible to find out the causes of the Tu-104 disasters. The aircraft was jet and flew at high altitudes, while the fuselage was inflated, and fell off during landing. Gradually, cracks began to appear. In the end, the plane exploded. In addition, the lower the density of air, the lower the stability of flight. Powerful streams of air are raging at an altitude, for which it is easier to spin an airplane than it is easier than a normal wind to tear off an autumn leaf from a tree. They fixed the problem simply - they decided to fly a little lower, where the atmosphere is calmer.
Shutdown Aircraft
Serial production of the Tu-104 ceased in the mid-1960s. Then began the development of more advanced liners. The plane was used on regular flights until 1979, and it was finally removed after a disaster in which the entire top of the Pacific Fleet perished. The last time the Tu-104 took off when the aircraft was distilled to the Civil Aviation Museum in Ulyanovsk in 1986. The experience gained by the developers in the creation and commissioning of the Tu-104 allowed us to construct a more advanced Tu-134, which is still used in civil aviation.