Incident Overview
Description
A fire at Bratsk Airport destroyed two Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-154B-1 aircraft. The Tu-154 registered CCCP-85234 was operating flight 5308 from Vladivostok to Samara and had made a refueling stop at Bratsk. Maintenance issues then grounded the airplane and all occupants disembarked. On the night of 18-19 June the aircraft was joined on the apron by CCCP-85282, a Tu-154 operating flight 2889 from Ekaterinburg to Vladivostok which had also landed at Bratsk to refuel. Ten passengers remained on board with permission of the captain while the remaining 120 passengers and crew went to the terminal. Two tankers were connected by a hose and used to refuel CCCP-85282. During the refuel process the hose became disconnected from the receiver of the main tanker. Kerosene poured onto the exhaust manifold of the engine operating the pump unit. A fire erupted. The refueling personnel could not turn off the engines and stop the fuel supply, which, continuing to pour out under pressure on the apron. A few minutes later, CCCP-85282 caught fire, and a little later then CCCP-85234 also began to burn. Fire services were not able to extinguish the fire and both aircraft burned out. The truck driver foreman then drove the burning tankers away from the fire zone. He later died of burn injuries. An investigation revealed that the hose had disconnected due to errors made by the operator, who was intoxicated.
Primary Cause
Errors made by the operator, who was intoxicated, caused the hose disconnection during the refueling process.Errors made by the operator, who was intoxicated, caused the hose disconnection during the refueling process.Share on:
