Incident Overview
Description
Aeroflot flight 331, an Ilyushin Il-62M, crashed while on approach to Havana-Jos Mart¡ Airport, Cuba, killing 67 occupants; 2 survived the accident. Flight SU331 departed Moscow-Sheremetyevo Airport on a scheduled service to Havana, Cuba, with en route stops at Frankfurt, Germany and Lisbon, Portugal. After the crew change, the flight took off from Lisbon at 03:32 UTC. The en route part of the flight was uneventful. Descending towards Havana, the flight was vectored for an approach to runway 05. The aircraft turned onto runway heading at a distance of 9 km from the runway threshold. According to the approach procedure, the aircraft should have done so at 14-15 km from the threshold. During the approach the flight crew encountered a local fog bank. With the runway not in sight, the aircraft descended below the decision height of 150 m. At that point the aircraft was 3 km from the runway threshold. The flight crew had not set their altimeters to the airfield pressure (QFE) of 752 mm Hg. This caused the aircraft to be lower than indicated. At a distance of 1,820 meters from the runway the aircraft hit power lines, causing the aircraft to bank 70ø to the right. The aircraft cut the tops of 22 palm trees, passed across a canal and impacted wasteland terrain 1270 m short of the runway and 121 m to the right of the extended centreline.
Source of Information
https://www.airhistory.net/info/soviet.php, http://airdisaster.ru/database.php?id=120https://www.airhistory.net/info/soviet.php, http://airdisaster.ru/database.php?id=120Primary Cause
Local fog bank encountered during approach.Local fog bank encountered during approach.Share on:
