Aircraft
The aircraft involved was an Ilyushin Il-14P with tail number CCCP-Л1692 (factory number 7342304, serial number 23-04), manufactured at the Tashkent Aviation Plant on 18 January 1957. It was transferred to the Main Directorate of Civil Air Fleet under the Council of Ministers of the USSR and assigned to the Kyrgyz Independent Air Group. At the time of the accident, the aircraft had accumulated 2,564 flight hours.
Accident
Aeroflot Flight 164 was operating from Frunze (now Bishkek) to Moscow. The crew comprised Captain Ivan Ignatievich Shinkarsky, First Officer Nikolai Grigoryevich Ryabov, Flight Engineer Andrey Petrovich Evich, and Radio Operator Alexander Gavrilovich Kositsin, with Flight Attendant Vera Vasilyevna Shulga. On 7 September 1958, the aircraft made an intermediate stop at Aktyubinsk (now Aktobe) at 02:10 Moscow Time (MSK) for refueling, departing at 02:55 on a magnetic course of 127°, climbing to 1,500 metres. Onboard were 22 passengers (18 adults and 4 children) and 402 kilograms of cargo consisting of magnetic starters.
The weather forecast indicated stratus clouds at 600–1,000 metres, rain, and visibility of 4–10 kilometres. At 03:04, the captain reported leaving the airport zone at 1,500 metres. Communications continued: at 03:07, the crew received a bearing of 274° indicating they were on course. At 03:11, they requested weather at Uralsk, receiving 10-okta stratus cloud cover at 300–600 metres, intermittent rain, and visibility of 4–10 kilometres. At 03:14, the crew confirmed altitude and visual conditions. At 03:23, communication was lost and the aircraft disappeared from radar; unusually strong radar reflections indicated powerful thunderstorms.
Meteorological data from Novoalekseyevka station, 45 kilometres southwest of the route, confirmed thunderstorms to the east. Multiple witnesses reported a thunderstorm. While flying at night, the Il-14 encountered severe weather and was struck by lightning on its left side. Eyewitnesses stated the lightning entered through a hatch near the control cables for the left aileron, severing and melting them. The discharge likely reached the cockpit, possibly incapacitating the crew. The aircraft lost control, descending in a left turn with a slip on the right wing while engines continued running.
At approximately 03:18 MSK, the aircraft, banked about 60° to the left, struck the ground with its right wing in the Martuk District of the Aktobe Region, 2 kilometres from the flight path, 4 kilometres south-southeast of Konstantinovka, and 80 kilometres west of Aktobe. The aircraft exploded on impact, scattering debris over 450–520 metres. All 27 occupants were killed. The crew members were buried at the Northern Cemetery in Frunze (Bishkek) on 16 August 2022.
Causes
According to the commission's findings, the accident was caused by a lightning strike on the aircraft.