What happened
On the afternoon of the accident, an Antonov AN-26 departed from Lviv-Sknyliv Airport at 12:02 local time. The aircraft was climbing toward an altitude of 3,900 meters while en route to Moscow, transporting 15 passengers, many of whom were officers from the Carpathian Military contingent.
While flying through cloud cover at 3,900 meters, the Antonov AN-26 collided with an Aeroflot Tupolev TU-134, registration CCCP-65856. The Tupolev aircraft was on a descent toward Lviv Airport, arriving from Tallinn with 79 people on board. Following the impact, both planes entered a steep dive and crashed into an open field situated approximately 60 km east of Lviv, near Zolochiv.
The collision led to the total destruction of both airframes. There were 94 fatalities in total, as all occupants from both flights perished in the crash.
Findings
Investigations into the accident highlighted significant failures in air traffic control (ATC) procedures. The primary factor was inadequate radar coverage and poor coordination by ATC, which prevented controllers from monitoring the exact positions of the two aircraft effectively.
Specifically, the controller managing the relevant sector authorized the crew of the Tupolev TU-134 to continue their descent without having confirmed the location of the other aircraft. This instruction caused the Tupolev to descend into the flight path of the Antonov. Furthermore, the sector supervisor was found to have lacked sufficient oversight, failing to identify the potential conflict or intervene with corrective instructions in time to prevent the disaster.