What happened
On the morning of the accident, an Ilyushin Il-62M operated by Interflug prepared for departure from runway 25L at Berlin-Schönefeld Airport. Following engine start at 06:20 local time, the crew began the process of unlocking flight control surfaces; however, recordings indicate this procedure was not finished. The crew failed to verify the status of the elevator via the warning panel, and during taxiing, the captain did not detect that the elevators remained in a locked state.
As the aircraft accelerated for takeoff with a weight of 113 tons, it reached rotation speed at 06:28:05. Upon attempting to pull the control column, the aircraft failed to respond to the input. Four seconds later, at a speed of 293 km/h, the captain initiated an aborted takeoff. During this deceleration, the flight engineer deactivated all four engines rather than utilizing reverse thrust. By the time the engines were shut down, the aircraft was traveling at 303 km/h with approximately 940 meters of runway remaining.
The aircraft exited the runway at 262 km/h, drifting slightly left of the centerline. During the high-speed braking, five tires on the main landing gear disintegrated. The aircraft then encountered a 40 cm deep excavation pit, which caused the collapse of the right main landing gear. The subsequent path of the wreckage included collisions with a water tank, concrete fence piles, a road embankment, and six trees. The fuselage broke into three sections and caught fire at 06:28:37. While all 10 crew members survived and 82 passengers were rescued, the accident resulted in 21 fatalities.
Findings
Official investigations could not establish a definitive cause for the accident. While investigators could not rule out a technical malfunction involving the rudder controls or related components, they also found insufficient evidence to prove specific errors made by the flight crew.