Cargo Flight Crash Near Kabul (CCCP-78781)

Incident Overview and Flight Details The aircraft was operating a cargo flight from Tashkent to Kabul, with an intermediate stop in Kokand, Uzbekistan. The cargo consisted of fuel drums. During the descent to Kabul Airport, air traffic control instructed the crew to maintain flight level 190 while an Afghan Antonov AN-32 passed below at flight level 180. ## Crash and Casualties Shortly after receiving the instruction, the aircraft entered an uncontrolled descent and crashed in a large explosion 7.6 km east of Kabul-Khwaja Rawash Airport. All nine occupants were killed. ## Official Probable Cause The official investigation attributed the accident to a combination of factors. These included the crew's failure to maintain recommended flight speed modes for the IL-76 in various configurations, which reduced the available angle-of-attack margin. The report also cited insufficient crew control over key flight parameters, leading to violations of permissible angle-of-attack and minimum flight speed limits. Additional factors were a lack of piloting skills at high angles of attack due to an imperfect training system for special flight situations, and the pilots' inability to recognize critical angle-of-attack conditions and apply IL-76 stall-prevention recommendations. The investigation further noted that maneuvering according to the descent scheme in combat conditions near flight restriction limits, with three aircraft flying in clouds at short intervals without appropriate radar control, created a difficult situation. This was aggravated when the controller instructed a temporary stop in descent due to the AN-32 takeoff, changing the crew's established action pattern.