What happened
During a night-time training operation at Kuybyshev Airport, an aircraft was conducting several circuits before initiating a new approach. As the flight progressed past the inner marker, the plane maintained an extremely low altitude, flying approximately one meter above the terrain. During this phase, the undercarriage made contact with a fence belonging to a private residence. The momentum of the impact caused the aircraft to strike two houses before finally coming to rest in a garden.
As a result of the impact, three crew members lost their lives at the scene, and two others sustained serious injuries. One of the survivors succumbed to their wounds approximately two hours after the accident. While the aircraft was completely destroyed, there were no reported injuries to individuals on the ground.
Findings
Investigators were unable to definitively establish why the approach was continued at such a dangerously low altitude. However, investigators did not dismiss the possibility that fuel exhaustion caused both engines to fail. At the time of the incident, the engines were being fed by the rear right fuel tank, which was found to be nearly empty.