Date: 28 July 2002
Airline: Pulkovo Aviation Enterprises
Flight No.: ---
Aircraft: Ilyushin IL-86
Location: Moscow, Russia
Fatalities: 14:16
Photographer: Reuters
The aircraft [RA-86060] crashed shortly after takeoff, at 3:25pm local time, from Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport while on a repositioning flight to St. Petersburg. Witnesses reported seeing the aircraft enter a steep climb immediately after takeoff, bank left, and crash into a forest near the end of the runway. Initial examination of the aircraft's Digital Flight Data Recorder indicates that, two seconds after liftoff, the plane's horizontal stabilizer spontaneously shifted to a full nose-up position. The Captain immediately pushed the control yoke fully forward in an attempt to lower the aircraft's nose, but was unsucessful in doing so. Two flight attendants aboard survived.
