Why did Aeroflot withdraw the An-10 after the 1972 accident?

Short answer

Aeroflot did not withdraw its An-10s in 1972, but in 1973. On 18 May 1972, Aeroflot Flight 1491, an An-10A, crashed on approach to Kharkiv when both wings separated because of a fatigue failure in the center panel, killing 122 people on board. Aeroflot stopped operating the type after that accident.

Published: November 1, 2026 · Updated: November 1, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

Why did Aeroflot withdraw the An-10 after the 1972 accident?

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The Kharkiv accident

On 18 May 1972, Aeroflot Flight 1491, an An-10A registered CCCP-11215, crashed on approach to Kharkiv Airport after both wings separated due to a fatigue failure in the central wing panel; all 122 people on board died. The accident was caused by cracks in the spars, stringers and wing-root panels, which led to the collapse of both wings.

A fleet riddled with cracks

The problem was not confined to a single aircraft: fatigue cracking was found in the stringers of the wing centre section on many of the remaining aircraft. Aeroflot stopped operating the An-10 after the accident and withdrew the airliners in 1973.

The programme that ended this way

The design bureau had been based in Kyiv since 1952, a city with a rich aviation history and an aircraft manufacturing infrastructure rebuilt after the destruction caused by the Second World War. The prototype, named Ukraina, first flew in March 1957. The aircraft entered service in July 1959 on routes linking Simferopol with Moscow and Kyiv, and the stretched-fuselage An-10A version followed in February 1960.