Aeroflot Flight 6709 took off from Bina International Airport at 10:30 a.m. MSK. It was bound for Pulkovo Airport in Leningrad, a distance of 2,550 kilometres (1,580 mi). Roughly two hours into the flight, the engines lost power. Some sources state that this was due to an accidental shutoff of fuel pumping to the aircraft's sump tank by the flight engineer, though the accuracy of this claim is uncertain.[1] Due to the poor design of the Tu-154B, a single fuel pump failure could result in the stoppage of all three engines.[3] Soon after the engines lost power, the aircraft's AC generators stopped. This resulted in an abrupt pitch and roll of the aircraft, the first sign of malfunction that the pilots noticed.[3]
During descent, the pilots tried multiple times to restart the engines. Some of these attempts worked, but did not supply enough power to the generators to restart the fuel pump. The pilots also attempted to use the aircraft's auxiliary power unit (APU) to restart the fuel pump, but its operation was disabled by design at altitudes above 3,000 metres (9,800 ft).[3]
The aircraft landed in a potato and barley field 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) southeast of Maksatikha at 1:32 p.m. The aircraft bounced several times, separating into three pieces upon contact with trees. Two to three minutes after stopping, the aircraft's fuselage caught fire and was destroyed.[3] The crash and resulting fire caused 4 fatalities and 27 injuries.[1]
