After being kept under wraps for years by the KGB, the harrowing story of Aeroflot Flight 6502 finally emerged, showing how one man's foolishness killed 70 people. On Monday, October 20th, 1986, Aeroflot flight number 6502 took off from Koltsovo International Airport (SVX) in what is now called Yekaterinburg bound for Grozny Airport in the Chechen Republic with a stopover at International Airport Kurumoch (KUF) in Samara.

The aircraft, a seven-year-old narrowbody Tupolev 134A airliner with serial number 62327, was flying somewhere over the Ural Mountains when Captain Alexander Kliuyev bet First Officer Gennady Zhirnov that he could land the plane using instruments only. The pair agreed to curtain the cockpit windows to ensure that Kliuyev could not see the ground.

Air Traffic Control told him to abort the landing and go around

Now having no visual contact with anything outside the cockpit and ignoring air traffics advice, to make a Non-directional beacon (NDB) approach, Kliuyev continued the instrument only landing. While at an altitude of just over 200 feet and with audible warnings advising him of his proximity to the ground, Kliuyev stubbornly ignored the warning and air traffic controls advice that he should abort the landing and go around and carried on regardless. Having gravely miscalculated the speed and altitude of the descent once the plane hit the runway, it flipped over onto its back and caught fire.

Captain Alexander Kliuyev was sentenced to 15 years in prison

Of the 94 passengers and crew onboard, Sixty-three people died during the accident and seven more were sent to hospitals later. Miraculously of the 14 children onboard the fated flight, they all survived. Even though First Officer Zhirnov did not attempt to avert the crash, he tried to save as many people as possible but later died of cardiac arrest en route to the hospital.

Captain Alexander Kliuyev went on trial for the crash a year later and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. The court ruled that the crash was avoidable, concluding that many people died because of Kliuyev's arrogance. The prison term was later reduced, with Kliuyev only serving six of the 15-year sentence.

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About the Tupolev 134

The Tupolev Tu-134 is a narrowbody jet airliner built in the Soviet Union for short and medium-haul routes from 1966 to 1989. Able to operate from unpaved airfields, the twin rear-engine jet was inspired by the French-built Sud Aviation Caravelle. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was so impressed by how little cabin noise there was in the Caravelle he directed aerospace pioneer and engineer Andrei Tupolev to build a similar plane for state-owned Aeroflot.

Designed for short and medium-haul routes, the TU-134 was initially configured to carry 56 passengers in a single class. In 1968, Tupolev released a stretched version of the plane, the TU-134A, with new, more powerful engines capable of carrying 72 passengers. In total, 854 Tu-134s were built between 1966 and 1989, with Aeroflot, the largest operator.

Have you ever flown on a Tupolev 134? If so, please tell us what you think of the plane in the comments.