Crash of Aeroflot Flight 4225

Date: July 8, 1980 • Location: Pervomayka, Kazakhstan

Aeroflot Flight 4225 crashed near Almaty International Airport in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (present day Kazakhstan) killing all 166 people on board.

Aeroflot Flight 4225 was a Tupolev Tu-154B-2 on a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Alma-Ata Airport to Simferopol Airport on 8 July 1980. The aircraft had reached an altitude of no more than 500 feet when the airspeed suddenly dropped because of thermal currents it encountered during the climb out. This caused the airplane to stall less than 5 kilometres from the airport, crash and catch fire, killing all 156 passengers and 10 crew on board. To date, it remains the deadliest aviation accident in Kazakhstan. At the time, the crash was the deadliest involving a Tupolev Tu-154 until Aeroflot Flight 3352 crashed in 1984, killing 178 people.