The airliner was then handed over to the customer - the USSR Ministry of Civil Aviation (operated under the Aeroflot brand ), to which it (according to some sources) arrived on 6 October.

[3] The plane was flown by an experienced crew, the composition of which was as follows:[3] The Tu-154 (i.e. CCCP-85023) performed Flight 141 on the Moscow-Prague route and at 06:50 UTC (09:50 MSK) on 19 February took off from Sheremetyevo Airport.

At 09:00, the crew reported over Roudnice VOR, flying at an altitude of 2,440 metres (8,010 ft), to which it was instructed to switch the communication with the approach controller at a frequency of 121.4 MHz.

At 09:04 the crew received permission to descend to 350 metres (1,150 ft) at the level of the airfield and were warned that the plane may have deviated a couple of kilometers from the route.

To this, the controller gave permission to Flight 141 to land on Runway 25, and also reported a ground wind of 250° at 4 m/s (7.8 kn; 14 km/h; 8.9 mph).

The airliner was following exactly on the glide path, when in the area of the near-drive radio beacon Liboc (L), when they suddenly lowered their nose at an angle of 4.62°, to which the aircraft began descending rapidly.

The contact was hard and the landing gear collapsed from the impact, after which, at a distance of 320 metres (1,050 ft; 350 yd) from the runway end, the airliner crashed into the ground.

According to the airport's meteorological service, at that time there was a light snowfall, partly cloudy with a lower boundary of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) and with gaps at an altitude of 2,400 metres (7,900 ft), wind 260° at 6–8 m/s (12–16 kn; 22–29 km/h; 13–18 mph), sometimes increasing to 11 m/s (21 kn; 40 km/h; 25 mph), stood over the airport, the air temperature 0 °C (32 °F), visibility 5 kilometres (3.1 mi; 2.7 nmi).

Within three to four minutes, 34 people managed to escape, when by 09:14 a fire spreading on the left side engulfed the entire cabin, while the compressed air cylinders in the front part began to explode, so it was no longer possible to carry out rescue operations.

As a result of the disaster, 62 passengers and 4 flight attendants were killed, that is, only 66 people, with 53 dead were found inside the plane, and 13 outside.

Soviet investigators criticized the work of the 207th flying squadron, whose leadership carried out the organization to prepare for the flight with serious violations, including: The possible reason for the disaster to occur is when the investigators called the error of the crew commander Chernetsov, who at low altitude shifted the stabilizer from the landing position to the flight position.

Attempts by the crew to correct the situation by deflecting the steering wheel turned out to be ineffective due to the small area elevators.

Soon the design of the aircraft was tweaked, including emergency exits, increased engine power, and also changed the control system.