Aeroflot Flight 1491 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Moscow-Vnukovo Airport to Kharkiv Airport in the USSR that crashed on 18 May 1972 while descending to land in Kharkiv, killing all 122 passengers and crew [nb 1] aboard the Antonov An-10.

A commission was set up to investigate the crash, and member Friedlander recalled what experts saw at the scene: ...Here are the fragments of the lower wing panel, which is stretched in flight and therefore is the most vulnerable part of the structure.

There is also a piece of the center section, and fragments of stringers stick out like broken ribs of a dinosaur skeleton.

She cleaned them as best she could, and fatigue cracks became visible... Later we find five more stringers, and all of them have cracks in the form of fatigue pads... During the commission's work to investigate the cause of the crash, it was established that the cause was the failure of the wing center section in mid-air due to a failure in the lower panel of the center section, caused by fatigue cracks in the stringers and skin.

The crack, which began in he fatigue zone between the 6th and 7th stringers of the lower panel of the center section, grew in both directions and moved towards the spars.

By the time of the accident, it had flown 15,435 hours, made 11,106 landings, and undergone three factory repairs, the last one on February 2, 1971 at Civil Aviation Plant No.

Aeroflot soon issued an order to write off their fleet of An-10 and An-10As, except for a small number of aircraft that had low operating hours (following inspection, they were transferred to transport units of the Ministry of Aviation as cargo freighters).

Eleven other aircraft were installed in various Soviet cities for other uses, such as aviation monuments, shooting galleries and children's cafes.

At the main crash site of the fuselage, a monument was erected with the inscription: "You are forever alive in our hearts", although it has disappeared over the years; only a piece of reinforcement remains, with an iron wreath hung on it.