Another Abandoned Plane in Armenia

Since my earlier post about the abandoned plane located in Ashtarak generated significant interest, with many using my article as a guide to visit that location, here's another post dedicated to an abandoned plane. This time, we are heading to the shore of Tsovinar Lake to see an abandoned Tu-134 plane.

The Tu-134 was a Soviet passenger aircraft designed for short and medium-haul flights, developed in the early 1960s. These models were mass-produced from 1965 to 1984 at the Kharkov Aviation Production Association.

This particular Tu-134 was produced on October 22, 1970, and entered service on December 4, 1970. The operator of Tu-134A USSR-65657 (0351103) was the Armenian Civil Aviation Administration.

An aerial photo of Tu-134A plane

On June 17, 1983, during a flight from Lviv to Yerevan, the plane was caught in a storm over the Gali region of Abkhazia. Although the plane landed safely, it exceeded the permissible overload limits (reaching up to +3.05G / -0.65G) and was subsequently taken out of service. The plane was decommissioned on July 10, 1984, due to this incident.

When visiting this place to see the plane, I recommend also visiting the Tsovinar monument on the other side of the lake

After its decommissioning, the aircraft was used as an object for simulating plane fires at Zvartnots Airport in Yerevan. In 1986, it was used for ground tests in connection with the fire of Tu-134AK USSR-65120. The remains of the aircraft were moved to the shore of the Hrazdan Reservoir sometime in 2023. Unfortunately, still I have no information about where it was located before that!

Coordinates of the plane: 40°30'20"N 44°44'35"E

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