On the night of March 24, 1983, a group of Tu-22K long-range heavy supersonic bomber missile carriers took to the skies from a military airfield in Mozdok in the North Caucasus. Under the terms of the exercise, it was to work on targets in the Caspian Sea and then leave for Belarus.
Just before the flight, because of last minute changes to the weather conditions, the crews were ordered to flip their takeoff course from west to east and make the necessary changes in the onboard navigation system. However, due to a navigator's error on aircraft No. 63, these changes were never made.
As a result, after takeoff, the bomber in question automatically went in the opposite direction along the original route. The flight was conducted in radio silence and no one noticed the error either in the sky or on the ground.
Instead of the Caspian Sea, the 63rd worked on a random target in the Sea of Azov and headed towards the Iranian border. According to the assignment, the operator had placed passive jammers, which allowed the bomber to evade Soviet fighters raised to intercept the unknown aircraft.
Undetected by Iranian air defense forces, the Tu-22K entered Iranian airspace and soon found itself over Tehran. "Commander, we are passing Kursk. My mother-in-law lives there," reported the navigator over the intercom.
It was only in the morning when the crew realized the sun was rising from the wrong side and snow-capped mountains could be seen in the distance, which could not exist in Belarus. Realizing the mistake, the commander broke radio silence and reported the emergency. At the same time in the USSR, everyone was running wild in search of the missing No. 63.
The Tu-22K was left almost without fuel, but still managed to reach an airfield in Turkmenistan. Immediately, Soviet authorities began checks and proceedings. However, since it was clear that no one was going to hijack the airplane abroad, no serious sanctions were imposed on the crew.
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