Incident
A geophysical survey flight operated on behalf of the Russian Ministry of Geology (Ministerstvo Geologii – MinGeo) ended in a crash in the Republic of Tuva. While cruising in marginal weather conditions, the single-engine aircraft struck the top of Mount Hor-Taiga (2,618 meters high) with its right main landing gear and crashed into a ravine.
Casualties and Survivors
The flight engineer was killed in the crash. The navigator succumbed to his injuries 16 hours later. Four other occupants were injured. Two of the injured survivors walked away from the crash site to seek help and returned a day later to evacuate the remaining survivors.
Aircraft
The aircraft was brand new and was destroyed in the accident.
Investigation and Probable Cause
The official investigation determined that the accident was caused by poor flight preparation on the part of the crew, combined with several factors: lack of crew training that failed to guarantee sufficient flight safety level, lack of pilot experience in conducting geophysical survey flights, incomplete meteorological information for mountainous terrain, absence of a flight manual and procedures regarding aerial photography missions, overconfidence on the part of the navigator who had more than five years of experience in this type of mission, and deterioration of weather conditions during the flight.