What happened
During a medical evacuation mission conducted for the Soviet Border Guards, an aircraft was performing its final approach to an ice runway situated on Alexandra Land within the Franz Josef archipelago. As the crew attempted to land, the flight encountered severe weather conditions. During this phase of the descent, the aircraft was struck by wind shear, which caused a heavy impact with the ground. The force of the landing was sufficient to cause the nose gear to penetrate the fuselage.
Although the incident resulted in the total loss of the airframe, there were zero fatalities and no injuries reported among the crew. The wreckage remained at coordinates N80.80316 E47.73037 as recently as April 2012, where it was observed largely buried under snow.
Findings
- The primary factor in the structural failure of the aircraft was the sudden encounter with wind shear during the landing phase.
- The impact force caused the nose landing gear to breach the fuselage structure.