Background
Following the invasion of eastern Ukraine by the Russian Army, the decision was made to transfer the aircraft from Zaporozhye to Uzhgorod.
The Accident
The aircraft departed Zaporozhye Airport shortly before 1000 LT with a crew of three on board. Minutes after takeoff, the crew encountered poor visibility due to fog. While cruising at a very low altitude, the airplane collided with a power line and crashed in an open field in Mykhailivka, approximately 10 km northwest of Zaporozhye Airport. One crew member was killed, and two others were injured. The aircraft was totally destroyed.
During the 90 days prior to the accident, the captain had flown only 85 minutes, while the copilot and flight engineer had not made any flights.
Probable Cause
The official investigation determined the cause of the accident was the captain's decision to conduct the flight under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) in foggy weather at a critically low altitude, leading to loss of visual contact with the ground, uncontrolled increase in speed, and collision with a power transmission line. Contributing factors included: the crew's failure to switch to instrument flight and climb to a safe altitude; likely altimeter mode confusion; flying at low altitude with the radio altimeter and GPWS off; failure to follow the VFR departure procedure; deteriorating weather; poor CRM; flap retraction at unsafe altitude and speed; the crew's emotional state due to combat actions near the airport; lack of meteorological support; and absence of low-altitude VFR procedures for the An-26 in the operator's manuals.