What happened
On the night of the accident, an aircraft departed from Syktyvkar Airport at 22:28 local time, bound for Moscow with a scheduled stop in Gorki. Shortly after takeoff, the crew was cleared to an altitude of 3,000 meters. Approximately 18 minutes into the flight, the crew notified air traffic control of encountering icing conditions and subsequently received clearance to climb to 3,600 meters.
At 22:49 local time, the crew reported that the right engine had ignited. In response to the emergency, they requested permission to divert to the closest available airfield. During the emergency procedures, the crew was unable to suppress the flames. The captain initiated an emergency rapid descent; however, as the aircraft descended through the final cloud layer at an altitude of approximately 100 to 150 meters, the plane became uncontrollable. The aircraft type crashed into a field roughly 500 meters from Chernovo village, about 134 km northeast of Gorki Airport. The impact resulted in the total destruction of the airframe and 14 fatalities, with no survivors.
Findings
Investigations determined that the fire originated due to the failure of cylinders and pistons within the right engine. This mechanical failure resulted in simultaneous leaks of both fuel and hydraulic fluid. Upon coming into contact with high-temperature components of the engine, these fluids ignited, leading to the uncontrollable in-flight fire.