Accident Sequence
The crew was conducting a local training flight at Sverdlovsk-Koltsovo Airport. After completing two landings and two approaches, the crew began a new approach at night. During the final segment, while flying at a speed of 260 km/h, the aircraft pitched nose-down and struck the runway with its nose landing gear. The nose gear was sheared off on impact. The aircraft then bounced and climbed to approximately 10 meters above the runway before contacting the surface again in a nose-down attitude. Following the second impact, the aircraft became uncontrollable and veered off the runway to the right. It came to rest in flames. The flight mechanic was killed, and the four other occupants were injured. The aircraft sustained partial destruction from the fire.
Probable Cause
The official investigation attributed the accident to a wrong approach configuration by the instructor. The instructor adopted an excessively high speed on final approach (260 km/h) and failed to execute a proper flare, leading to the nose-down attitude and nose-first runway contact that caused the nose gear to fail. Additionally, the rear trunk was loaded with 600 kg of ballast instead of the required 1,000 kg. This discrepancy shifted the center of gravity forward, contributing to the nose-down condition. The investigation could not determine whether icing conditions were a contributing factor.