What happened
On June 10, 2016, at 23:30, the pilot established radio contact with the Altai Center Air Traffic Control (ATC) dispatcher, reporting a takeoff at 23:29 from the Panfilovo landing site near Novoromanovo, Altai Krai. Following this, at 00:28 on June 11, 2016, the pilot used a telephone to notify the dispatcher of an intention to land at the Staro-Belokurikha landing site.
Later that morning, at 00:57, the pilot contacted the director of Ust-Koksa Airport via telephone to express an intention to fly to the Ust-Koksa landing site. However, due to weather conditions involving low cloud cover that prevented landing at Ust-Koksa, the pilot decided to divert the flight to the Barantal landing site near Chemal. At 03:03, after taking off from Staro-Belokurikha, the pilot informed the dispatcher of the flight to Barantal, estimating an arrival at the 40-minute mark. At 03:40, the pilot reported via telephone that the aircraft had landed at Barantal.
The investigation
The investigation relied on radio communications between the crew and the dispatcher, telephone conversations between the pilot and the Altai Center ATC dispatcher, and statements from the director of Ust-Koksa Airport and the owners of the Barantal and Karasuk landing sites. While the pilot reported a successful landing at Barantal, the owner of the Barantal landing site stated that the aircraft never arrived at that location.
Investigators concluded that the aircraft most likely performed an intermediate landing at the Rublyovka landing site, located approximately 2 km north of Elektromonar in the Chemal District of the Altai Republic, though the landing at this location could not be physically verified.