What happened
On July 25, 2016, a helicopter was tasked with delivering food supplies to employees of the Ilim Group firefighting brigade. The flight included the pilot and one passenger, an employee of the same company. Before departure, the pilot conducted a pre-flight inspection in accordance with the aircraft's flight manual and fueled the aircraft type with approximately 60 liters of TS-1 kerosene. The cargo, estimated by the pilot to weigh between 60 and 80 kg, was loaded into the baggage compartment without being weighed.
At 06:00, the pilot took off from the Mostovoy settlement. The flight was conducted in Class G airspace, traveling from Mostovoy toward the area near Podvolochnoye. During the mission, the pilot did not submit a flight plan to Air Traffic Services nor request meteorological information from the Irkutsk AMSG.
Upon reaching the intended area, the pilot conducted a search of the territory between 07:13:56 and 07:34:30. The aircraft maintained true altitudes between 50 and 225 meters and ground speeds between 115 and 230 km/h. After failing to locate the firefighting crew, the pilot decided to return to the Podvolochnoye area to land, intending to deliver the supplies via ground transport.