Incident
A single-engine An-2 aircraft, registered RA-02305, departed Ekimchan Airport at 0834 local time on a cargo flight to Udskoye. The aircraft carried two pilots and a load of 1,199 kilograms of various goods. Approximately six minutes after takeoff, while climbing through 1,600 meters, the flight crew detected a strong odor of fuel in the cockpit and initiated a return to the airport. During the descent, flames appeared from the engine, which began to run roughly and eventually ceased operation on short final approach. The aircraft stalled, struck a birch tree, and impacted wooded terrain 132 meters short of runway 06, bursting into flames. The copilot was fatally injured, and the captain sustained serious injuries. The aircraft was completely destroyed by the post-crash fire.
Investigation
The official investigation concluded that the forced landing was necessitated by an in-flight engine stoppage. The engine, an ASH62-IR (serial No.K16509153), experienced a loss of power due to the destruction of cylinder head No.1. The destruction was of a fatigue nature, attributed to the exhaustion of the fatigue life of the cylinder head material, which had reached its limit state. The investigation noted it was likely that a crack was present in the cylinder head during the last engine repair, but it was not through and remained undetected during inspection. Additionally, a contributing factor to the engine stoppage was identified as the impoverishment of the fuel-air mixture, possibly caused by icing of the BAC filter mesh and the presence of a rubber plug on the corrector filter flange.