What happened
On the final segment of a journey returning to Ekimchan, a single-engine aircraft departed from Zlatoustovsk Airfield at 18:40 local time. The flight was operated with a crew of two and three passengers on board. Approximately ten minutes after takeoff, while the aircraft was maintaining an altitude of 1,434 meters, it entered cloud cover as weather conditions deteriorated.
During this period of low visibility, the plane impacted a mountain slope situated 22 km east of Ekimchan. Search efforts located the wreckage two days following the disappearance. The debris field was positioned 94 meters below the mountain summit and indicated that the aircraft had drifted 10 km away from its intended flight path. The impact resulted in the total destruction of the aircraft and five fatalities.
Findings
Investigations into the accident determined that the crew attempted to operate the flight under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) despite being in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC). This decision led to a failure to identify the terrain while flying through clouds. Furthermore, the investigation established that the pilots were operating the aircraft while intoxicated, with blood alcohol levels measured at 2 ‰ for the captain and 1.34 ‰ for the co-pilot.