What happened
On the evening of the accident, a Twin Otter aircraft departed from Almaty Airport at 18:35 local time. The mission was an ambulance flight destined for Shymkent, transporting a crew consisting of two pilots, one flight mechanic, and two doctors.
During the night flight, the aircraft was operating under conditions of poor weather. Approximately 22 minutes after takeoff, while in the cruise phase of flight, the crew experienced an emergency that necessitated the shutdown of the right engine. Following this engine failure, the aircraft went down near the village of Mezhdurechenskoye, located roughly 28 km northwest of Almaty Airport.
The impact of the crash caused the aircraft to burst into flames. The Twin Otter was completely destroyed by the forces of the impact and the subsequent fire. There were five fatalities among the occupants, with no survivors reported.
Findings
- The flight was operating in poor weather conditions at night.
- The crew was forced to deactivate the right engine due to an unexpected mechanical situation during cruise.