What happened
A flight traveling from Poliny Osipenko to Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, which included scheduled stops at Oktyabrsky and Kherpuchi, ended in a fatal accident. Shortly after departing Kherpuchi Airport, the aircraft encountered deteriorating weather characterized by low cloud cover. While maintaining an altitude of 400 metres, the plane made contact with treetops, leading to a stall and subsequent crash into a forested region approximately 21.5 km from the airport. The impact caused the wreckage to ignite. The accident resulted in 13 fatalities and left one passenger with serious injuries.
Findings
Investigations concluded that the accident was a result of controlled flight into terrain. Several contributing factors were identified during the inquiry:
- The crew operated at an altitude of 400 metres, which was significantly below the established minimum safe altitude of 800 metres for that region.
- Visibility was severely compromised by low clouds ranging between 600 and 1,500 metres.
- The flight continued under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) despite encountering Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC), leading to a loss of visual ground reference.
- The crew did not execute a return to the departure airport when weather conditions worsened.
- Communication and monitoring issues were noted, as the crew lacked emergency radio equipment and signal devices prior to takeoff. Additionally, the Kherpuchi Airport dispatch microphone was inactive, preventing flight director instructions from being communicated and leaving the flight unmonitored.