What happened
On the date of the accident, a mid-air collision occurred in the airspace near Ust-Kulom Airport during the initial climb phase of two separate flights. The first involved a single-engine airplane that had departed from Ust-Kullam Airport and was traveling toward Syktyvkar. Shortly after takeoff, this aircraft collided with an Aeroflot AN-2TP, registration CCCP-40564, which was operating an inbound flight from Syktyvkar to Ust-Kulom.
Following the impact, the single-engine aircraft entered a steep dive and crashed into a field approximately 12 km away from the airport. While the crew of the AN-2TP managed to land the aircraft safely without further incident, the collision resulted in the loss of all 15 occupants across both aircraft. At the time of the event, visibility was significantly reduced by low-hanging cloud cover.
Findings
Investigations into the collision identified several contributing factors that led to the disaster:
- The crew operating the AN-2TP did not adhere to the prescribed departure altitude or the designated flight route.
- Atmospheric conditions, specifically low clouds, created limited visibility for the pilots.
- There was a critical lack of Air Traffic Control (ATC) intervention, as controllers failed to provide necessary separation information to the two flight crews.
- The crew of the inbound aircraft failed to detect the climbing single-engine plane in a timely manner.