Accident Details
An Antonov An-2, registered RA-33462, was engaged in a crop spraying operation, carrying a load of herbicides, one pilot, and one passenger. During the early morning, while completing its seventh low pass at an altitude of approximately 20 to 40 meters, the pilot initiated a left turn. The aircraft subsequently descended into the ground and crashed at a speed of 140 km/h in an open field, bursting into flames. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post-crash fire, and both occupants were killed.
Probable Cause
According to the official investigation, the probable cause of the accident was pilot error, specifically an unintentional descent while performing a turn for the next crop-dusting round, resulting in a controlled flight into terrain. Contributing factors included the pilot-in-command (PIC) not being trained for crop-dusting flight without a first officer; the PIC conducting the flight with a passenger seated in the first officer's position; the presence of alcohol in the bodies of the PIC and passenger; a possible transfer of aircraft control from the PIC to the passenger, who was a former An-2 pilot; violations of the An-2 Airplane Flight Manual and FAR-128 requirements concerning altitude, bank angles during turns, and flight speed while crop-dusting; and a lack of oversight by the Krasny Kut Civil Aviation Flight School management over crop-dusting operations at the fields.