The Far Eastern Transport Office of the Investigative Committee has finished the investigation against the captain of a Mil Mi-8T helicopter that crashed in Chaunsky District, Chukchi Autonomous Area. He is charged with a crime under Part 3 of Article 263 of the RF Penal Code (violation of safety standards for traffic and operation of an aircraft, entailing death of two or more people and grievous bodily harm).
According to investigators, on 25 July 2011, a three-people crew made a flight aboard a Mil Mi-8T helicopter operated by ChukotAVIA from the Pevek airport to Cape Billings in Chuansky District, Chukchi Autonomous Area following a request from ZAO Pacific Construction and Production Company, a closed corporation. Along with the crew there were two passengers (workers of the said company) aboard. The helicopter took off normally, but when it arrived to the destination there was thick fog, so the crew did not land the aircraft, but decided to fly as far as the settlement of Billings. As there was no permanent visual contact with the ground or ground reference points the helicopter flew past the landing pad so the captain took steps to slow down the aircraft. This caused the crash: the helicopter was thrown into a vortex ring, got unbalanced, went down on the ground and caught fire. The crashed claimed lives of a flight mechanic and two passengers, one of the crew sustained severe injuries (severe burns).
The captain was the one who flew the helicopter. The investigators revealed that the cause of the crash was his malpractice.
The investigators have enough evidence so the criminal case with the signed indictment has been referred to court.
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