News

The West Siberian Transport Office of the Investigative Committee continues investigating the crash of a Robinson R66 helicopter that happened on 12 February 2017 in Lake Teletskoye Altai Republic. The investigation was opened in violation of safety standards for the traffic if an aircraft which has entailed death of two or more people by negligence under part 3 of Article 263 of the RF Penal Code.

The helicopter owned by OOO Altai Avia carried 5 people, including a pilot and 4 passengers.

Dead body of Yelena Rakitskaya, one of the passengers, was found on 13 February on the bank of Lake Teletskoye. The woman was the pilot’s wife. The search for the pilot’s body is continued.

The search also found a flap cover of the helicopter’s right front seat and three covers in the lake. By now the objects have been examined by the investigators and passed over together with the technical documents to specialists of the Interstate Aviation Committee for further inquiry.

The investigators have established the air traffic authorities got no notice that the Robinson R66 was flying in the area of its assumed crash on 12 February 2017.

The investigators are still considering pilot’s error, bad weather and technical failure of the helicopter among the main versions. However, workers of the company that maintained the helicopter have said during interrogations that the helicopter was in good technical condition. The investigation is ongoing.