Tiksi

The four engine airplane departed Yekaterinburg on a flight to Tiksi with an intermediate stop in Kansk, carrying 32 passengers and seven crew members. During a polar night approach, the aircraft deviated from the approach pattern and dropped below the glide path relying on a flawed approach scheme. This caused the belly to touch the summit of a snow-covered hill (392 metres high) located 31 km northwest of Tiksi Airport. The aircraft bounced and touched the ground again on the rear slope of the hill some 1,250 metres further on. The fuselage broke into three parts. There was no fire. All 7 crew and 31 passengers were injured, 16 seriously.

On final approach, the crew encountered limited visibility due to snow falls but the pilot-in-command was able to maintain a visual contact with the approach light system. Nevertheless, he failed to realized he descended below the MDA when the aircraft struck the ground 178 metres short of runway threshold and 77 metres to the right of its extended centerline. On impact, the nose gear collapsed and the aircraft came to rest against meteo installations. All 17 occupants escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Upon landing, the aircraft flipped over and came to rest. There were no casualties.

The four engine aircraft was completing a cargo flight from Tiksi to Irkutsk with an intermediate stop in Batagay, carrying six crew members and a load of 15,5 tons of apples. The descent to Batagay Airport was initiated by night and marginal weather conditions. Thus, the visibility was limited and the crew was unable to establish a visual contact with the ground or the airport. For unknown reasons, the crew and especially the captain failed to follow the approach procedures and preferred to follow a schema dedicated for VFR approach only. This caused the aircraft to descent below the minimum prescribed altitude when the GPWS warning sounded in the cockpit. The captain disengaged the GPWS alarm system and decided to continue the descent when, at a speed of 355 km/h, the aircraft struck the slope of a mountain located 25 km from the Batagay Airport. In a right bank of 22°, the aircraft crashed and disintegrated in a snow covered ground. All six occupants were killed.

The single engine airplane departed Taymylyr at 1247LT on a special flight to Tiksi, carrying seven passengers, two crew and a load of 192 kilos of various goods on behalf of Yakutsgeofizik. All flight was completed at an altitude of 350 meters and when the crew initiated the descent to Tiksi Airport, he encountered limited visibility due to haze. The aircraft struck the side of a hill (410 meters high) located about 20 km north of the airport, near the Lena River mouth. The aircraft was destroyed and all nine occupants were rescued.

After completing a cargo flight from Tiksi to Borogon, the crew was returning to Tiksi on a ferry flight. There were no passengers and no cargo on board. After takeoff from Borogon, while climbing to a height of 8 meters at a speed of 120 km/h, the flaps retracted automatically from 30° to zero. The aircraft entered an uncontrolled descent, struck the snow covered ground and crashed 250 meters past the runway end. All three crew members escaped with minor injuries while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

The single engine airplane was engaged in a charter flight from Bulun to Tiksi, carrying three crew members, 21 schoolboys and a load of fish (three bags). Prior to takeoff, the copilot and the flight engineer informed the captain about the fact that the aircraft was overloaded but the captain decided to take off. Shortly after rotation, while climbing to a height of 20-25 meters, the airplane nosed up and reached a critical angle of attack. The captain elected to make an emergency landing when control was lost and the airplane crashed in a field. All 24 occupants were injured and the aircraft was destroyed.

On final approach to Tiksi by night and poor weather conditions, while at an altitude of 300 meters and a speed of 150 km/h, the engine failed. The airplane stalled and crashed into the Tiksi bay, some 2.5 km from the runway threshold. A passenger was rescued while five other occupants were killed.

The aircraft was completing a cargo flight from Mys Schmidta to Novosibirsk with intermediate stops in Chokurdakh and Tiksi, carrying a load of 9,9 tons of various equipments. After takeoff from Tiksi, the engine n°4 failed. The captain decided to continue on three engines to Novosibirsk as a landing at Tiksi Airport was not possible due to poor weather conditions. Following an uneventful flight, the crew started the descent to Tolmachevo Airport when all three remaining engines lost power. The airplane lost height, struck trees and crashed in a wooded area located 13 km from the airfield. Four crew members were killed while two others were injured. The aircraft was destroyed.

The crew (four crew members and two hydrologists) was involved in an ice reconnaissance mission over the krai of Krasnoyarsk. Following a departure from Tiksi Airport, the crew proceeded to the control of the ice located along the shore of the Laptev Sea then the Yana and Kolyma Indigirka estuaries and eventually the mouth of the Lana River. En route, weather conditions worsened and the visibility dropped due to fog. The captain decided to reduce his altitude and to descend through the clouds when the airplane struck the top of a hill and crash landed 100 meters further and a snow covered ground. All six occupants were slightly injured and later transferred to a hospital in Khatanga while the airplane was damaged beyond repair.
Crew:
A. A. Kas, pilot,
V. K. Koroteev, copilot,
N. M. Arapov, radio operator,
D. Belusov, flight engineer,
Yuri Vladimirovitch Nalimov, hydrologist,
V. Ramenskii, hydrologist.