Armenia

For unknown reason, the crew was flying below the minimum safe altitude when the single engine aircraft hit a mountain and crashed near Goris. There were no casualties.

The crew decided to land on an airstrip near Yerevan without authorization. After touchdown, the aircraft skidded and overran before coming to rest. There were no casualties but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Damaged beyond repair when made a hard landing near Yerevan due to a pilot error. There were no casualties.

The airplane departed Tbilisi Airport at 1039LT on a cargo flight to Yerevan, carrying five crew members and a load of various goods for a total weight of 2,394 kilos. The assigned altitude of 3,000 meters was reached 17 minutes later and the crew continued to the south under VFR mode. The airplane passed over Idzhevan VOR at 1108LT and six minutes later, the crew was cleared to descent to 1,800 meters by the approach ATC. Between 1116LT and 1119LT, the crew reported twice that the weather conditions deteriorated with low clouds and requested the permission to return to Tbilisi under VFR at 3,000 meters. A minute later, while cruising at the altitude of 2,265 meters, the left wing struck the west slope of Mt Getantag. The airplane continued for 130 meters then crashed in flames. The flight engineer was seriously injured while four other occupants were killed. Few hours later, the only survivor died from his injuries.

The crew was completing a crop-spraying flight on vineyards for the sovkhoz (state farm) "Arteni" located in the Talin district of Armenia. While cruising at low height in a visibility limited to one km, the single engine aircraft collided with a high-voltage powerline located 400 metres north of the Arteni railway station. Out of control, the airplane crashed 85 metres further on. Both pilots were seriously injured while the sole passenger, a local guide, was killed.

The single engine aircraft departed Kapan Airport at 1438LT on a return flight to Yerevan with intermediate stops at Goris and Sisian, carrying 14 passengers (11 adults and three children) and a crew of two. After takeoff, the captain performed a straight-in climb up to 200 meters then turned sharply to the right with a bank of 40°. The airplane failed to climb properly and the pilot-in-command went into a gorge. The copilot attempted to regain control but the captain maintained a certain pressure and failed to follow the procedure. When he saw the mountain facing him, he made a turn to the right when the airplane struck trees and crashed in flames in a wooded area. A adult passenger was killed while all 15 other occupants were injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The wreckage was found 5,5 km from the intended route.

The single engine aircraft departed Leninakan Airport at 0954LT on the second leg of a flight from Yerevan to Akhalkalaki. Eight minutes into the flight, while cruising in good weather conditions, the crew informed ATC about his position about 20 km north of Leninakan. Four minutes later, the airplane lost height and then climbed, banked left and right then nosed down and crashed in flames in a 90° nose down attitude in a mountainous area located near the village of Sesapar, some 30 km north of Leninakan. The airplane was totally destroyed and all 13 occupants were killed. At the time of the accident, weather conditions were good.

The aircraft departed Yerevan-Zvartnots Airport at 0838LT bound for Stepanavan. Weather conditions on the first part of the leg was marginal and poor over the mountains with clouds and rain falls. While cruising at an altitude of 2,320 meters in the clouds, the pilot made a turn to the left when the airplane struck the slope of a mountain located 10 km southwest of Stepanavan Airport. Both pilots and a passenger were injured while all 16 other occupants were killed.

The crew departed Incirlik AFB near Adana on a survey flight over Turkey. The mission consisted of an overflight of the region of Trabzon and Van, maintaining a minimum distance of 160 km with the Turkey/Armenia border. The crew passed over the city of Trabzon at an altitude of 25,500 feet and instead of changing its direction to the south bound for Van, the airplane continued to the east. While flying over Armenia at an altitude of 22,000 feet, the Hercules was shot down by an air-air missile fired by the pilot of a Soviet fighter. Out of control, the four engine aircraft dove into the ground and crashed near the city of Talin. Few weeks later, the bodies of six crew members were transferred to the US Authorities while nothing was heard anymore about the 11 intelligence-gathering personnel belonging to the United States Air Force Security Service (USAFSS).

The crew left Yerevan Airport at 0513LT for a meteorological survey mission and completed several maneuvers between 3,500 and 5,000 meters in cloudy conditions over the region of the Sevan Lake. Following an uneventful mission, the crew decided to return to Yerevan and started the descent from the northeast when, at an altitude of 3,160 meters, the airplane hit the east slope of Mt Kara-Dag (3,231 meters high) located about 12 km west of the village of Tsaghkachen. Rescuers arrived on site a day later and all six occupants have been killed.