Russia

The crew was engaged in a reconnaissance mission in the region of the Franz Josef archipelago. While returning to Amderma, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with strong headwind, fog and low visibility. In such conditions, the crew lost his orientation and deviated from the prescribed flight path to the west by 210 km. As fuel seemed to be insufficient to reach Amderma under these conditions, the captain decided to divert to Novaya Zemlya, but failed to regain orientation and missed Novaya Zemlya while flying through the Kara Straits. After being in the air for 15 hours and 12 minutes, the aircraft ran out of fuel. The crew prepared for a ditching in high seas in the Barents Sea between Varandei island, Matveyev Island and Cape Medynski Zavorot by night. An empty dinghy was found few days later but no trace of the seven crew members nor the aircraft that was lost. It was determined that the crew was able to evacuate the cabin but probably did not survive to the extreme outside conditions. Investigators did not understand why the operator and the pilots decided to perform such mission in such conditions with this type of aircraft that was not suitable for this.

The crew, consisting of one instructor and three pilots, was completing a local training flight in Buguruslan-Baymakovo Airport. A first training program was completed at an altitude of 1,000 meters and the instructor ordered the crew to return to the airport. On final approach, during the last segment, the instructor ordered the crew to go around and increased power on both engines. During the initial climb, while at a height of 150 meters, the instructor shut down the right engine and feathered its propeller. At the same time, the aircraft banked left up to 30°, stalled, dove into the ground and crashed in a huge explosion. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire and all four crew members were killed.

Takeoff from Moscow-Bykovo Airport was completed by night. Shortly after liftoff, during the initial climb, the captain ordered to switch off the landing light and to raise the undercarriage. The aircraft encountered problems to gain height and banked left, causing the left engine and its propeller to hit the ground. After a course of some 150 meters, the aircraft hit a telephone pole and wires and then crashed in flames in a garden. Five passengers and the radio operator were killed while 8 other people were injured, some of them seriously. The remaining then occupants were unhurt. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire.

Just after liftoff, while climbing to a height of 2-3 meters, the aircraft stalled. As the undercarriage have been raised, the aircraft hit the ground on its belly, causing the propeller of the right engine to be sheared off. A blade went through the fuselage and penetrated into the cabin, killing a passenger. The aircraft slid for several hundred yards, lost its left wing and left engine before coming to rest 491 meters past the runway end. Five passengers were injured and the aircraft was written off.

On approach to Turukhansk, the wind was gusting to 43 km/h. Waves up to 50 cm were spotted in the Enisey River. On landing, the seaplane hit three successive waves and plunged into the water. The cockpit separated from the rest of the fuselage, the aircraft came to rest and sank. Three passengers, two women and one child, were killed while 17 other occupants were rescued, five of them seriously injured. The aircraft was a total loss.

Following an uneventful flight from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky-Yelizovo Airport, the crew started the descent to Magadan in poor weather conditions. During the final approach, at a distance of 13 km from the runway threshold, the captain was unable to locate the runway and decided to descend to 500 meters, the decision altitude. Unable to establish a visual contact with the runway, he decided to abandon the approach, started a go around and diverted to the Seymchan Airport located some 350 km north of Magadan. Few minutes later, while cruising in poor visibility, the aircraft hit the slope of Mt Marchekanskaya (707 meters high). A passenger was seriously injured while eight other occupants were killed. It appears the aircraft hit the mountain 70 meters below the summit.

Approaching Bodaibo, the crew lost his orientation due to low visibility caused by poor weather conditions (snow falls). The captain decided to reduce his altitude and followed the Vitim River to join Bodaibo Airport at a height of 100 meters. The aircraft hit the water surface and crashed in a huge explosion into the river off Mamakan, about 13 km southwest of Bodaibo. A passenger was injured and rescued while all 28 other occupants were killed.

During the takeoff roll, the aircraft veered off the center line to the right as the rudder trim has not been set to neutral position before takeoff. The crew failed to abort the takeoff procedure and about 30 seconds after liftoff, during initial climb, the right wing hit a telegraph line and collided with the pole of a high voltage power line. Out of control, the aircraft stalled and crashed. The mechanic was killed while 13 other occupants were injured. The aircraft was destroyed.

An Aeroflot LI-2 registered CCCP-L4279 made an emergency landing near Tynda on April 20. A day later, a Deputy from the Amur Region decided to conduct a mission to help and forced the crew to takeoff despite the fact that weather conditions were below minima. The aircraft left Takhtamygda Airport at 1550LT. About twenty minutes later, the right engine failed. The crew was forced to feather the propeller and the captain decided to return to his departure point. Shortly later, while losing altitude, the aircraft hit tree tops with its propeller while the left elevator hit a telephone pole. The aircraft stalled and crashed. Three crew members, among them the captain, were killed while three other occupants were injured.

Following the disappearance of a LI-2 registered CCCP-N444 on March 7, rescue operations were conducted and dispatched. Unfortunately, due to poor weather conditions (heavy snow falls), most of the crew were forced to stay on the ground. That day, a crew decided to make a sortie but the runway at Vorkuta Airport has not been cleared of snow. The captain ask three crew members to seat in the rear of the cabin and started the takeoff procedure on a snow covered runway (up to 30 cm of snow). After a course of about 700 meters, the aircraft lifted off but failed to gain height due to an insufficient speed. After passing the runway end, the aircraft hit the roof of a house, lost an engine, stalled and crashed in a field. All six crew members were injured and the aircraft was written off.