Russia

On July 8, 2001, approximately 1345 local time (0245UTC), a Pilatus PC-12/45, N660NR, registered to a US private owner, operated by Jeflyn Aviation, Inc. doing business as Access Air, and being flown by a US certificated airline transport rated pilot, was presumed destroyed following a ditching in the Sea of Okhotsk, Western Pacific Ocean. The pilot sustained minor injuries and the three remaining Japanese passengers were uninjured. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed, and an IFR flight plan had been filed and activated. The flight, which was returning to the United States following a round-the-world trip, was being operated under 14CFR91 as a business trip. The aircraft had originated from Hakodate, Japan, departing 0910 hours local time and was destined for Magadan, Russia. The pilot reported in a telephonic interview that the aircraft was established in cruise at 8,100 meters altitude when he felt a vibration followed by a rapid increase in the engine's Turbine Temperature Indication (TTI). He reported that the TTI reached 1144 degrees during which there was a compressor stall. He shut the engine down, feathered the propeller, and initiated a power off emergency descent. During the emergency descent the pilot radioed a mayday on 121.5 MHz, set his transponder to code 7700, and manually activated the emergency locator beacon. The aircraft descended through multiple cloud layers during which the pilot and passengers prepared for the ditching. The pilot reported that upon breaking through the bottom of the last overcast layer, at 100 feet above the water, he encountered swells of approximately 8-12 feet height. He ditched the aircraft on the crest of a swell and the aircraft came to a stop floating in an upright, level attitude. All four occupants exited the aircraft through the main cabin door into a life raft. Over a period of several hours the occupants lost sight of the floating aircraft and after about 15 hours they were picked up by a Russian container ship and airlifted to Sakhalin Island.

The airplane departed Yekaterinburg Airport on a regular schedule flight (XF352) to Vladivostok with an intermediate stop at Irkutsk. The flight departed Yekaterinburg at 1947LT and climbed to the assigned cruising altitude of 10,100 metres. Some three hours into the flight, at 0150LT, the crew started the descent to Irkutsk Intl Airport. The copilot was the pilot-in-command. At 0205LT, the crew reported at 2,100 metres with the runway in sight. At this time, the aircraft' speed was 540 km/h. The maximum speed at which the landing gear may be lowered was 400 km/h. At 0206:56 the airplane leveled off at 900 metres with an airspeed still at 420 km/h. The first officer asked for gear down and the speed further decreased to 395 km/h with engines at idle. When the gear was down and locked, the airplane entered a left bank angle of 20-23°. The airspeed continued to drop to 365 km/h while the recommended speed was 370 km/h at this stage of the flight. Power was added slowly. This was only just sufficient for maintaining an altitude of 850 metres at 355-360 km/h. At 0207:46, while still in the left hand turn, the angle of attack increased to 16,5° because the autopilot attempted to maintain altitude with a decreasing speed. An aural warning sounded, informing the crew about a high angle of attack. The first officer attempted to correct this by using the control column and disconnected the autopilot. Because he deflected the control column to the left, the left bank increased to the maximum permissible value of -30° to -44°, and then to -48°. In a nose down attitude, the speed increased to 400 km/h then the aircraft entered clouds. By night, the crew lost visual contact with the ground and was not able to observe the natural horizon. In such conditions, the captain took over controls but alternately deflected the steering wheel to the left and right. An intensive deflection of steering control to the right caused a positive angular acceleration of +4,4° per second. The captain reacted by deflecting the steering wheel to the left again. The first officer now realized that the airplane was in a severe left bank of -45° and indicated that they should be rolling to the right. Because of an increase in vertical descent rate of 20 metres per seconds, one of the crew members pulled the control column. The airplane pitched up rapidly then entered a stall and a subsequent flat spin before crashing in an open field 22 seconds later. The aircraft was totally destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire and all 145 occupants were killed.

The single engine aircraft was engaged in a local skydiving mission in the region of Volgograd. After some of the skydivers jumped out, the pilot decided to return to his departure point and two passengers remained in the cabin. For unknown reasons, the pilot started a quick descent when, at an altitude of 1,000 metres, he lost control of the airplane that entered a dive and crashed at a speed of 310 km/h in the Akthuba River located near Volzhsky. The aircraft was destroyed and all three occupants were killed.

The crew was performing a cargo flight to Morshansk with a load consisting of a jet fighter engine. Seven minutes after takeoff from Rzhev Airport, while climbing to an altitude of 2,600 meters, the aircraft went out of control, entered a spin and crashed in a swampy and wooded area located in Myakotino, southeast of Rzhev. All seven crew members were killed. It is believed that control was lost following an engine failure and after the crew was unable to feather its propeller.

The crew was engaged in a crop spraying mission in Novoaleksandrovsk. Shortly after takeoff, while at a height of about 50 metres, the crew raised the flaps when the engine failed. The crew elected to restart the engine but without success. In such situation, the captain attempted an emergency landing when the aircraft crash landed in a field and eventually collided with trees. Both pilots were injured and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

The crew was dispatched at Nekrasovskaya to perform a crop spraying mission for the farm 'Rossia'. While flying at an insufficient height of 5 metres, the copilot saw power cables and elected to gain height to avoid the collision. But the captain took over control and plunged the aircraft to pass below the line. The power cables struck the tail that was partially torn off. The aircraft nosed down and crashed in an open field, bursting into flames. Both pilots were seriously injured and the aircraft was destroyed by fire.

The aircraft departed Pokrovsk on an ambulance flight to Sangar with intermediate stops in Magan and Kobyay. On approach to Kobyay Airport, the aircraft was too high and its speed was excessive. Rather than initiating a go-around procedure, the captain continued the approach and landed 375 metres pas the runway threshold (the runway length is 600 metres). Unable to stop within the remaining distance, the aircraft overran, collided with various obstacles and came to rest 50 metres further. The crew did not report the incident to the company and decided to take off few minutes later. After liftoff, the aircraft was unable to gain sufficient speed and height. It struck trees and crashed in a snow covered terrain, bursting into flames. All 13 occupants were injured, among them five seriously. The aircraft was destroyed by fire.