Date & Time:
Sep 1, 1978 at 1307 LT
Type of aircraft:
PZL-Mielec AN-2
Operator:
Registration:
CCCP-32323
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Scheduled Revenue Flight
Survivors:
No
Site:
Mountains
Schedule:
Irkutsk - Kharantsy - Onguren
MSN:
1G97-35
YOM:
1968
Flight number:
SU137B
Country:
Russia
Region:
Asia
Crew on board:
2
Crew fatalities:
2
Pax on board:
11
Pax fatalities:
11
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
13
Aircraft flight hours:
8161
Circumstances:
The single engine airplane departed Irkutsk-Magan Airport at 1236LT on a flight to Onguren with an intermediate stop in Kharantsy. At 1303LT, the crew informed ground about his position, flying at an altitude of 1,500 meters. Four minutes later, while cruising in marginal weather conditions, the airplane pitched down and crashed in a nose down attitude of 75° in a wooded area located 15 km east of the village of Kharat. As the radio contact was lost and the airplane failed to arrive at destination, SAR operations were initiated but the wreckage was found a week later only, on September 8, in a hilly and wooded area, at an altitude of 785 meters. The aircraft was totally destroyed and all 13 occupants were killed.
Probable cause:
The exact cause of the accident could not be determined. There were no technical anomalies with the airplane that most probably lost height after being caught by downdrafts coming from a cumulonimbus.
