Ust-Kara

The single engine airplane departed Ust-Kara on a schedule service to Naryan-Mar with an intermediate stop in Karatayka, carrying 10 passengers and two crews. Approaching Karatayka, the crew encountered marginal weather conditions and decided to divert to Varandey. Few minutes later, while flying in a 200-300 metres visibility, the airplane descended and crashed in a snow covered area located some 10 km northwest of Karatayka. A passenger and the captain were killed while 10 other occupants were injured. Shortly before the accident, the crew reported severe icing conditions.

The crew was completing an ambulance flight from Amderma to Ust-Kara to pick up a patient back to Amderma. After decending successively to 600 meters and 300 meters in marginal weather conditions (limited visibility to 4 km in rain and snow, low clouds), the pilot decided to continue the descent despite he could not clearly locate the runway. On short final, the airplane struck the snowy ground and plunged in a deep snow layer (60 cm), slid for several yards and came to rest 250 meters short of runway threshold. All occupants were evacuated safely while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

While cruising under VFR at an altitude of 2,100 meters, the right engine failed and caught fire. The crew elected to extinguish the fire but without success. Shortly later, the engine detached and struck the right tail, causing the aircraft to enter a spin and to crash in a steppe located about 55 km west of Mys Kamenny. The aircraft was destroyed upon impact and all 6 crew members were killed.