Date & Time: Jan 10, 1969 at 1133 LT
Type of aircraft:
Antonov AN-2
Operator:
Registration:
CCCP-70940
Flight Phase:
Flight
Survivors:
Yes
Schedule:
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky – Kozyrevsk – Esso
MSN:
1116 473 16
YOM:
1959
Country:
Russia
Region:
Asia
Crew on board:
2
Crew fatalities:
2
Pax on board:
11
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
2
Aircraft flight hours:
6557
Circumstances:
On the leg from Khalaktyrka to Kozyrevsk of a flight from Khalaktyrka to Esso when the crew decided to take the route over the mountains instead of the route along the valleys although the weather conditions did not allow such deviation. The aircraft entered clouds and crashed under control at a height of 1,230 metres on the slope of a mountain (1,280 metres) located in the Ganalskiye gory range, some 16 km east of Malka (Yelizovo district of Kamchatka). The airplane then slid down on the slope for 700 metres before coming to rest in the valley of the Zubastaya River. Both pilots were killed while all 11 passengers were injured (8 of them seriously). The wreckage and the survivors were found a day later, on 11JAN69.
Probable cause:
Wrong decision on part of the flying crew who deviated from the published procedures and followed a non-compliant route. The accident was the consequence of a controlled flight into terrain.