Enquiry suggests helicopter overloaded(220 words)

Published: 8/8/2000

According to the enquiry team of the Russian Air Force, pilot error caused the widely reported crash of an Mi-8 in the Leningrad Oblast on 21st July killing the 19 people on board, including a military parachute team. According to reports the helicopter was operating outside its performance limits and was overloaded, leading to the helicopter going into an uncontrolled spin and crashing. As a result of the enquiry's findings, the air force lifted its grounding of all air force Mi-8s on the 28th July. For Mil the findings of the enquiry will come with some relief given the suggestion that the aircraft crashed due to a failure of the helicopter,s tail rotor and led to more genral concerns about the reliability of the helicopter. In response to the question of reliability, Mil launched a stern defence of their helicopter stating that since 1961 over 11,000 Mi-8s have been built and with proper maintanance and the suoervision by the designer, the aircraft's accident rate is very low. If problems are occuring in the view of the bureau they are being caused by non certified parts and poor independent modernizations without the cooperation of Mil. Life extentions are also being undertaken without the involvement of the designer, which Mil see as contributing to potential problems with helicopters in service.

Article ID: 1977