The pilot of the Falcon that crashed in Afghanistan had previously pulled off an adventure with a Superjet.

He was remembered as a frivolous man

As MK learned, the main claims in the criminal investigation into the Falcon crash may be brought against the pilot Dmitry Belyakov. It was he who organized the risky flight of a business class plane from Thailand to Moscow. Moreover, according to our data, this is not the first such adventure in the man’s biography.

“A frivolous and risky man,” those who knew him said about Belyakov. Dmitry Belyakov founded the Jet Aero company together with Armenian partners several years ago. Actually, Caucasian friends acted as investors – Belyakov asked for investments worth 10 million for the development of local air transportation. The partners then vouched for the commercial pilot in front of “serious people” in Yerevan. Let us note that Dmitry’s passion for flying is hereditary: his father is a pilot, and among his family’s friends there have always been many pilots. One of them is Arkady Grachev. Belyakov met him at the Myachkovo airfield, where Arkady had a light aircraft based. Now fate brought them together in the fatal Falcon flight and, perhaps, will bring them together more than once within the framework of one criminal case.

The first aircraft purchased by Jet Aero was a small Superjet. Belyakov flew to the USA for him – his cousin, who lives in America, helped purchase the aircraft. Belyakov outlined quite rosy commercial prospects for his partners: there is an order for regular private flights from Moscow to Astrakhan, the fee is $2,000 per hour. Thus, the cost of the Superjet could be recovered in the shortest possible time.

But the business union suddenly fell apart. Armenian investors unexpectedly learned that their partner had registered the plane not in the name of the company, but in his own name. There was a scandal. Belyakov still managed to pay off the investors, although he took a lot of risks – in particular, he did not fit in with the Superjet’s regular technical inspection (it eventually had to be done in Latvia). And after some time, Belyakov sold the plane for 70 million. Apparently, this money was used to purchase the Falcon, which crashed while landing on a mountain in Afghanistan. The plane was registered to the Athletic Group company, which Belyakov’s friend Grachev owned jointly with his wife Ekaterina Agapova.

Since the hard landing ended in the tragic death of passengers (the Evsyukovs, for whom this flight was started, died), the organizers of the flight face charges under Article 263, Part 3 of the Criminal Code – “violation of traffic safety rules and operation of air transport, resulting in the death of two people through negligence.”