Those responsible for the emergency with a government helicopter at Vnukovo were convicted

They did not carry out the cotter pins in time, and the Mi-8 almost crashed during takeoff

The verdict has come into force against two aircraft technicians of the special flight detachment “Russia”, through whose fault an air incident occurred with a government Mi-8 aircraft. A year ago, while taking off from Vnukovo-3 airport, a helicopter almost crashed. Only the skill of the pilot helped to avoid an accident.

As MK reported at the time, the emergency occurred on January 27. The helicopter was supposed to make a control flight without VIP passengers. On board were the crew commander, co-pilot, flight mechanic and two technicians. The crew received permission to take off, but the car suddenly lost control – it did not take off, but rolled back, picking up speed. The commander had seconds to make a decision: the main rotor blades could hit the tail boom and destroy the helicopter. Fortunately, the pilot turned off the engines and there was no disaster. However, the Mi-8 rolled off the taxiway, the blades hit the parapet, damaging the tail and tail rotor of the vehicle.

It didn’t take long to find the culprits – at least one of them himself admitted that he might be involved in the accident. Previously, an aircraft equipment engineer had identified a malfunction on board: a discrepancy between the performance of the longitudinal control sensor, which displays various numerical codes, and the available values ​​in the calibration tables. Two technicians who were assigned to look into it decided to make an additional adjustment to the length of the longitudinal control rod. They carried out the work, assembled the unit, secured the joints with a bolt and nut, after which one of the technicians asked a less experienced colleague who was undergoing an internship to also carry out cotter pinning – additional fixation of the fasteners using steel wire. Usually the man did this himself, but his tendon hurt after the operation, and so he turned to an intern. He said that he would do everything later, since he didn’t have a cotter pin right now. However, then the senior worker left for another site, and the trainee reasonably decided that he had no right to carry out such work without supervision. He did not tell anyone that the cotter pin had not been done. As a result, the bolt became loose, and during the next flight the helicopter became uncontrollable.

Both technicians were charged under Article 238 Part 1 of the Criminal Code – “carrying out work that does not meet safety requirements.” The senior technician admitted guilt, but the trainee insisted that he was right, although he confirmed that he had not carried out the cotter pin. As a result, the Solntsevo court sentenced the newcomer to 300 hours of compulsory work, and the more experienced colleague to a fine of 100 thousand rubles.