Helicopter crash in Azerbaijan reportedly caused by pilot error

In Azerbaijan, a crash of a helicopter of the State Border Guard Service, in which 14 people were killed, was caused by an error of the pilots during landing, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Azerbaijan reports today.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on November 30, 14 people, including 13 border guards, were killed in a crash of a Mi-17 military helicopter of the State Border Guard Service during a training flight at the Garageibat airfield in the Khizi District, and two more officers were injured. The helicopter crash is not related to any external interference with the flight, the State Border Guard Service announced on November 30.

The helicopter crash was caused by “gross mistakes made by the pilots” during landing: crew members violated the operating rules and did not take into account the direction and speed of the wind, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Azerbaijan reports today.

“During the landing, without taking into account the direction of the wind, there were significant changes in flight parameters, and the flight speed dropped to 0, and the altitude dropped to 89 meters. The pilots tried to get the helicopter out of the emergency state, but in vain,” the State Border Guard Service reported in its press release, as translated from the Azerbaijani language by the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

According to the primary forensic medical examination, the people who were in the helicopter died from injuries they got at the time of the crash, the State Border Guard Service reports.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 20, 2021 at 12:24 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.