Convers Avia Flight 312
Mil Mi-8AMT · Spatial disorientation caused by bad weather
From Pyramiden Heliport (ENPY) to Barentsburg Heliport, Heerodden (ENBA)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 8 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 8
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Mil Mi-8AMT
- Flight
- CVS312
- Aircraft type
- Mil MI-8
- Category
- Helicopter · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- RA-22312
- Operator
- Convers Avia
- Onboard fatalities
- 8
- Route
- From Pyramiden Heliport (ENPY)To Barentsburg Heliport, Heerodden (ENBA)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Psychological
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 26 October 2017, Convers Avia Flight 312, a Mil Mi-8 helicopter operating a flight from Pyramiden Heliport to Barentsburg Heliport, in the Svalbard archipelago, Norway, crashed into the water of Isfjorden fjord, just north of the settlement of Barentsburg. All eight occupants of the aircraft were killed. The investigation on the crash found out that the accident was caused by spatial disorientation, which led the crew to lose their visual references.
Accident
The aircraft took off from Pyramiden Heliport for a flight across the Isfjorden fjord carrying mining workers to Barentsburg Heliport. The last contact with the aircraft was recorded at 3:06 pm local time, when it was flying over the water. Weather at the time was rough, with visibility reported to be under one kilometer horizontally and less than one hundred meters vertically, heavy ongoing snowing and strong winds. The conditions were under the minimal required by the airline, but the flight was continued nonetheless. At 3:08 pm the helicopter impacted the sea surface and crashed.
Immediately after the aircraft went missing a joint search between norwegian and russian authorities was started. The Governor of Svalbard's ship Polarsyssel, coast guard's vessel NoCGV Barentshav, AUV Hugin and multiple helicopters and planes took part in the search. After three days of search the helicopter's wreckage was found at a depth of 209 meters. On 4 November the Mil Mi-8 flight data recorder and GPS systems were recovered. Of the bodies of the eight occupants only one was found about 150 meters from the aircraft wreckage. All the victims probably died by drowning or hypothermia, and the fact that the helicopter was not equipped with rafts or lifevests probably contributed to the fact that there were no survivors.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The helicopter wreckage was recovered by the Maersk Forza ship on November 4, and was later brought to AIBN structures for the investigation. The final report published in 2020 by the norwegian AIBN found out that the cause of the accident was a loss of spatial awareness by the pilots, which lead to disorientation and the subsequent impact with water. According to the airline's rules the crew of Flight 312 should have abandoned the approach since the weather and visibility conditions were under the minimum allowed to continue, and the fact that they didn't was one of the main causes of the crash. Additionally the helicopter was not equipped with any float system, and neither lifejackets nor rafts were available for the occupants to evacuate.
The AIBN also issued safety reccomandations after the crash. Mainly regarding stricter safety measures for flights in dangerous areas and to dangerous airports, like those in the Svalbard archipelago, like better emergency equipment, that was lacking on Flight 312, and better instruments for flying. It was also asked to Convers Avia to do better checks and implement stricter safety procedures, to correct the numerous violations found.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Convers Avia Flight 312” (revision 1374453771, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Convers Avia Flight 312
- Article
- Convers Avia Flight 312
- Revision
- 1374453771 · 2026-09-12 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q134836737
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Convers Avia Flight 312" (page 80068937, revision 1374453771)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.