SM-92 crash near Chelyabinsk

The SM-92 crash near Chelyabinsk was an aviation accident that occurred on Sunday, 13 December 2009. An SM-92 light transport aircraft, owned by a private individual and leased to the airline ChelAvia, was performing a flight to drop 7 parachutists near Kalachevo airfield (Chelyabinsk Oblast), from where it was to take off and then land, but 1.5 kilometres from Kalachevo airfield, on a magnetic heading of 360° and at a nose-down pitch angle of 40-50°, it struck the ground and was almost completely destroyed. All 8 people on board were killed (7 passengers — parachutists — and 1 crew member — the captain).

Causes of the crash

The investigation ended on 23 April 2010 and the commission of the Interstate Aviation Committee made the following conclusion:

The crash of the SM-92T aircraft RA-0257G occurred as a result of its stalling into a spin during the climb after take-off and may have been the consequence of a combination of the following adverse factors:

- violation of the climb-after-take-off procedure established by the flight manual with respect to maintaining flight speeds;

- performing parachutist-dropping flights on an aircraft not intended for this type of flight. The flight was performed with the passenger seats and the right pilot's seat removed. Measures to prevent the parachutists from shifting in the cabin and changing the aircraft's centre of gravity, as well as to protect the controls from unauthorised interference, were not taken;

- performing the take-off in excess of the aircraft's maximum take-off weight;

- the absence on the aircraft of a light and aural stall-approach warning system;

- the low flight altitude did not allow the captain to recover the aircraft from the spin. Unintentional action on the control wheel by the parachutists cannot be ruled out”.

The causes of the crash were presumably crew (captain) errors, a design deficiency and unintentional interference with the aircraft controls.