Ka-27 helicopter crash in Kazan

The Ka-27 helicopter crash in Kazan was an aviation accident involving a military Ka-27 helicopter being ferried from the city of Kumertau in the Bashkir ASSR to the city of Severomorsk, which occurred in Kazan on Wednesday, 26 November 1980.

Circumstances of the accident

On 26 November 1980, at the factory heliport in Kumertau (Bashkir ASSR), 3 military Ka-27 helicopters were prepared for departure for their transfer to Severomorsk, their permanent base (830th Independent Anti-Submarine Helicopter Regiment). The helicopters were to reach their final destination under their own power. The first transit landing site was to be the heliport of the Kazan Helicopter Plant (a leg of about 550 km). However, for some reason the technicians refuelling the helicopters topped up only the lead helicopter of the group. The other two helicopters were not refuelled, and their tanks contained the remaining fuel left after factory engine tests carried out the day before. Also, for an unknown reason, the helicopter pilots did not make sure during pre-flight preparation that there was sufficient fuel in the tanks.

The group flew in a triangle — the leader in front, the wingmen slightly behind, to the right and left — and, in order not to close in on the leader's tail, the latter worked the collective pitch lever vigorously, which led to more intensive fuel consumption.

While following the assigned route in the area of Kazan-2 Airport (Laishevsky District, south-east of Kazan), the low-fuel warning sensor was triggered in a wingman Ka-27 helicopter flown by Major Olkhovik, which Major Olkhovik immediately reported to his leader — the group commander, who, believing that slightly less than 20 km remained to the destination heliport, did not insist on an emergency landing at Kazan-2 Airport. Nevertheless, Major Olkhovik, with the group commander's permission, requested an emergency landing at Kazan-2 Airport, but was refused. The group flew into the airspace over Kazan.

At an altitude of 200 metres over the Moskovsky District of the city of Kazan and moving at a speed of 180 km/h, Major Olkhovik's helicopter, falling just 4 km short of the heliport, stalled (both engines stopped because the remaining fuel had been used up). Having practically no time to choose a landing site, Major Olkhovik nevertheless chose the most suitable place for his helicopter to come down, which turned out to be the intersection of Vosstaniya and Dekabristov streets in the city of Kazan, the so-called Vosstaniya Square.

The helicopter slammed into the asphalt surface of the square at tremendous speed, its fuselage and blades immediately tearing through the overhead contact cables and the communication wires of the electrical networks and the local telephone exchange. Moving by inertia, the helicopter spun around and, becoming entangled in the cables, rolled over onto its left side, catching with a blade a tram standing at a traffic light along the way.

The second wingman helicopter, flown by Major Malinko, also experiencing an acute shortage of fuel, landed on the lawn of the Tasma stadium, located two blocks from the site where Major Olkhovik's helicopter came down. The commander's helicopter successfully made it to the factory heliport, where, after landing, its engines stopped due to fuel exhaustion.