Mi-8 crash in Gorno-Badakhshan on 8 March 2008
Tajik Air Mil Mi-8 · Crew error
From Khorog to an unrecorded destination
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
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 14
- 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
- Charter & commuter
Mil Mi-8
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
The Mi-8 crash in Gorno-Badakhshan on 8 March 2008 was the crash of a transport helicopter of the Tajik company Tajik Air with 3 crew members and 12 passengers on board; 1 person was killed.
Circumstances of the accident
The helicopter flew from Dushanbe to Khorog, where at approximately 14:00 local time it took on board 11 foreign ski tourists and a guide. The aircraft commander decided to carry out the flight despite the unfavourable weather forecast. The flight continued to the ski descent site in an area planned in advance and agreed with the helicopter crew.
The group leader indicated to the crew the intended landing site, located at an altitude of 4100 m. After flying over it, the aircraft commander decided not to land. The aircraft commander then chose a second site, but after flying over it also decided not to land. Finally, he selected a third site and began the landing.
The commission that investigated the crash established that the site chosen by the aircraft commander for landing did not meet the requirements of the flight manual of the Mi-8 MTV helicopter and did not ensure a safe landing. The crew did not actually inspect the site before landing. The need to decelerate the helicopter over a site of extremely limited size, with practically no thrust margin, probably led to the helicopter sinking and to a spontaneous decrease in main rotor rpm. In practice, with no thrust margin, the helicopter most likely came under the influence of a wind (forecast: 260° — 30 km/h) that was extremely unfavourable for this direction of flight (from the right-rear), which led to a shortage of lateral control, as a result of which the helicopter struck the mountainside during landing.
At a height of approximately 10—15 metres, according to eyewitnesses, the helicopter began spinning about its vertical axis and, after making 2-3 turns, fell onto its left side. After the people were evacuated, the helicopter caught fire and burned out completely. The crash site is at an altitude of 3920 m. The crew commander was killed; 2 crew members and 2 passengers were injured.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Russian Wikipedia article “Катастрофа Ми-8 в Горном Бадахшане 8 марта 2008 года” (revision 148031103, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
Russian Wikipedia article: Катастрофа Ми-8 в Горном Бадахшане 8 марта 2008 года
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 148031103 · 2025-08-22 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q16662513
- 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
- ru Wikipedia article "Катастрофа Ми-8 в Горном Бадахшане 8 марта 2008 года" (page 4389865, revision 148031103), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): A Tajik Air Mi-8 hired to fly ski tourists to a ski descent site: a heli-skiing charter. The article: "it took on board 11 foreign ski tourists and a guide"
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Russian Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.