Mi-8 crash near Bakhardok
Aeroflot (Turkmen Civil Aviation Directorate, Ashkhabad Combined Aviation Detachment) Mil Mi-8 · Failure of the main rotor drive
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
- 15 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 1
- 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
- 1
- 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-8
- 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
- CCCP-22389
- Onboard fatalities
- 15
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft propeller/rotor
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
- Organizational issues › Development
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
The Mi-8 crash near Bakhardok was an aviation accident that occurred on Monday 19 November 1990 in the area of the settlement of Bakhardok (Ashkhabad Oblast) involving an Aeroflot Mi-8T helicopter, in which 15 people were killed.
Crash
The helicopter was performing a passenger flight carrying a shift of rotational drilling workers. In total there were 13 passengers and 3 crew members on board. At about 14:00 the Mi-8 was flying at an altitude of 1200 metres over the Karakum Desert when it entered a zone of severe turbulence. Then suddenly something banged, after which the machine began to shake and the main rotor speed began to decrease. Having lost lift, the helicopter fell to the ground near the settlement of Bakhardok, 90 kilometres from Ashkhabad. On impact there was an explosion, the blast wave of which threw commander Burmistrov out of the cockpit through the glazing. Burmistrov suffered serious injuries but nevertheless survived. Unlike him, the other 15 people (2 crew members and 13 passengers) were killed.
Investigation and cause
Causes
When the helicopter entered the turbulence zone, the main rotor drive began to be subjected to increased loads. Unable to withstand these loads, the driven gear wheel of the main rotor gearbox failed, which was the cause of the bang. Both systems were damaged, thereby ruling out the possibility of a safe landing. The failure of the driven gear wheel, which caused the crash, was due to a manufacturing defect.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Russian Wikipedia article “Катастрофа Ми-8 под Бахардоком” (revision 154272045, 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 под Бахардоком
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 154272045 · 2026-08-06 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q18236286
- 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 под Бахардоком" (page 5151632, revision 154272045), translated into English with AI assistance
- 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
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): An Aeroflot Mi-8 of the Turkmen directorate on a passenger flight: a state airline transport flight. The article: "The helicopter was performing a passenger flight carrying a shift of rotational drilling workers."
- 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.