Mi-2 crash on Lake Plateliai

The Mi-2 crash on Lake Plateliai was an aviation disaster involving an Mi-2 passenger helicopter of the Mažeikiai aero club "Aerobatika" that occurred on Sunday, 30 August 1998 on Lake Plateliai (Plungė District), killing 11 people. It is the deadliest air disaster in Lithuania.

Crash

That day the helicopter had been hired by Mažeikiai businessman Saulius Rakauskas (Saulius Rakauskas), who owned a chain of petrol stations. The businessman was celebrating his wedding, and the helicopter was intended to entertain the guests. The pilot was 49-year-old Nikolai Kiushkin, a resident of Riga. The flights were made over the nearby Lake Plateliai, and in total the helicopter was to make six such flights, the last one with the newlyweds. Four flights were completed without incident, after which 10 passengers boarded for the fifth flight. The Mi-2 began its flight over the lake, but at 15:20 it unexpectedly struck the water surface 750 metres from the shore, after which it sank at a depth of 7 metres. Only one young woman survived at the scene, but she suffered multiple fractures. A week and a half later, on 8 September, she died in hospital. Thus all 11 people on board were killed, including the mothers of both newlyweds and the groom's sister. As of now (2022) this is the deadliest air disaster in the history of Lithuania. In addition, it ranks second in the history of the Mi-2 helicopter, after the crash near Olyokminsk (25 killed).

I saw this tragedy. I was 200 metres from the crash site. The pilot made a turn climbing up from a height of 10 metres, flying around the island, then threw the helicopter down, cutting the throttle, and at minimum height increased the revs to gain altitude. He was a moment too late..

The landing gear caught the water first; from the contact the machine tilted and a blade entered the water. The fuselage was spun around in the water. The machine broke into pieces, and the wreckage was scattered over a large area.

The woman surfaced and was picked up by a judges' boat (half an hour before the tragedy a children's sailing race had finished on the lake, right at the crash site.)