An-26 crash near Khabarovsk (2021)
CJSC "Flight Inspections and Systems" Antonov An-26 · CFIT (crashed into a mountain)
From Novy, Khabarovsk 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
- 6 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 0
- 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
- General aviation
Antonov An-26
- Aircraft type
- Antonov AN-26
- Category
- Airplane · 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
- RA-26673
- Onboard fatalities
- 6
- Route
- From Novy, KhabarovskTo not recorded
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
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 An-26 crash near Khabarovsk was an aviation disaster that occurred on 22 September 2021 on the territory of the Bolshekhekhtsirsky Nature Reserve (Khabarovsk Krai). An An-26KPA military transport aircraft owned by CJSC "Flight Inspections and Systems" was operating a technical flight from the airport of the city of Khabarovsk, but after some time crashed into a mountain and was completely destroyed; all 6 crew members on board were killed.
Chronology of events
The report that An-26KPA aircraft RA-26673 had lost contact came in at 11:45 Moscow time.
It later became known that the aircraft had been flying at an altitude of 600 metres, and only the crew was on board.
The search began immediately after contact with the crew was lost, but the work of the searchers was complicated by the weather conditions.
A Mi-8 helicopter, aircraft RA-24479, flew out to the area of the presumed crash of the aircraft, but was forced to return because of the weather conditions.
The search continued with the onset of daylight, and the crash site of the aircraft was located from the air. According to the crew of the search helicopter, no surviving crew members were found nearby.
Later, after ground rescue forces were able to reach the crash site, the deaths of all 6 crew members were confirmed. The crew members were from different cities of Russia, and there were no residents of Khabarovsk Krai among them. As a result of the crash the aircraft broke into several fragments and cannot be restored. The destruction of the aircraft occurred as a result of it crashing into a mountain at an altitude of 729 metres above sea level.
In total, 70 people and 20 pieces of equipment were involved in the operation to search for the missing aircraft.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The Interstate Aviation Committee conducted an investigation into the causes of the crash. The final report states:The cause of the aviation accident involving the An-26 aircraft RA-26673 was the performance of a flight to flight-check the radio beacon aids of runway 05R of Khabarovsk (Novy) airfield in instrument meteorological conditions at an altitude of 600 m QFE, which is significantly lower than the established minimum safe altitude (1200 m QFE) in the sector where the accident occurred, which led to a collision with a mountain slope in controlled flight.The aircraft's flight recorders were found at the crash site.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Russian Wikipedia article “Катастрофа Ан-26 под Хабаровском (2021)” (revision 155026992, 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 Ан-26 под Хабаровском (2021)
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 155026992 · 2026-09-13 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q108672261
- 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 Ан-26 под Хабаровском (2021)" (page 8996062, revision 155026992), 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 company-owned An-26 on a technical flight with only crew aboard, not a transport service: aerial work by a company. The article: "owned by CJSC "Flight Inspections and Systems" was operating a technical flight"
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
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.