User:Tony Mach/1980 Kazan Kamov-27 crash landing

ru:Крушение вертолета Ка-27 в Казани 26 ноября 1980 года

The 1980 Kazan Kamov-27 crash landing refers to an crash landing on November 26, 1980, of an military Ka-27 helicopter on a busy intersection in the city of Kazan. The city with about 1 Million inhabitants was at that time the capital of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the Soviet Union. In the Post-Soviet states the crash is known as The collapse of the Kamov-27 in Kazan. While no one was killed in the crash landing, rumors circulated in the Soviet Union that dozens of people had been killed and the government would want to hide the supposed disaster.

The circumstances of the incident
On November 26, 1980 three military Ka-27 helicopter were to be flown under their own power from the factory in Kumertau in the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to Severomorsk in the Murmansk Oblast, were they were to be used in their naval-warfare role. Each helicopter was piloted by one person, without additional crew. The helicopter engines were tested at the factory before the departure, yet only one of the aircraft was refueled after the engine test, while the other two were not. Furthermore the pilots did not check the aircraft properly before their journey.

A first stop was planned at the Kazan helicopter plant about 550 km away, before continuing the journey towards Severomorsk. The group flew in a triangle formation - one leading, with two behind to the right and to the left – which caused the trailing craft to consume more fuel due to the turbulence (so called "wash") of the lead aircraft. When an emergency fuel warning was signaled in his instruments, the helicopter pilot Major Olkhovik immediately radioed the leader of the group. The leader of the group refused to change course and land, as the destination was a little less than 20 km away. Major Olkhovik persisted, asking to divert and land at the near airport "Kazan-2" before entering airspace over the city of Kazan, but was again refused permission.

The aircraft ran out of fuel and both engines stopped as it flew over the city of Kazan, still 4 km from its destination. At an altitude of 200 m, with both engines out, the helicopter still travelled at a speed of 180 km/h (110 mph) and Major Olkhovik was able to guide the helicopter to the intersection of the two big streets, The Decembrist Street and The Street of Revolt of the city of Kazan, known as the Square of ​​the Rebellion. During the emergency landing the helicopter damaged several overhead cables and an tram standing at traffic lights, before it toppled over and came to rest on it's left side.

While the lead helicopter made it to the Kazan helicopter plant with the onboard fuel, the third helicopter ran out fuel as well and had to land two blocks away from the crash site on the lawn of a stadium.

Nobody was killed in the crash landing, and the tram was, besides the driver, empty on its way to the depot. The quick removal of the debris and repair of the damaged intersection however lead to rumors that supposedly many people in the tram were killed by the rotor blades and that the Soviet government would want to hide this alleged disaster.

Results of the investigation
An investigation into the causes of the crash came to the following conclusions: No one was punished for the accident. In jest the anti-ship helicopter regiment in Severomorsk was informally renamed to "separate anti-tram Kazan aviation regiment".
 * 1) Irresponsible behavior of the leader of the group.
 * 2) Inadequate technical preparation of the flight from the engineering and technical services.
 * 3) Lack of initiative.
 * 4) Temporary crew instructions for the Ka-27 which lead to increased fuel consumption.
 * 5) Lack of additional fuel tanks for ferry flights.

Links

 * See Russian wikipedia article on the crash for an image of the crashed helicopter