Russian Mi-8 missing in Svalbard, Norway
 

Been to both of these extremely remote locations, not a lot of hope if you go down there :(

Wreck found.
 

According to NRK.no the wreck is found by the Norwegian Cost Guard ca two kilometers NE of Kapp Heer , the Russian Heli base.

The ROW Hugin has located the wreck at 209 meters next to Barentsburg, the Russian Mining town at the Norwegian Island of Svalbard.

A Russian rescue and salvage team of 40, just landed in Langyearbyen and are assisting the Norwegian efforts.
The Norwegian "NTSB" is in charge of the investigation.

HRS, The Main Rescue Sentral of Norway is now giving the responsibility to the Police as it is no longer a search for survivors..............

Very sad news. A bit more here from the Beeb: Missing Russian helicopter found in Norway Arctic sea - BBC News. Condolences to all.

I'm a bit curious about the report that states there were five crew members aboard the craft. I was in the cockpit of a TU-154 once upon a time, and noted that it had five: pilot, copilot, flight engineer, radio operator and navigator. Is the same or similar setup used for Russian helicopters like the Mi-8?

They certainly fly 3 crew with an FE so I assumed two rear crew quartermasters.

The first picture of the wreckage on the sea floor.

https://dbstatic.no/68833671.jpg?ima...024&height=615

The UK flagged subsea construction vessel Maersk Forza is expected to be on site by Wednesday to start the salvage.

The a main part of the wreckage has been recovered and here is a picture of it on board the Maersk Forza.
http://svalbardposten.no/bilder/nyhe...tbig/14355.jpg

One victim was found earlier this week, but nobody in the aircraft.

Looks like it didn't go in hard, likely everyone got out ok, but I'm guessing that water is extremely cold :|

No flotation gear installed I guess ?

The CVR has been found, but not the FDR.
In a previous accident in 2008 the CVR was of the magnetic wire type. That report is here.
AIBN updates on the investigation can be found here.

The water temperature on the western side of Svalbard is is helped by the Gulf stream, and could still be about 4-5 degrees this time of the year. (On the east coast it is currently forecast to be -1!)

The one person found earlier in the week was on the sea bed about 130 m from the wreckage.

AIBN issued a statement today that their work on the crash site is finished.

From the accident of the Mi-8AMT registration RA-22312 the AIBN has recovered the fuselage, the tail-boom, the CVR and GNSS-units. Severely damaged parts from the FDR have been found, but no memory unit. The condition of the FDR makes any further search for the memory unit pointless.

The CVR and GNSS-units has been brought to Moscow for downloading and analysis in cooperation with the Russian AIB MAK (Interstate Aviation Committee).

The aircraft will be brought to mainland Norway for further investigation.

A search for the 7 crewmembers and passengers still missing is ongoing.

Peter perfect: "No flotation gear installed I guess ? "

why do you need floats if you have 2 engines?

The purpose of flotation bags is to keep the helicopter afloat and upright in the event of a water landing for a sufficient length of time to allow occupants to escape into life rafts.

TUPE "in the event of a water landing"
do you mean a forcedlanding on water?

Engine redundancy benefits are not all they are cracked up to be OBVIOUSLY

Please don’t SHOUT.

Mi 8
 

Mi8 engine redundancy ??? Hahaha.......

AnFI - you should know better than to pollute a thread about loss of life with your 'special' agenda.

I was going to point out rules, and facts, but it’s more productive talking sense to stuffed animal than AnFI. You might assume the stuffed animal is incapable of logical thought, but there is no proof.

Mi-8 History.
 

I was just out last night and pulled a few fish. Thinking about the unfortunate crew and pax on this flight. Its awfully dark and cold up there,,,

As i understand the Mi-8 is one of the workhorses of Soviet.
What is the accident history in civilian use and particularly with regards to flight in ice ?
Has any of You had the honor to pilot this a/c and can anyone give us a hint of is weakness?

https://www.tu.no/artikler/3-710-har...ntsburg/410940

This article (In Norwegian) argues that statistically there is lower death rate in Mi-8 family of helicopter than in the Puma series.

There have been produced 17.000 Mi-8 from 1967 and many have, beeing operated in many third world countries, not had the fortune of receiving proper maintenance as specified by MIL design bureu in former Soviet and Russia even though the Spitzbergen aircraft likely had proper maintenance program and experienced mechanics and pilot.

I have a few hours in the Mi-17 variant and I quite like it. I did not fly it in icing conditions but it has all the resources to fly in icing climates as Russia is in areas a rather chilly place.

Regarding weaknesses capt B, then the early single feeder tank system could be considered a weakness I presume however multiple warnings would precede an actual fuel exhaustion and give time for the crew to perform precautionary landing before dual engine flameout. I don´t remember anymore the minutes to flameout, it was not alot but enough to land from lower altitudes. Other than that it´s robust and I do not recollect any single source of problem areas prone on the type.

Preliminary report
 

A brief preliminary report has been posted on the AIBN website.

Reminds me of the Canadian Bo105 accident a year or so ago - perfectly surviveable ditching with all egressing before the aircraft sank, then sucumbing to the cold due to inadequate equipment (suits, rafts, jackets)!

Welcome to the helicopter industry that is outside the highly internally regulated offshore world, which is without the economic leverage to add that kind of operating cost. 2 km out over water is nothing, we'll hover a Bell 47 on skids out there, crossing a 30 mile stretch in Jetranger the same, and we all know that a 100 yards from shore in winter nobody is going to make it, lifejacket or not. More interesting is why a multi-crew multi-engine helicopter would go in the water in the first place, a question that hasn't been answered yet and that seems to elude even the North Sea offshore industry to this day.

Especially since according to the report Life Jackets were on board but not used. Indicating that there must have been a surprise element to the ditching.


Possibly still some kind of loss of Control which maybe was recovered just before contact with the water. Or unprepared autorotation from low altitude -for whatever reason. Strange.

212 Man,

Are you referring to the accident of C-GCFU in the Mc'Lure Strait in DEC 2013?
If so it was not a ditching, it was flown into the water at speed due to lack of visual cues.

Interesting read, from what they said about the CVR download seems like a CFIT accident. Possibly descended (gently)into the water in low visibility conditions? That would explain the minimal damage and the fact nobody was wearing life jackets. One moment you're flying the next thing you know the thing is sinking and you're in sub zero water... no time to react.

The SAR aircraft reported poor vis during the search too. I'll be interested to rad the final report.

The Norwegians don’t seem to be having much luck with heavy helicopters in these last few years.

Think you'll find that this accident is a Russian helicopter and operator...

Ok.... I’ll rephrase it:
They don’t seem to be having much luck with heavy helicopters in Norway.

Makes about as much sense as the Italians having problems with the ''waterproofing'' flight testing of their NH90's......

I was, and thanks for the correction although my assertion that the water contact was survivable and that the occupants egressed successfully was correct. Aviation Investigation Report A13H0002 - Transportation Safety Board of Canada

sorry, I have no info about that one

"why do you need floats if you have 2 engines?"

Think the answer is probably the MI-8 does not float well. Its also nice to be able to buy some time to get into a raft in freezing water. Looks like maybe they had neither.

The final report is out today.