VLADIMIR KARNOZOV / MOSCOW
The transport helicopter accident rate in CIS countries in 2002 improved by a factor of 2.4 compared with the previous year, according to the Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK).
Helicopters were involved in eight accidents, including three serious events in which 30 people were killed, MAK reports. In the worst, on 10 July, a Mil Mi-6A crashed on the Taimyr peninsula following a failure of a gearbox bearing and resulting fire, but the remaining seven cases were attributed to human factors. Light transport aircraft in the CIS were involved in seven accidents, two of them serious, killing 18 people. Most involved Antonov An-2 biplanes, three of them suffering engine failures.
Source: Flight International
