The helicopter that crashed last January in a suburb of Kiev, killing 14 people, including Interior Minister Denis Monastirski, was flying at low altitude in very adverse weather conditions, prosecutors investigating the crash said.
The helicopter was flying while fog and crashed near a nursery on 18 Januarya fact that the president Volodymyr Zelensky had then called it a “horrible tragedy”, before calling for an investigation into the circumstances of the crash.
Interior Minister Monastirsky, 42, one of the most prominent members of Zelensky’s staff in the war against the Russian invasion, and his first deputy minister who were on board the helicopter were among the victims of the crash.
The helicopter was flying to a location near the front line of the war. The Attorney General prosecuted five emergency service officials for violating flight safety rules.
“According to the research, the officials committed flagrant violations of transport safety and air transport operation ruleswhich caused the death of people”, the announcement emphasizes.
The goal of the prosecutor’s investigation is to also prosecute the head of the flight safety department in the emergency services for possible negligence. Prosecutors did not name the emergency officials.
They also said officials had used the helicopter to deploy to potential emergencies in and around Kiev and the helicopter was not licensed for other types of flights.
The helicopter pilot was not informed of the weather conditions during the flight path, and specifically about the conditions in the airspace over Brovary, an eastern suburb of Kyiv where the aircraft crashed. The crew also did not have the proper permits to fly in severe weather, prosecutors said.
Due to adverse weather conditions, the helicopter crew was forced to fly at an extremely low altitude, even lower than the height of buildings along the route, prosecutors said.
The captain saw an obstacle and began to make a circular maneuver, but he suddenly gained altitude, lost his orientation and crashed due to a lack of necessary skills, they stressed.
Source: News Beast
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