MOSCOW. Feb 8 (Interfax-AVN) - A technical failure is the most likely cause of the MI-8 Hip helicopter crash in Chechnya, Major General Sergei Dementyev, deputy chief of the Land Forces aviation in charge of armament, told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday.
Dementyev did not rule out that the helicopter's pilots had made a mistake during the fight. A commission led by the Air Force commander will make the final conclusion on causes of the crash that killed seven servicemen, the general said.
According to him, the recent statistics of the losses of federal helicopters in Chechnya "evidences that the MI-8 and MI- 24 Hind helicopters have started crashing not only because of the well-known human factor but also because their metal parts are aging, their service lives have been extended several times and because of a chronic lack of spare parts."
"High intensity of combat operations in Chechnya primarily affects reliability of aircraft, component parts wear out ahead of time and aerodynamic capabilities are getting worse, let alone survivability of helicopters and their armored protection," Dementyev added.
Speaking about plans on the helicopter park modernization Dementyev said that "the upgrade of 10 helicopter planned for this year and supposed to improve their specifications and combat efficiency will have a minor effect on the general state of the helicopter park.
Earlier on Friday, Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky told Interfax that the main explanation for the Thursday crash of the MI-8 helicopter at the air base in Khankala, is engine failure. "The investigation is considering this theory as the main one," he said.