MOSCOW. Nov 12 (Interfax-AVN) - The aviation control commission of the North Caucasus military district believes that an MI-24 Hind helicopter caught fire while making a forced landing in Chechnya early on Monday because of a failure on the part of the crew, a source in the Land Forces department in charge of the army's aviation told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"The MI-24 fire support helicopter crash-landed near the Tolstoi-Yurt village at 10:45 a.m. Moscow time on November 11. While making the final approach at an altitude of 150m, the crew commander reported to ground control that one of the two engines had caught fire. According to initial data, the pilots failed to activate the fire-fighting system on time and cope with the fire in the air and on the ground. They managed to land the helicopter, but it burned down on the ground," the source said.
"According to the North Caucasus military district's aviation control commission, the helicopter's crash was caused by the crew's failure to take adequate steps to deal with the fire that started in the engine and to make a proper landing," the source said. He specified that the commission examined a number of theories, including that the helicopter was shot down from a portable anti- aircraft system. It has already been established that no fire was opened on the MI-24. The fire in the engine is presumed to have been caused by a short circuit.
The Chechen military prosecutor's office is investigating the MI-24 crash and reasons for the fire in its engine, the source said.