MOSCOW. Nov 20 (Interfax-AVN) -Two crashes, two breakdowns and two emergency situations in combat have occurred in the Interior Ministry aviation since 2000.
As a result, five MI-8 Hip helicopters and an MI-24 Hind helicopter were lost, and seven crewmembers and 15 passengers died, a competent source in the Interior Ministry aviation staff told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wedensday.
He said that the crashes, breakdowns and emergency situations occurred when pilots were accomplishing combat and service missions in the North Caucasus.
Mistakes in piloting resulting from a low training level caused a crash and a breakdown in 2000, missiles from portable SAM systems caused two emergency situations in 2002, fire from the ground, a collision with a power line and a crash water landing caused a crash in 2002, and failure of aircraft equipment caused a breakdown in 2002.
Over this period, the Interior Ministry has registered 187 prerequisites for aircraft accidents, mostly caused by pilots' mistakes in piloting and design or factory defects of aircraft.