KHANKALA. April 3 (Interfax-AVN) - Bad weather was the reason for the crash of two MI-24 Hind helicopters in Chechnya in which four pilots died, a source close to the commission investigating the incidents told Interfax-Military News Agency on Thursday.
"A cursory probe established that the helicopters had not been hit. Neither did their equipment fail. Both MI-24s hit a mountain in bad weather," he said.
The source said the flight recorders of one of the helicopters have been deciphered. They confirm the main explanation, he said.
Experts will start deciphering flight recorders of the second MI-24 helicopter in the near future. "The official reason for the crashes will be announced after that," the source said.
Two federal MI-24 combat helicopters went missing in southeastern Chechnya on March 20. One of them was found in the mountains at about 3,000m above sea level on March 25. Rescue services found the crash scene of the second helicopter on Wednesday.
The crashes killed deputy commander of a helicopter regiment Lieutenant Colonel Vitaly Boiko, head of the flight security service Major Alexander Darvin, wing navigator Captain Vladimir Skripochnikov and flight operator Senior Lieutenant Rodion Sultanov.