A Russian Army Mi-28N ‘Night Hunter’ helicopter crashed today injuring the two crew members. The gunship commander later died of his wounds at a nearby hospital. The helicopter crashed at the southern Stavropol territory. The helicopter on a training flight when it lost control at an altitude of some 400 meters and fell down near the settlement of Praskoveya in the Budennovsk district of the Caucasus, at about 10:40 a.m. Moscow time. According to preliminary assessment, the crash was caused by engine failure.
Two years ago another Mi-28N crashed during firing trials on a range near Moscow. The cause of that accident has not yet been confirmed, but is thought to be related to a loss of power following gas ingestion during rocket firing. The mishape occured when the helicopter was firing unguided rockets from a low hover of around 130ft (40m) when it suddenly lost power and landed heavily. Its tail rotor and pylon were destroyed in the crash, but both aircrew survived that crash unscathed, and left the crashed aircraft unassisted. Today’s accident apparently occured at a higher altitude and involved uncontrolled descent, causing severe, and fatal injury despite the plane’s inherent impact absorbing design.
