A Russian military helicopter has crashed during a training night flight over the Baltic Sea, killing two pilots, the Russian army said today.

The accident happened close to the Russian region of Kaliningrad, sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, at 23:30 Moscow time last night, the Russian Baltic Fleet said in a statement quoted by the Interfax news agency.

“The crew of the Ka-29 helicopter, consisting of two pilots, were killed,” the statement said.

A search operation has been launched to recover the bodies.

The crash comes after a Mi-8 helicopter crashed in a city in far eastern Russia on Wednesday, killing six people.

It was operated by the local Vostok airline. </s> A Russian military helicopter with two pilots on board crashed in the Baltic Sea late on Thursday.

The Ka-29 assault transport aircraft crashed during night-time test flights in Russia’s westernmost exclave of Kaliningrad, the Russian Navy’s Baltic Fleet said Friday.

“The crew of the helicopter manufacturer’s two test pilots have died,” the Baltic Fleet said in a statement cited by the state-run TASS news agency.

It added that the flight took place in “simple weather conditions.”

This appears to be at least the third Russian helicopter crash since the start of the year.

On Wednesday, six people were killed when a transport helicopter crashed during a training mission in the Khabarovsk region, leading to a day of mourning to be declared in the region on Thursday. </s> The Russian military says a navy helicopter has crashed during a night training flight, killing both pilots.

The navy said the crash occurred while the Ka-29 of the Baltic Fleet was performing a training mission late Thursday.

The Investigative Committee said Friday the helicopter had been making a run to land on a navy ship. It said rescuers have found the helicopter’s debris and the probe is ongoing.

The Ka-29 is a Soviet-designed twin-engine helicopter intended for use from navy ships. </s> The Russian military says a navy helicopter has crashed during a night training flight, killing both pilots.

The Russian Navy said the crash occurred while the Ka-29 of the Baltic Fleet was performing a training mission late on April 12.

The Investigative Committee said on April 13 that the helicopter had been making a run to land on a ship. It said rescuers had found the helicopter's debris and the probe was ongoing.

The Ka-29 is a Soviet-designed twin-engine helicopter intended for use from navy ships.

Based on reporting by TASS, Interfax, and AP </s> A Russian military helicopter crashed over the Baltic Sea during a training night flight, in which two pilots were killed as reported by the Russian army on Friday.

The Russian helicopter crash took place in the Russian region of Kaliningrad, sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania at 20:30 GMT on Thursday night. Russian Baltic Fleet issued a statement regarding the helicopter crash news.

The Russian helicopter was Ka-29 helicopter with two pilots who were killed in the accident. A search operation has been launched to recover the pilot’s bodies. This crash took place after a Mi-8 helicopter crashed in a city in far eastern Russia on Wednesday, in which six people were killed.

The helicopter was operated by the local Vostok airline. </s> "A helicopter crashed in the Kaliningrad region … in the Baltic Sea. Two crew members were on board," the source said.

Search and rescue operation is being carried out.

On Wednesday, six people were killed in a Mi-8 helicopter crash in the Russian Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk. </s> Interfax quoted the ministry’s press service as saying that the Tupolev Tu-22M3 made a “hard landing” and was destroyed after getting caught in a snow squall in the Murmansk region. The latest crash follows a deadly collision between two Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bombers over the Sea of Japan in Far East Russia on Friday.

At least three crew members were killed and one injured when a military strategic bomber crashed in northwestern Russia on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry has said.

“Two pilots were taken to a medical facility where they’re receiving the needed assistance. Two crew members died,” the Defense Ministry was quoted as saying about the latest crash, citing reports on the ground.

One of the injured crew members was later proclaimed dead, Interfax cited a local emergency services official as saying, increasing the death toll to three people.

Emergency services told Interfax a fire broke out at the crash site.

An unnamed source in the security services later told the state-run TASS news agency that pilot error compounded by bad weather may have caused the deadly crash.



Update: An earlier version of this article said that two crew members had died. It has been updated to account for the third death. </s> A pilot error or possible technical fault most likely caused the Russian military plane to crash into the Black Sea on Sunday, Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said on Monday, emphasising that authorities were not looking at terrorism as a cause, AP reported. The flight was heading to Latakia, Syria, after making a brief stop at Sochi for refuelling. It crashed into the sea minutes after taking off with 92 people on board, who are all feared dead.

While Sokolov said Russia did not see the need to up security measures at airports despite the Syrian connection to the crash, aviation experts have highlighted factors that suggest a terror attack. “Possible malfunctions...certainly would not have prevented the crew from reporting them,” Vitaly Andreyev, a former senior Russian air traffic controller, told news agency RIA Novosti. The fact that the debris of the Defense Ministry’s Tu-154 plane was scattered over a wide area in the sea was another noted factor indicating a terror strike.

Rescue teams, including 139 divers, recovered 11 bodies and “154 fragments” of bodies by Monday morning, said Major General Igor Konashenkov, spokesperson for the Defence Ministry, BBC reported. The bodies have been flown to Moscow to be identified. Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered an investigation into the crash and also declared Monday a nationwide day of mourning.

The hunt is on to recover the flight recorders, but the Russian transport minister said it would be a challenge to locate them as the devices did not have radio beacons. Authorities are combing an area of 10 sq km in the Black Sea to find fragments of the aircraft and the bodies of those who were on board, which included Russia’s world famous military choir. </s> Investigators have found one of flight data recorders of the Russian military aircraft that crashed in the Black Sea. The black box was found 1,600 metres away from the shore, the Russian defence ministry told a news agency. It will be sent to Moscow later on Tuesday for analysis, reported Reuters.

Another report said investigators found the data recorder in “good condition”. They also said that the location of the second black box had been identified, according to BBC. Earlier, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov had said it would be a challenge to locate the flight recorders as the devices did not have radio beacons.

The black box has information that could help investigators determine what caused the crash. A person close to the investigation told another Russian news agency that the military aircraft may have been overloaded. “Witness accounts and other objective data obtained during the investigation suggest the plane was unable to gain height and for some reason – possibly overloading or a technical fault – crashed into the sea,” said the official who did not want to be named. Earlier, Transport Minister Sokolov had said that a pilot error or possible technical fault most likely caused the Russian military plane to crash into the Black Sea.

Investigators have also found “a further five fragments of the plane”, said the Defence Ministry. These included pieces of fuselage and engine fragments. The search for the bodies continue. Remains of only 16 of the 92 people who died have been found so far, reported BBC.

All of this comes a day after the main body of the crashed plane was found in the Black Sea and rescue teams also recovered 11 bodies and 154 “fragments” of bodies. The bodies have been flown to Moscow to be identified.

On December 25, the plane with 92 people on board, including journalists, military staff, musicians from the Alexandrov Ensemble and an official army choir of the Russian armed forces, went off the radar soon after taking off from Sochi. The Tu-154 plane did not check in with air traffic control at its scheduled time of 5.40 am (local), after taking off at 5.20 am. The plane was flying over the Black Sea when it disappeared. The flight, which was classified as not being civilian, was heading to Latakia, Syria.
Russian authorities say a Kamov Ka-29 belonging to the Baltic Fleet crashed late yesterday whilst attempting to land on a ship, killing two people.