Helicopter crash off Barentsburg

Barentsburg lies on Grønfjorden, about 60 km west of Longyearbyen. On 26 October 2017 a Russian Mi-8 helicopter crashed in Isfjorden, about 2 km off Heerodden near Barentsburg, on its way in to Kapp Heer. All eight people on board died. Store norske leksikon records that the town was deeply marked by the crash, and says that Kapp Heer has a non-commercial helicopter landing site by Barentsburg. The Barents Observer reported that the flight came from Pyramiden, which lies northeast of Longyearbyen, and that the distance to the landing site north of Barentsburg is 78 km.

The Accident Investigation Board Norway (AIBN) gives the flight as route CVS312, operated by Convers Avia. The AIBN says the helicopter last spoke with the flight information service at Longyearbyen airport at 15:06 local time. The Barents Observer wrote that the rescue centre of Northern Norway reported it missing at 15:35 Norwegian time, and that at 19:30 the rescue service described snow and low visibility in the area. Five of the eight were crew and three were passengers, staff of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute. The paper cited Interfax for the fact that all eight were Russian citizens, and TASS for the report that the helicopter carried no emergency position-indicating radiobeacon. The helicopter belonged to Trust Arktikugol.

The AIBN final report of 2020 says the cause was loss of visual references while the pilots flew the closing stage of their approach to Heerodden. Visibility was reported well below the minima set for it, yet the pilots continued. The Norwegian text of the report adds that the weather was significantly worse than the published minima for the base, that Convers Avia allowed only visual flight on Svalbard, and that the crew lost their visual references in dusk. The board found no technical fault.

The AIBN report says everyone got out of the helicopter, but none wore life jackets or survival suits, and the helicopter had no life raft or emergency floats. Impact damage filled it quickly with water, and it probably tipped over before it sank. The board assumes that after a few minutes the people became too cold to stay on the surface. The wreck was found at a depth of 209 m. A single body lay on the seabed some 150 m away. The other seven were not found, despite searches along much of the coastline of Isfjorden.

The Barents Observer reported that the rescue centre led the search with two helicopters, and that the vessel Polarsyssel, which belongs to Sysselmesteren (the Governor of Svalbard), was in the area. A Russian rescue team was readied in Moscow. The AIBN sent personnel to Svalbard and worked with the Governor and Russian authorities. In its notice of 8 November the board said it had recovered the body and tail of the helicopter, the voice recorder and the GPS units. The memory unit of the flight data recorder was not found. On 9 November the recordings were read in Moscow, and the voice recorder held about 25 minutes of good sound. The board issued a preliminary report on 1 December 2017.

The AIBN made recommendations in 2020. It asked Convers Avia to audit its organisation at the Heerodden base, which had developed deviations from company procedures and standards despite quarterly internal audits. It asked that Norwegian rules require emergency equipment on multi-engine helicopters on Svalbard, and that helicopter flights in the polar night be flown by instrument-rated pilots in suitably equipped helicopters. The Barents Observer wrote in March 2020 that the company had lost its second helicopter in the accident that killed eight, and that a new Mi-8 had been delivered.