Nizhniye Kresty – Pevek

On August 10, 1959 at 07:40 PM, Nizhniye Kresty – Pevek experienced a crash involving Lisunov LI-2, operated by Polyarnaya Aviatsiya, with the event recorded near Cape Shelagsky Chukotka okrug.

The flight was categorized as survey / patrol / reconnaissance and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

10 people were known to be on board, 7 fatalities were recorded, 3 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 70.0%.

Crew on board: 5, crew fatalities: 2, passengers on board: 5, passenger fatalities: 5, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. On a flight from Nizhniye Kresty (now Cherski) to Pevek on a survey flight of the icy continent, the copilot decided to cut the route short when the captain was in the passenger cabin and overflew Cape Shelagski (469 meters). On approach to the cape, the aircraft was caught by strong downdraft and eventually struck the hill with the lower fuselage, was thrown up into the air again and eventually crashed into a large boulder and caught fire. Three crew members were rescued while seven others occupants were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration CCCP-04242, MSN 184 399 09, year of manufacture 1951.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 70.1062°, 170.4296°.