New details emerge of the air incident with the Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter

4 September, 2023 Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter. Illustrative photo. Details of an aviation incident involving a Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter that crashed on September 1 have been posted online.

Russian media reported the details of the incident. The Russian Ka-52 crashed on the morning of September 1. According to the Russian media, the Ka-52 helicopter crashed while flying over the Sea of Azov, about 1.5 kilometers from the coastline.

As per the preliminary version, the crash could have been caused by difficult weather conditions, namely heavy fog in the area of the flight. Two Ka-52 crew members were evacuated during the rescue operation. According to Russian propagandists, the crew was able to eject.

The exact cause is yet unknown, however the fog version may be confirmed. The helicopter could not have collided with a serious obstacle at sea, but it is likely that the pilots could have lost control of the flight altitude and crashed into the water. The latter could have been caused by avionics failure or crew negligence.

An alternative version is that the crash was caused by a critical technical malfunction. This often occurs to Russian aviation. This year alone, Russian Mi-28 and Mi-24 helicopters, a MiG-31 aircraft, and two Su-25 jet aircraft crashed due to malfunctions (1, 2).

The possibility of friendly fire from Russian air defense systems cannot be ruled out due to misidentification of the target. Similar cases have already happened and can be explained by the active work of Ukrainian systems in that area.

Russian Ka-52 helicopter (RF-91335; 43 yellow, formerly 43 white) destroyed in the Zaporizhzhia region. December 2022.

Ukraine. Photo from social media

The Russians have repeatedly reported the detection of Ukrainian drones and cruise missiles in the area. Also, in April 2022, the Ukrainian military conducted a series of daring operations to infiltrate Ukrainian helicopters into the rear of the Russian forces to deliver supplies to the encircled military in Mariupol.

Part of their route ran across the Sea of Azov.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the invasion forces have lost 42 attack helicopters of this type under various circumstances.

Interestingly, the Ukrainian military managed to capture one damaged Ka-52 in February 2022.