Convers Avia Flight 312

Convers Avia

Company type	Airline
Industry	Aviation
Founded	2010
Headquarters	Russia
Products	Helicopter transport services

On 26 October 2017, Convers Avia Flight 312, a Mil Mi-8 helicopter flying from Pyramiden Heliport to Barentsburg Heliport within the Svalbard archipelago, crashed into the waters of the Isfjorden fjord located just north of Barentsburg. All eight individuals aboard lost their lives. The subsequent investigation determined that spatial disorientation caused by poor weather conditions led the crew to lose visual orientation.

Aircraft

The helicopter involved was a Russian-registered Mil Mi-8AMT bearing tail number RA-22312, manufactured in 2013. It was delivered to Konvers Avia in 2014.

Crew and passengers

The captain, a 43-year-old male, joined Convers Avia in 2010 initially as a Mil Mi-8 first officer before being promoted to commander in 2014. His most recent certification check occurred sixteen days prior to the accident. He had accumulated a total of 8,265 flight hours, including 114 hours on the Mil Mi-8.

The first officer, also male and aged 39, had been employed by Convers Avia for six months before the crash. He possessed a total of 3,790 flight hours, with 1,646 hours logged on the Mil Mi-8.

The flight engineer, a 39-year-old man certified in 2005 and hired by Convers Avia in 2016, completed his last proficiency checks twenty-one days before the incident. He had amassed 4,413 flight hours overall, including 59 hours on this helicopter model.

Additionally, five passengers were onboard, all employees of the mining company Arktikugol.

Accident

The helicopter departed from Pyramiden Heliport on a mission to transport mining personnel across the Isfjorden fjord en route to Barentsburg Heliport. The final communication with the aircraft occurred at 3:06 pm local time, while it was flying over the fjord's waters. At that moment, weather conditions were severe, featuring horizontal visibility below one kilometer and vertical visibility under one hundred meters, accompanied by heavy snowfall and strong winds. These conditions fell short of the airline’s minimum operational requirements; nevertheless, the flight proceeded. Two minutes later, at 3:08 pm, the helicopter struck the sea surface and crashed.

Following the disappearance of the helicopter, a coordinated search effort was launched involving Norwegian and Russian authorities. Assets deployed included the Polarsyssel, a vessel operated by the Governor of Svalbard, the NoCGV Barentshav of the coast guard, the autonomous underwater vehicle Hugin, as well as several helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. After three days of intensive searching, wreckage was located at a depth of 209 meters. On November 4, investigators retrieved the Mil Mi-8’s flight data recorder and GPS equipment. Of the eight individuals on board, only one body was recovered approximately 150 meters from the crash site. It is believed that all occupants perished due to drowning or hypothermia, with survival chances further diminished by the absence of life rafts or personal flotation devices aboard the helicopter.

Investigation

The helicopter debris was salvaged on November 4 by the vessel Maersk Forza and subsequently transported to AIBN facilities for examination. The Norwegian Accident Investigation Board (AIBN) released its final report in 2020, determining that spatial disorientation experienced by the pilots led to loss of situational awareness and ultimately caused the aircraft to impact the water. The report emphasized that according to company regulations, Flight 312’s crew should have aborted their approach given that visibility and weather conditions were below prescribed minimums; failure to do so was a critical factor in the accident. Furthermore, the helicopter lacked any flotation devices, and occupants had no access to lifejackets or emergency rafts.

Following these findings, AIBN issued safety recommendations focusing on enhancing operational protocols for flights in hazardous environments such as those encountered in the Svalbard archipelago. Recommendations included improved emergency equipment standards—addressing deficiencies evident during Flight 312—and upgraded onboard instrumentation. Additionally, AIBN urged Convers Avia to strengthen oversight procedures and enforce stricter safety compliance measures to rectify multiple identified violations.

Aftermath

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg expressed her sympathies to the bereaved families, the Russian community residing in Svalbard, and extended her condolences to the Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev.

In 2018, the victims' relatives appealed to the Norwegian authorities to initiate a renewed search for the seven individuals who remained unaccounted for following the helicopter recovery. One family member remarked that "the absence of any bodies after the crash gave us hope that some might have survived." Subsequently, a legal investigation was launched by the prosecutor's office in Troms og Finnmark. This inquiry was ultimately closed in 2020 after the publication of the conclusive report.