Russian military transport plane crashes, Northern Fleet Air Force Commander killed

Ask AI · What impact does the death of Lieutenant General Otroshchenko have on the Northern Fleet’s air combat operations?

On March 31 local time, a Russian An-26 transport aircraft crashed in Crimea, killing 29 people onboard.

According to reports from RIA Novosti, on April 6 local time, Russia’s Murmansk Oblast governor Andrei Chibis said that a Russian Air Force lieutenant general died in the accident.

Chibis said: “Last week, a tragedy occurred. An aircraft crashed in Crimea, and our Northern Fleet personnel unfortunately died, including Alexander Otroshchenko, the commander of the Northern Fleet’s mixed aviation army. We met just a few days ago.”

 

Alexander Otroshchenko Russian Ministry of Defense

It is understood that Otroshchenko was born in 1962 in Stavropol. He previously served as commander of the Northern Fleet’s 45th Air Force and Air Defense Group, and later as commander of the Northern Fleet’s mixed aviation corps. He was awarded the title “Honored Military Flight Pilot of the Russian Federation,” and in 2019 he was promoted to lieutenant general.

The Northern Fleet was upgraded in 2021 into an independent unit at the military district level. Subsequently, only some units of the 45th Air Force and Air Defense Group were transferred to the Leningrad Military District, while the main force was redesignated as the Northern Fleet’s mixed aviation corps, which includes multiple Russian ship-based aviation units.

Late on March 31 local time, an An-26 transport aircraft carrying out a routine flight mission crashed near the village of Kuybyshevo in Crimea. The accident killed 6 crew members and 23 passengers. Sources said the aircraft struck a cliff.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said the preliminary cause was a technical malfunction, and it has formed an investigation commission to look into the accident’s cause.

It is known that the An-26 is a light tactical military transport aircraft that can transport cargo and up to 40 passengers over short- and medium-haul routes. This aircraft type has been in service since the late 1960s and has long been a mainstay aircraft for the Russian military.

In recent years, the An-26 has experienced multiple fatal crash accidents. In 2022, a Ukrainian An-26 crashed while conducting a technical flight in the southeastern Ukrainian oblast of Zaporizhzhia, killing one person. In 2020, another An-26 crashed while conducting a training flight in northeastern Ukraine; of the 27 people onboard, all but one died.

In addition, in 2020, an An-26 crashed in South Sudan, killing eight people including 5 Russians. In 2017, an An-26 crashed when landing in Côte d’Ivoire in West Africa, and 4 of the 10 people onboard died.