Flying in the Face of Adversity

摘要

UTair Aviation's commitments to the United Nations (UN) has led it to deploy aircraft to some of the most dangerous and politically unstable regions of the world. The carrier and its crews have been decorated on numerous occasions for humanitarian work with accolades including Russia's Order of Courage and the Sikorsky Humanitarian Service Award. The latter was presented to the crew of UNO-838 for its actions on November 26, 2009. The UTair crew - led by pilot-in-command Sergey Ignatov - was deployed to support peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo where it was tasked with evacuating 23 UN soldiers who were under enemy fire. During the course of the rescue, the Mil Mi-8 was struck at least 15 times by gunfire, including several rounds through the cockpit windshield. The fuselage, aft cargo doors, rotor blades, engine cowling, and an external fuel tank were also damaged. All 23 troops were evacuated and the helicopter subsequently landed safely.