Flight recorders recovered from Russian plane crash
May 6, 2019
Flight recorders from a plane that caught fire during an emergency landing at a Moscow airport have been retrieved. At least 41 people were killed, with officials probing whether equipment or human error were to blame.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Globallookpress.com/City News Moskva
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Russia's main investigative body on Monday said both flight recorders had been recovered from the Sukhoi passenger plane that caught fire while making an emergency landing at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. At least 41 people, including two children, lost their lives.
The Sukhoi SSJ100 turned back to Moscow during a flight to Murmansk for unspecified reasons. Video on Russian television showed fire bursting from the plane's underside as it landed.
Despite the incident, Russian Transport Minister Yevgeny Dietrich said Russia saw no reason to ground its domestic-made Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft.
Dietrich told reporters that 33 passengers and four crew members survived, while six of the survivors are in serious condition and receiving treatment.
'I wouldn't fly on this type of airplane'
Vadim Lukashevich, an independent aviation expert who previously worked as an engineer at Sukhoi, told DW that there have been safety concerns about this type of aircraft.
Ever since international sanctions were implemented against Russia in 2014, it has become difficult to obtain parts for the planes.
"I wouldn't fly on this type of airplane," Lukashevich told DW.
He added that if there is an accident with a plane in military aviation, that plane model is immediately grounded — the same cannot be said for passenger planes.
"In civilian aviation we don't do that because there are the airlines to think about, the profits, there are commercial interests at play. And that means we don't stop using the planes," Lukashevich said, adding: "I think that there can never be enough security measures in civilian aviation."
Europe's major plane crashes of the 21st century
DW takes a look at a few of the most deadly and significant plane crashes in Europe in the 21st century.
Image: AP/Toshihiko Sato
European aviation disasters of the 21st century: Germanwings Airbus A320
A Germanwings Airbus A320 crashed into the French Alps on March 24, 2015 during a flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf. All 144 passengers and six crew members were killed. A co-pilot with mental problems intentionally crashed the plane.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17
Rebels in eastern Ukraine were accused of shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on July 17, 2014 during a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board died, 193 of them Dutch. A Dutch investigation found pro-Russian rebels shot the plane down with a Buk surface-to-air missile launched from separatist territory in eastern Ukraine.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/E. Dunand
Polish President Lech Kaczynski killed
A Polish air force plane carrying President Lech Kaczynski crashed near the Russian airport of Smolensk on April 10, 2010. A Russian and Polish investigation found pilot error during landing in thick fog caused the crash that killed more than 90 people. Jaroslaw Kaczynski (pictured), the twin brother of Lech and leader of the ruling PiS, has suggested the crash was a political assassination.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Kaminski
Air France Flight 447
An Air France flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed in the Atlantic on June 1, 2009, killing all 228 people on board. It took nearly two years for the black box (pictured) to be recovered from the bottom of the ocean. The investigation found a combination of technical and pilot error caused the crash.
Image: picture alliance / dpa
Spanair Flight 5022
A Spanair MD-82 plane crashed after take-off from Madrid airport on August 20, 2008, killing 154 people. Amazingly, 18 people survived the crash and subsequent fire. The crash was caused by an improper flap and slat configuration and a failure of the pilots to follow a pre-flight checklist.
Image: AP
Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 612
A Russian passenger plane operated by Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise crashed near the eastern Ukraine city of Donetsk on August 22, 2006, killing all 170 people aboard. The plane was flying from St. Petersburg to the Black Sea resort of Anapa.
Image: AP
Helios Airways Flight 522
A Helios Airways flight from Cyprus crashed on August 14, 2005 near its destination Athens, killing all 121 on board. The crash was caused by a loss of cabin pressurization that immobilized the crew. The plane flew on autopilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed.
Image: AP
Überlingen mid-air collision
On the night of July 1, 2002, a DHL cargo plane flying near the southern German town of Überlingen struck a Russian passenger jet carrying mostly schoolchildren to Barcelona, Spain. The two men aboard the DHL plane and all 69 passengers and crew on Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 perished. Swiss air traffic control firm Skyguide was found to be at fault for the tragedy.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Haid
SAS Flight 686
On October 8, 2001 a Scandinavian Airlines MD-87 airliner collided with a small Cessna on take-off from Milan's Linate Airport. All 114 people on the SAS and Cessna aircraft were killed, as were four people on the ground. The accident happened in thick fog. The SAS plane crashed into a hangar.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Ansa
Air France Concorde Flight
On July 25, 2000 an Air France Concorde flight from Paris to New York crashed two minutes after take-off, killing 109 people on board and four people on the ground. The crash was caused by the Concorde running over a piece of debris on the runway, which sent tire debris into part of the fuel tank that burst into flames.
Image: AP/Toshihiko Sato
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Cause of fire unknown
Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement that investigators are looking into inexperienced pilots, equipment failure and bad weather as possible causes for the disaster.
"Investigators have obtained the voice and parametric flight recorders, and collected fuel samples ... and recordings from surveillance cameras," the Investigative Committee said.
Russian state media reported that a lightning bolt appeared to strike the aircraft before the crash landing. Moscow was experiencing stormy weather at the time of the incident.
Russian media have also quoted the pilot as saying a lightning strike caused the plane to lose its radio communications, leading to the emergency landing.
Videos taken after the crash also appeared to show some of the survivors carrying hand luggage while leaving the plane, raising questions about whether doing so might have impeded the evacuation.
The aircraft involved in the incident had been in service since 2017 and was last inspected in April, state news agency TASS reported, citing aviation authorities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to the victims' loved ones and said the investigation "should be as thorough as possible," according to the Kremlin.
