The captain of the Aeroflot SJ100 that crashed earlier this year, killing 41 passengers on board, has been formally charged by the Russian court. This hopefully brings a conclusion to the harrowing time for the victims' families of the crash and those who survived the ordeal.
What was the crash?
Simple Flying reported the original crash back in June of 2019. Aeroflot flight 1492 on May 5th was on its way to Murmansk from Moscow when outside the capital it narrowly avoided a storm. Whilst we don't know for sure what happened, some theories suggest that the aircraft was struck by lightning. Deciding that it is better to be safe than sorry, the flight crew decided to return to Moscow.
That is when tragedy struck.
As the aircraft came down to land, the angle of attack was a little too steep which put massive pressure on the front landing gear. Further inspection showed that when the aircraft touched down nose gear first, the G-force was measured to be the equivalent of 2.55g. This caused the aircraft to bounce back up into the sky by around two meters and slam back down onto the runway, rupturing the fuel tank and causing a fire to start at the rear.
"The authorities have accused the captain of infringement of flight procedures and manuals, resulting in excessive vertical speeds during final approach and too high of an angle of attack at touchdown and the initial portion of the ground run, causing the airplane to bounce as it decelerated along Sheremetyevo’s main runway" - AIN Online report
The tail of the aircraft became a firestorm, killing some instantly but trapping others in confusion and thick smoke. In the end, 41 passengers lost their lives onboard.
What are the details of the court case?
- Choosing to fly when there was a storm in the area, or not changing course to avoid it. Other aircraft in the area requested permission to avoid the storms, but this flight did not.
- Ignoring wind shear warnings when making the approach that highlighted the possible angle of attack.
- Ignoring advice to go around from the control tower.
- Not having the experience to operate the aircraft landing manually and flying it outside of the airport and aircraft limits. The pilot, in fact, had never flown the aircraft in manual mode and had no authorization to do so.