SSJ 100 crashed while emergency landing in Moscow Sheremetievo airport. As a result of hard landing the plane was damaged and caught fire. At least 41 dead is reported. While exact circumstances of the origin of the emergency is still investigated the primary conclusion of the SSJ 100 crash is described in this article.
Soon after take off Russian SSJ 100 belonging to the leading Aeroflot company was struck a lightning. As a result of unlucky event the plane electronics was disabled as well as communication equipment. Automatics were disabled and the crew fly the plane in manual mode. Communication equipment was reset and became partially functioned.
The plane was filed to the full capacity with kerosene because the route to destination is more than 1200 miles away. An usual routine is to circle around until the fuel will not be nearly depleted. It was not done, because, as some sources point out, the traffic around Sheremetievo was too dense. The crew and the ground control decided to land a plane full of kerosene back at Sheremetievo.
While landing the plane jumped three times. It struck the ground with fuselage, the kerosene leaked and caught fire. Back of the hull was engulfed by flame in seconds. Those who were there had no chances. Those who was closer to the nose escaped via emergency exits.
The decision to land a full tank plane proved to be fatal. There was no signs of emergency foaming of the landing strip. Fire crew were a bit too slow to respond. There is no explanation to the jumps made by SSJ100 while landing. Do the airport authorities gave take off permit in a low attitude electrical storm?
The whole story seems to reflect troubles in the Russian civil aviation and airport management in particular.
About the author: Jeff Roper
Jeff Roper has been teaching journalism for more than five years. A theorist who nevertheless took up some practice. He is fond of the history of journalism and journalism.
