A Soviet-era airliner landed on a frozen river in Russia. Nonetheless, it wasn’t an emergency touchdown, however reasonably it was reportedly an error?
Polar Airways Antonov-24 lands on frozen river
This incident occurred on Thursday, December 28, 2023, and entails a 52-year-old Polar Airways Antonov-24 with the license plate RA-47821 (okay, speak about a cool airplane, at the least!). The turboprop was working a 688-mile route in Siberia, from Yakutsk (YKS) to Zyryanka (ZKP), with 34 individuals onboard, together with 30 passengers and 4 crew members.
It’s price noting that Zyryanka solely has a really small airport, with the one air hyperlink being this Polar Airways route from Yakutsk. The airport’s runway is gravel.
The plane was on strategy to the airport with restricted visibility, and the pilots reportedly couldn’t see the runway. As a substitute of touchdown on the runway, the airplane as a substitute landed parallel to it, on the close by frozen Kolyma River.
Luckily there have been no casualties or main accidents, and everybody managed to soundly evacuate the plane. I assume on this case Siberia’s frigid temperatures labored in everybody’s favor.
What brought on this incident?
What brought on this Polar Airways plane to make a touchdown like this? Right here’s what the Jap Siberia transport prosecutor needed to say:
“In accordance with preliminary data, the reason for the aviation incident was an error by the crew in piloting the plane.”
Admittedly with most aviation incidents, we get a full, thorough investigation into what occurred, and that may nonetheless be coming. That being mentioned, I’m undecided I’d essentially belief Russia to be trustworthy to the world about the reason for an incident, if it’s something apart from human error (particularly with a Russian plane concerned).
I’m certain I’m not alone in questioning precisely how one thing like this might occur? The plane being flown was a 50+ yr previous Soviet-era turboprop, so I think about it could not have probably the most superior expertise. Is an plane like this in a position to land at a small airport in Siberia with nearly no visibility, and does the airport even have the expertise to accommodate that?
I can’t assist however marvel if possibly visibility simply wasn’t good, and there have been no appropriate diversion factors, so ditching on a frozen river was the most effective plan of action? In fact that is only a random principle, however it’s the very first thing that involves thoughts…
Russian airways appear to be making good use of non-runways these days. Whereas completely different, it jogs my memory of how a couple of months in the past, a Ural Airways Airbus A320 landed in a area in Siberia.
Backside line
A Polar Airways Antonov-24 produced in 1971 landed on a frozen river in Siberia on Thursday. The plane was on strategy to a small airport with restricted visibility, and the airplane ended up touchdown on a river parallel to the meant runway.
For contemporary plane able to doing instrument approaches, this error can be unimaginable. Nonetheless, given the age of this plane, plus the small airport being served, I’ve to think about which will relate to this final result?
What’s your tackle this case?
