On last Sunday, Aeroflot Flight SU1492 had to make an emergency landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport. Out of the 78 passengers and crew members that were aboard the Sukhoi Superjet 100, 41 persons lost their lives because of the violent landing and the fire that erupted.
Aeroflot released a statement saying, ‘Aeroflot extends its deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of those who lost their lives on flight SU1492 Moscow-Murmansk. The crew did everything in its power to save passenger lives and provide emergency assistance to those involved. Tragically, they were unable to save all of those aboard. Our thoughts and hearts are with those who have suffered an unspeakable loss. We mourn with you.’
The Superjet is a regional jet that is Russian made and entered service back in 2011. Aeroflot has fifty of these planes in its fleet with room for 87 passengers in each plane. The aircraft that was operating Flight SU1492, registration number RA-89098 was delivered to Russian’s national airline – Aeroflot – back in September 2017.
What follows is how the Aeroflot Flight SU1492 unfolded;
The flight is a daily scheduled flight that takes off from Moscow to the city of Murmansk within the Arctic Circle. On Sunday, May 5, the flight was operated by a Sukhoi Superjet 100.
It took off from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport on Sunday at 6:03 p.m. local time.
About five minutes into the flight, the Superjet changed direction to the north towards Murmansk and then climbed to an altitude of 10,500 feet. It remains unknown when the communications failure that has been blamed on lighting occurred, but it had taken place before this according to most experts.
The flight turned back towards the Sheremetyevo airport and started to descend.
The aircraft spent about 10 minutes while circling over Moscow as it attempts a landing.
A video shows that the jet was bouncing violently down the runway before the landing gear collapsed and the plane caught fire.
The fire grew quickly while the crew manages to stop the plane on the runway.
Tatyana Kasatkina, a flight attendant, said, ‘When the plane stopped, the evacuation immediately began. I kicked the door out with my leg and pushed out the passengers so as not to slow the evacuation.’
Forty of the plane’s 73 passengers were killed. Another flight attendant Maksim Moiseev died while trying to evacuate the passengers from the plane’s back.
Some of the surviving passengers decided to take their carry-on luggage with them thus slowing the evacuation; time that could have been used for saving the lives of others on the plane.
Firefighters were able to take out the fire using fire-retardant foam.
The heat from the fire had melted the jet’s fuselage.
The flight’s recorders have been recovered and an investigation under Yevgeny Ditrikh, Russia’s transport minister, is going on.
Investigators began working through the remains of the aircraft on Monday.
A makeshift memorial has already been set up at the airport.
Aeroflot has announced that the families of the passengers who died on the flight will be receiving $76,584 in compensation from Aeroflot.
