I feel for the pilots. They survived due to luck while their passengers all died. They did everything right from what I understand. The survivors guilt must be crushing. The anger at the airport and the chain of staff and poor management that let this happen would be overwhelming for not just the pilots but the family and friends of the passengers.
Agree completely. I can see something like this causing a pilot to turn in his wings. Something not said lightly considering how much that means. This event is just the complete definition of of Tragic.
The captain of Flight 3352 Boris Stepanov said in an interview years later "The very understanding that I survived came much later that day. It was more difficult to survive the feeling that you stayed alive, and more than 170 people behind you... After the tragedy, every year on October 11, I called up flight engineer Vitaly Pronozin, and we always said to each other: "Happy birthday"."
Yes, they HAD CLEARANCE! They must be wondering how the hell could they have gotten clearance, when the runway wasn't clear! They were definitely dealt a bad hand here
I don't think safety has been as big a deal in the Aeroflot fleet, particularly during the Soviet days. My wife and I flew from Kyiv to Moscva in 1992 aboard an 4 engined TU of some sort which could be converted quickly to a military use if needed. As we boarded, I said to her, "If we land safely, remind me to tell you something." When we took off, the pilot treated the large aircraft like a fighter jet, shoving the throttles to what must have been full power. Never felt so much linear G force on an airliner in my life, before or since. Inside of the cabin, there were patches on the patches on everything, exposed wiring running down the isle and net bus style overhead racks instead of luggage compartments. Bad news in any turbulence. The "complimentary" mineral water had a sulfur content which reminded one of Vesuvius. Anyway, we got to Moscva and descended. It was by far the best and most gentle landing I have ever experienced. There was a reason for it. When we deplaned, my wife dutifully reminded me of what I had said. I turned her around and told her to look at the tires on the main landing gears. Three out of four were completely bald...
Sounds sadly spot on for the Soviets. The sketchiest airplane I was ever on was a tiny single aisle plane, forget the manufacturer, that departed Nairobi, Kenya headed to Antanararivo, Madagascar. The interior of the airplane smelled kind of strong and partway in people walked by and sprayed a fog of what must have been insect repellent over the whole cabin area. I have never seen that on any other flight.
There used to be something I've heard many Western pilots say, that being that Tupolev (et al) fitted their aircraft with massive bogies so that Aeroflot could fit more bald tyres on them.
According to Russian sources when pilots saw the "dragons" (nickname of the snowblowers as they blast hot air) they tried to go around and pull up hard. That made cockpit to lift up and "jump over" cars that were stricken by plane's midsection thus killing all passengers and cabin crew but leaving cockpit almost unscathed. As for pilot's feelings... Russian sources claimed that "after being rescued the pilot was trying to do harm to the dispatcher so he had to to be restrained by firefighting personnel present on site".
*must've not "must of" Common error due to how both sound nearly identical when spoken out loud. Better yet, _must have._ Hope that helps. Have a good day.
now that you mention it, your channel has grown a lot over the last few years, I started watching back when you had a few hundred subs, now look at you now, 179K subs, congrats.
Ahh, “jet dryers!” These are actual things, and they’re often used at race tracks to dry rain or other fluids. Just like these Russian versions, the ones used by race tracks are jet engines on trailers that blow the ground.
I once went through ground safety training for a small UK regional airport. From what I remember, any vehicle moving "airside" has to show an orange flashing beacon, quite simple, no exceptions. This applies to the apron area, on taxiways and runways, even stationary vehicles must show this beacon.
There is a small airport near me, I was talking to the guys that run it and asked if I could do some top end pulls and tune and test my motorcycle, its over a mile long. He looked at me like I was crazy. He said before they can get on the runway with anything they had to do everything you described, notify the air traffic controllers in Atlanta blah blah a whole laundry list. I was naive thinking I could just get out there between planes and race.
The use of jet engines to dry the runway wouldn't surprise me the least. I know someone who studies decontamination - i.e. the removal of harmful radiological, chemical or biological substances from objects or places - and they told me that on a visit to Russia they saw a demonstration of how the Russians would decontaminate a column of tanks, say from chemical weapons. They would place two remodeled tanks on either side of a roadway, each with jet engines on top pointed toward the incoming tank column. That column would then pass between the two tanks with their top mountet jet engines running and the hot exhaust gases from the engines would burn/blow off the harmful chemicals from the outside surfaces of the contaminated tanks. As to the efficacy or safety of this procedure I can't comment, but it makes the jet engine runway dryer very believable.
Jet engines are used in this manner at racing events. Watch clips from crashes of races like the Indy 500, Talladega, etc. They are used to blow off the quick dry and other fluids and detritus in the aftermath. You don't see them as much on road courses, but on an oval at 230 mph, there is nowhere to run on an oval, and the track has to be slowed as a whole and thoroughly cleaned; whereas on a road course localised cautions can be employed in minor shunts, or the whole track will be slowed in a major incident (think Grosjean's incident). Hence why oval races are NEVER held in wet conditions, and if rain has stopped the race, the jet dryers come out after the rain to clear the track.
I've seen such vehicles in Europe (though all in museums due to their old age) but they are a bit more designed and engineered... Including a nozzle to properly aim a jet of air onto the runway instead of just pointing a jet engine 'roughly over there'. I'd guess such vehicles fell out of use due to runways being designed with grooves/slight angle to let water flow away without having a cleaning vehicle block the entire runway for a few minutes.
I place most of the blame on the operators who turned off the flashing lights. Had these lights been on, the flight crew would have seen them and gone around.
How much blame do you want to give to the managers who let the drivers get away with leaving their lights off? If I remember the video correctly, this had been going on for a long time.
This sounds like a culture of incompetence was SOP at this airport. Almost every mistake that was made happened because of habitually negligent behavior. May all those passengers RIP.
It wasn't the pilots fault, it was the 23 year old's tower controller's fault because he could have prevented this crash landing had he not been asleep on the job.
@@noneedtoknowme5120 of course there is even if not in that particular case. Drunk pilot, kid in the cockpit and massive oversights regarding procedures. Aeroflot is the official Russian airliner, no? The lack of standards in the company/country reflect the same on the ground crew.
I served in Yugoslavian air force in 1982-83 on airport as electronic tech and yes we used jet engines as a giant hot air blower to clean runaway. They were older MIG fighters jet engines out of commission and they were mounted on rear end of big trucks. It will blow hot air under deflectors behind truck slow moving on the runaways. On your pictures nozzles are mounted in front of trucks but ones I saw were blowing behind from rear end. Right by truck cabin were tank with two thousand gallons of fuel. Each truck had driver and jet engine operator. Four trucks will enter runaway and in staggered formation drive slow blowing snow and practically drying the concrete. Larger accumulation of snow like overnight was cleaned using snow plows first and then running this set up. Landing lights were ON during this operation to give drivers idea where edges are and jet blast will clean areas around lights, signs, antennas and markers that could be covered and damaged with snow plows. Of course head lights and at least two rotating orange lights were activated on all trucks. From the tower you can clearly see all the lights moving down the runaway, impossible to miss even in low visibility. Tower controller will approve clean up by calling ground maintenance base via phone line. Than before clean up crew got on the runaway all taxiway and landing lights will be illuminated. Trucks didn't have radios and most likely radios will be useless because several jet engines blowing air generate huge noise as you can imagine. In the case of emergency tower controller will rapidly blink runaway lights and that was signal for truck operators to shut jets down and get out at nearest taxiway. This actually worked great especially with light powdery snow and took less than 10 minutes to blow it and get nice clean and dry concrete. However this was only military airport and I never saw anything similar in use on civil airports.
Your channel is the only one where I consistently learn of accidents that I've never heard of before. I really appreciate you covering these lesser-known events!
Fifteen years ago , I was taking a flight from St. Petersburg to Moscow. The plane was an Aeroflot converted bomber made into a passenger airplane. I was sitting next to a retired US Airforce Major. We took off ok, but when we were at altitude, there was a problem with cabin pressure adjustment. The Major told me this type of plane required the pilot to adjust the cabin pressure, and he was not attending too it. Everybody was groaning because our ears popped and we were having trouble breathing. Thank goodness it was a short flight to Moscow. Upon arrival, we were treated to a very rough landing that included a bounce. Then the whole cabin filled with the smell of jet fuel. The Major said this was extremely bad, and we pressured the flight attendant to let us off as soon as possible. The steps were pulled up to the plane quickly, and we got off in a rush. It took weeks for my ears to return to a semblance of normal. I called Celebrity Cruise line and told them I was arranging my own flight back, along with many of my fellow cruise mates. I was never compensated for my flight return to St. Petersburg.
I'm so happy to see your channel grow! I remember seeing your first few videos shortly after they came out. Your progress is a testament to your willingness to take constructive criticism well. I really like that you are willing to cover less publicized accidents in a clear and concise manner. Hoping to see more great things from you.
I truly feel terrible for the pilots. They’ll have to live with survivors guilt knowing the plane they were in control of crashed and several people died, but the crash was in no way there fault.
I read about this accident a while back and I'm happy you did a video on it. However, there are some details that you left out or got mixed up. Firstly the ground crew saw the plane approaching and astoundingly assumed the plane wasn't actually approaching the airport. Secondly from the photographs and a Russian TV animation of the accident, the cockpit didn't separate. What happened is that the plane broke apart right where the wings on the TU-154 were. The rest of the cabin then flipped on its back. Now this is conjecture, but the broken fuel takes in conjuction with massive amount of fuel the cars *and* trucks had ignited a massive fire. When the cabin flipped upside down, the doors would have been hard to open, so the passengers and crew would have simply gone for the hole. Except for the fact that the massive fire and engulfed the entire hole instantly after the crash. The fire soon started to spread into the cabin. Meanwhile in the cockpit, they had the window they could move to get out. But according to one source, the cockpit door was jammed by the crash so the crew couldn't go back. Once outside, it soon became clear to the crew that the disoriented passengers were trapped and the cabin was quickly going up in flames. By the time firefighers arrived, they could only save one passenger who was on fire. The rest of the passengers were simply killed by the fire and smoke. Mind you, the flight crew were the only ones to walk away with minor injuries. This crash you could actually feel second hand survivors guilt. The crew knowing they had in fact spotted the obstruction but did nothing, and then simply watch all but one of their passengers burn must have deeply affected them.
I flew Aeroflot in July 1991, from Moscow to Berlin. The outward journey, at the start of the trip, was a very ‘adventurous’ experience as well, but since we traveled that part by train, I guess will have to save that story for the comment section of a railway video. Technically, July 1991 was seven months after the fall of the iron curtain, but in everyday life, nothing much had changed yet, except of course for the fact that we were able to travel from and back to Western Europe at all. In the week before the flight, there were two hijackings of Aeroflot planes, in the week after that, three. It was a very large plane, rows of 3/4/3 or 3/5/3 most likely. During the takeoff roll, the plane vibrated very badly and the partition panels that were in the cabin, were shaking and rattling vigorously. The noise was deafening. I’m sure other parts of the plane were shaking and rattling as well, adding to the overall experience. Since I started watching aviation videos, I wonder what sort of plane it could have been. It must have been about the size of a 747, but most likely a Soviet version of it. If anybody has an idea of what type of plane was, please comment, as in the light of my fairly recent interest in aviation videos, and so many years after the experience, that would be really nice to know.
The TU-154 was Russia's version of the "wide body" jets, which came out in the early 1970s. I don't think it has the capacity of a 747, but I'm convinced it was a Russian version of the Lockheed L-1011 which had engine 2 in an "S" ducted position. The other one was the DC-10 wide body, but that had the third engine (engine 2) built straight into the tail.
The one with two children? Oh, that's horrifically sad. Yes he was negligent, but if others had done their jobs correctly this accident never would have happened. It almost always takes many contributing factors for a plane to crash, and this case was no exception.
I have never flown with Aeroflot myself, nor would I ever. Growing up in the 70s and 80s, Aeroflot had the (well deserved) reputation, even here in Western Europe where their planes were few and far between, of being death traps, that u would only board, if u absolutely HAD to go, and there were no other options. And if u had ur life insurance paid up....
To be fair - they've come a very long way since the olden days. I've flown with them a few times, to Vladivostok from Moscow in 2020, then to and from Khabarovsk in 2021. Those were direct flights, I think the jet was a 777. The interior was well furbished, the plane wasn't making any weird noises or anything like that, I even ordered some whisky on board and paid for it with my plastic card. Now the airline to avoid in modern Russia is Uralskiye Avialinii. Their planes are in poor condition, they're always late by an hour, sometimes more, and there have been some incidents involving them, thankfully nothing fatal.
Great vlog as always! This is blue print of an accident in western Canada in the mid 70s. Snow removal eqv on the RWY and a 737 cleared to land. No good!
Another great video. As for the accident I honestly don't know what to think. I mean it definitely could have been avoided. How it could have been avoided is a whole new question and debate. For the runway drying. That is the first time I hear about it.
i think the best way to have prevented it would’ve been to follow at least some of the rules. they weren’t supposed to be on the runway for this exact reason. however, their rule breaking wasn’t the only rule breaking that led to this happening, they were just the ones who got the worst possible punishment. stuff like the runway lights being on even when there’s zero air traffic is just one other thing that contributed. ATC not communicating is another. those poor pilots couldn’t have done anything to save themselves and their passengers. i cant even imagine how terrifying it must’ve been to think you landed just fine just to explode because some jackasses with tons of fuel are playing bumper carts on the runway.
@@misseselise3864 You have point there. A lot of rules were broken. Also I think in the video he said the pilots saw something. Also a lot of things contributed to this accident.
@@advorak8529 Yes they have asked. And then they proceeded to land. My point is that the rules were broken. Also if they were not they could have landed safely
Can't imagine the pilot's survival guilt. What's also terrible is the families of the victims had no legal recourse. Sure, suing doesn't bring the dead back. But they had to just sit in their grief and take it.
Ridiculous! The fault lies with the men on the runway who shut their caution lights off because they bothered them. Everything else was failure to communicate. Well, except for the guy who fell asleep 🤔 Nevertheless, it all comes down to those caution lights that would have signaled a go around.
There’s only one person to blame, the airport manager. These guys didn’t not take there job serious and that shows poor oversight at the top levels. Not a single person followed protocol. The pilots could have initiated a go around or a low pass to check for obstructions on the runway but I find it hard to put any blame on them when the entire staff at the airport failed to carry out their duties.
I think you are one level too low. Somebody forgot to put the rind on the swiss cheese or removed it. The state regulatory body is the rind that should have stopped the airport from allowing regulations to be ignored and the pilots from being trained to go around if they have the slightest suspicion the runway is not clear. It is only in the last 20 years or so that the role of the regulators has been highlighted in air incident reports.
Those equipments are called Тепловая машина( teplovaya mashina) means thermal (heat) machine. They have turbojet engines which are powered by jet fuel mixture.
This was around the same time a Soviet pilot killed 70 passengers by attempting to land blind in order to win a bet with the FO and draining out and drinking the alcohol used to cool the plane's avionics for a free pre-flight drinking binge was totally a thing.
As the rule says, it takes a chain of events to cause an accident. But in this case it's almost unbelievable, a perfect storm of incompetence... Keep up the good work with your channel!
Soviet Russia and incompetence go pretty much hand in hand. There's a very long list of Soviet era air accidents, a phenomenal number of which are "pilot drunk."
I flew with Aeroflot and S7 (previously siberian) many times on international routes, great airlines with modern fleet and service. Their leg room is spacious compare to many western airlines. When i first arrived in Russia in 2003, I still remember being amazed by seeing Tupolev planes on the runway with soviet flags still existing in their tales. Also, their cigar shaped engines where so loud, standing at the entrance of the terminal would be very uncomfortable for the ears
I've had good experiences with Aeroflot on international routes as well. That was before the war in Ukraine started of course. Now without western parts and maintenance flying Russian airlines would be a gamble.
Gonna echo the few others who've brought this up already. Vehicular Jet-Dryers ARE a thing. NASCAR has them available for every track, and if there's a "weather disruption" that doesn't last all day, they will send the dryers out to clear the track for the race to resume... I'd have to suggest that similar methods are perfectly allowable on runways, as squalls (from squall lines) are dangerous little storms, but along with massive downpours of water at a time, they move quickly, and the jet-dryers would be a perfectly equitable method to speed up runway decontamination. It wouldn't have to be "perfect" for the planes to land, of course, but rather than leave water pooling so it forms ice, just get rid of the worst of it, and that should be sufficient... Again, some sensibility should go along with their use, like about everything else. There's no sense to keep vehicles and dryers out burning fuel in the midst of a storm or blizzard (for instance)... ;o)
I hope you get your 200k subscribers, Mini! Can we have a q&a when you reach it? From My totally ignorant, non pilot perspective, if you’ve got vehicles clearing the runway of rain, whilst it’s actually raining (as suggested by the video animation), the question should be, “Does this runway need to close?” It’s like me filling the bath and bailing water out with buckets at the same time. If they were worried about the slippery runway that much, then the airport should be closed and planes made to divert. Also, if the pilots had doubts about being cleared to land, and didn’t get a reply straight away, they should’ve gone round. But ultimately, pilots have to be able to take on trust that the runway they land on will be obstruction-free, and none of this is down to them. It’s ground control and ground crew performing a task that I question the need for, that should bear the responsibility.
We had a foul runway red light that we flipped on as a ground controller AFTER asking with local controller so everyone knew and if they had a brain fart we had that bright red light in our faces. Why would the ground controller have any say about the active runway?!? How can an approach controller clear anything on the runway? As a local controller, I’m the only one that can clear anything onto the active. Seems like there’s a horrible communication issue.
Oh how exciting getting so close to 200k subscribers. This is an achievement you have truly earned. I hope it comes quick and off to 300K with a sprint! Thank you.
I wish I could subscribe again for you bro 🥺😍😍 thank you for making the content that regularly gets me through these god-awful bus rides to/from work ❤️
Every sub is definitely deserved! You explain anything a layman wouldn't know about, and just deliver the facts. Not gonna lie, I could binge (and probably have) all these videos and lose track of time. As for the accident, it's insane that all these mistakes and the careless handling of the runway operations led to such a tragedy. All because corners were cut and someone fell asleep...
Just a small correction, it’s the tower controller is the one who clears planes to land, unless there’s some special procedure in Omsk or Soviet Russia I don’t know about
Unfortunately runway incursions by service vehicles is common occurrence in USSR/Russia. "TOTAL" CEO Christophe de Margerie died in an aircraft crash in Moscow on 20 October 2014, along with the three-member crew (Yann Pican, Maxime Rassiat and Ruslana Vervelle). His Dassault Falcon 50, hit a snowplow on take-off from the Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow.
The problem start at the top management who have one job, that is to ensure the management and protocols of the airport is to standard and redundancy procedures are in place. I look at it like this. anything under those circumstances could cause a crash. repair work on the runway, a broken down plane on the runway, failure of equipment. If there are no clear procedures which is followed at all times, anything can cause a catastrophic result. those procedures and systems is the responsibility of the top management to keep in place. What if the ground controller had a heart attack, or passed out from low blood sugar or had to use the bathroom. Your airport management cannot rely on a single point of failure and management has the responsibility to work out how things work, protocols, redundancy and rules. but as often the case, top management are political or financial appointees and know nothing about what happens on the ground, they leave staff to figure things out for themselves and that is poor management. Dont blame the staff on the ground to try and do what management was responsible to do.
apparently they tried to go around but it was too late. It's why the pilots survived, the nose of the plane lifted over the cars instead hitting the belly of the plane
Regarding the turbine runway dryer, the same concept is used at drag strips to keep the track dry. Since the surface of a drag strip is essentially sealed with glue, water just sits on the surface and turns it into an ice rink, so even a small shower can completely shut down racing. The response was to strap a jet engine to a trailer, duct the exhaust down onto the surface, and drag it up and down the strip until the water is no more, such a device can dry a quarter mile in half an hour.
As NASCAR fans know, they use them too. JPM had a mechanical failure and went into the engine. Cue the hole of Daytona Int'l Speedway turns turn 3 being quite literally on fire from wall to edge of the track banking. In that case it was a surplus helicopter engine.
Makes sense for a racetrack, but I wonder if it's truly necessary for a runway provided that the runway is long enough to compensate for reduced braking action.
Plowing runways when there is a lot of snow is sensible but attempting to dry them by blowing on them with hot air is not. If there is light rain then airliners are perfectly capable of landing on such lightly wet runway. If there is so much rain as to cause hydroplaning then drying won't work at all anyway. Under freezing rain/snow conditions an attempt to dry runways this way makes things a lot worse as it melts the snow which will then refreeze immediately as ice.
I would rank the failure of the trucks to have their warning beacons on as the single most important factor. Even though there were other factors, if the beacons were on, the plane would have seen them and gone around.
I only read negative shit about Aeroflot but in their defense, I flew with Aeroflot I think it was from Moscow to Armenia and it was my best and most comfy flight so far. Comfy chairs, enough space even the regular seat, and i am a tall guy 1.91m. Free earphones and new multimedia on the screen on the back of the seat in front of you. Free drinks and snacks multiple times even though it wasnt such a long flight. So yes that was a good experience.
From what I know in the 1980s USSR they used old TU-104 engines to dry the runways. As my mom, who was a Flight Attendant for Aeroflot at that time, told me, initial reports were saying that the miscommunication between the pilots and the ATC was to blame. When the pilots asked if the runway was clear to land, the ATC reported "cleaning" (pololsa chistaya? - chistim) which was an off-protocol reply. However, as I was researching that specific accident I couldn't find this information anywhere, so either my mom's memory isn't very clear about that crash or something was altered in the final reports
At 2:56, it is mentioned that the flight crew saw something on the runway. It is my understanding that current SOP's would dictate a Go Around if the pilots have the slightest suspicion of a runway intrusion. Was that the case back then for Aeroflot?
For some odd reason, at first I thought this video was on BAL 2937 mid air collision with DHL 611, then quickly realized it was not. But thinking about that accident, I would really love to see a video from you on that insane mid-air collision!
This accident was the worst of its kind. Unfortunately a chain of mistakes and negligence led to this accident. however I did not know the pilots were suspicious about the presence of unauthorized thing on the runway. The ground rule of see & avoid might have overshadowed all deficiencies, but sadly that last chance, did not took place in the cockpit of TU-154 which had up to 5 pilots. RIP...to all those who lost their lives and alas for the ones whose life were ruined due to this accident
In this case there was a long list of people with no situational awareness, except for the pilots. Sounds like they saw "something" on the runway, but control was so dysfunctional that they were cleared to land. This has a long list of contributing factors, but the thing that irks me, is how a controller, who permitted the trucks to dry the runway, fell asleep. I don't care how many kids he has or how tired he was, his little nap ended the lives of well over 100 people, many of whom were children. The MIG engine drying truck you showed was very, very Russian. It has the open engine, the long duct, an added cab and a massive fuel talk. That was Russian "brutal" ingenuity at its best.
imo 13 years for the approach controller is excessive. obviously he shouldn’t have told the jet it was ok to land without getting a clear transmission but i can only imagine how stressed he must’ve been from having sleep deprived coworkers on top of the staff shortages.
The Soviet system of leadership meant the lower ranks being scapegoated no matter what. Managers rarely if ever actually faced consequences while their subordinates were hit with lengthy prison terms or fines.
@@jerrell1169 that describes the US. Not the USSR. But i dont need to tell you that, since you clearly made it up to begin with. And In this specific scenario the terminal manager was pit in prison aswell.
People saying that pilots are responsible in some way, they did check and raise a query, and they were given the all clear to land. If they hadn't been told it was clear, they wouldn't have landed, and they did check/query. All error was on the side of the airport staff, not the pilots as they did double check and query.
duuuude, usually you link any mentioned crash. Do you not have a video about the "crash that surpassed the record about 1 year later"? Would've been the prime opportunity to link it I think :o
Nobody can intend to be negligent. Negligence by definition is a mistake. Intentional conduct is something else. I think those prison sentences were totally appropriate.
In 2004, my friends and I flew from Bodrum Turkey, to Sofia Bulgaria on a Tu 154. Because it was election day in Bulgaria, the airline had to send Bulgaria‘s version of Air Force One, fto etch us. We are coin flight had been on a twin engine turbo prop, staffed by very young flight attendants. Our Tu 154 was staffed by flight attendants probably in their 50s or 60s. It was nicely furnished but it was probably 20 or 30 years old At the time. Fortunately, it was early summer, and weather was not an issue on our flight.
Oddly, the same basic scenario played out with the SAS MD-87 at LIN 14 years later. While it was a takeoff instead of a landing and a lost plane, basic systems were inadequate and/or broken leading to a controller clearing a commercial jet onto a runway that wasn't clear. USAir 737 at LAX cleared to land on an occupied runway in the mid 90s is another... Either way, while rare, I wouldn't say it was "solved" worldwide after this crash.
Reminds me of Zebrugga ferry accident. But really, imo, these things are not one person to blame, or even many people to blame. Its down to procedures and systems and fail safes that are not adequate. Humans make errors.
And when multiple safety systems meant to stop them aren't adhered to the whole culture from the top needs looking at not just the guys at the bottom put in prison. Why did staff shortages mean that he was alone in the control tower etc? True root cause very rarely goes to the top I wonder why
In the Zeebrugge enquiry the judges quite rightly avoided putting the blame on the overworked and fatigued crew member who forgot the bow doors. Instead they commented that the whole company was riddled with the "disease of sloppiness" and put the blame firmly on the management responsible for that culture.
I don't work at an airport. However this sounds like some of the stuff they do where I work. Nobody knows what's going on. somebody's doing something that they're not supposed to be doing. Do you want me to do this? The supervisor says no. The director says yes.
When the pilot asked "What's there on the runway?" They should have pressed their equivalent of TOGA and made a pass over the runway at 100 feet with all their lights on. Runways and roads should drain. Heating a road/runway with an overgrown hair dryer is apt to cause icing shortly after it passes and relatively warm ice is slippery.
I’ve been to the former Soviet Union. They couldn’t even build buildings right. Each step in a staircase would be different heights. Passengers always applaud when the plane lands even if it was a smooth flight, because Aeroflot was so awful. It’s no wonder the U.S. beat them to the Moon.
2:55 - If it were Australia and I was the pilot and I thought (and was told!) there was something on the runway (it could have been anything - even a part falling off a previous plane taking off, unseen by others), it would be an AUTOMATIC go-around for me till someone could check and clear it. If in doubt, etc. The buck stops with the pilot. Unfortunately this was not Australia and go-arounds were obviously seen as expensive, not macho, a bad look, whatever. Think about when a car driver is travelling at high speed in fog at night on a poorly-lit road despite seeing what he thinks may be something ahead of him, then crashes into another car (which an investigation subsequently shows had its taillights lit) and kills everyone. Who is held responsible - the speeding driver of course! (Not the local/state government who failed to light the road, although it may be seen to be contributing). Why should it be any different here?
awesome! you got a new mic! man, youtube has hid you from my feed. looking forward to this episode - its been a while. man your voice sounds great now.
I can't imagine the survivors guilt that the pilots felt. This disaster is wild. So much negligence. If I remember correctly, didn't one of the accused take their own life while behind bars? My family and I dislike Aeroflot. We think it is an extremely dicey and unsettling airline, though this is just our collective perspective. My loved ones are near airports that aren't served by Aeroflot, so we always take different airlines, such as Lufthansa and British Airways.
I feel for the pilots. They survived due to luck while their passengers all died. They did everything right from what I understand. The survivors guilt must be crushing. The anger at the airport and the chain of staff and poor management that let this happen would be overwhelming for not just the pilots but the family and friends of the passengers.
Agree completely.
I can see something like this causing a pilot to turn in his wings.
Something not said lightly considering how much that means.
This event is just the complete definition of of Tragic.
100%
The captain of Flight 3352 Boris Stepanov said in an interview years later "The very understanding that I survived came much later that day. It was more difficult to survive the feeling that you stayed alive, and more than 170 people behind you... After the tragedy, every year on October 11, I called up flight engineer Vitaly Pronozin, and we always said to each other: "Happy birthday"."
Yes, they HAD CLEARANCE! They must be wondering how the hell could they have gotten clearance, when the runway wasn't clear! They were definitely dealt a bad hand here
I have never heard of a crash where the pilots survived but none of the passengers did. 😢
i know its probably due to the lack of a UAZ in the simulator but I love how the trucks are depicted as a suburban doing a massive burnout
a UAZ with jet blast on the roof in the simulator...what an odd !!!!! :)
And they came all the way from Hamburg to dry the runway
We desperately need "UAZ jet snowblower" mod 😄
I don't think safety has been as big a deal in the Aeroflot fleet, particularly during the Soviet days. My wife and I flew from Kyiv to Moscva in 1992 aboard an 4 engined TU of some sort which could be converted quickly to a military use if needed.
As we boarded, I said to her, "If we land safely, remind me to tell you something." When we took off, the pilot treated the large aircraft like a fighter jet, shoving the throttles to what must have been full power. Never felt so much linear G force on an airliner in my life, before or since. Inside of the cabin, there were patches on the patches on everything, exposed wiring running down the isle and net bus style overhead racks instead of luggage compartments. Bad news in any turbulence. The "complimentary" mineral water had a sulfur content which reminded one of Vesuvius.
Anyway, we got to Moscva and descended. It was by far the best and most gentle landing I have ever experienced. There was a reason for it.
When we deplaned, my wife dutifully reminded me of what I had said. I turned her around and told her to look at the tires on the main landing gears. Three out of four were completely bald...
This sounds exactly like that one episode of The Simpsons where they get on a plane that was basically like an old bus. 😂
Sounds sadly spot on for the Soviets. The sketchiest airplane I was ever on was a tiny single aisle plane, forget the manufacturer, that departed Nairobi, Kenya headed to Antanararivo, Madagascar. The interior of the airplane smelled kind of strong and partway in people walked by and sprayed a fog of what must have been insect repellent over the whole cabin area. I have never seen that on any other flight.
😳 😨
Only three out of four were bald? That’s quite good for an old Russian aircraft. Normally the canvas reinforcement is hanging out as well 😂.
There used to be something I've heard many Western pilots say, that being that Tupolev (et al) fitted their aircraft with massive bogies so that Aeroflot could fit more bald tyres on them.
Highly unusual to have the pilots survive but everyone else die. I can't imagine the feelings they had at the time, and when rescuers arrived.
According to Russian sources when pilots saw the "dragons" (nickname of the snowblowers as they blast hot air) they tried to go around and pull up hard. That made cockpit to lift up and "jump over" cars that were stricken by plane's midsection thus killing all passengers and cabin crew but leaving cockpit almost unscathed.
As for pilot's feelings... Russian sources claimed that "after being rescued the pilot was trying to do harm to the dispatcher so he had to to be restrained by firefighting personnel present on site".
@@090giver090 Damn, I mean I would certainly be furious.
Well they didnt get out unscathed, note the mention of pilots bloodied shirt, but alive at least.
There's also Comair Flight 5191 where the First Officer was the sole survivor out of all 50 people onboard.
The pilot being found and immediately saying that he was cleared to land is heartbreaking, he must of been in a state of shock :(
It feels weird like liking this comment because I agree with it but I definitely don’t LIKE it :/ :(
*must've not "must of"
Common error due to how both sound nearly identical when spoken out loud. Better yet, _must have._ Hope that helps. Have a good day.
@@Eidolon1andOnly if you understood what was being said, then it wasn't incorrect.
@@tissuepaper9962 What you just said is incorrect.
@@Eidolon1andOnly and who decides? You?
now that you mention it, your channel has grown a lot over the last few years, I started watching back when you had a few hundred subs, now look at you now, 179K subs, congrats.
Thank you so much for your support!
@@MiniAirCrashInvestigation you're welcome, you content is some of the best I've ever seen
the new mic did wonders
I am really surprised that you don't have a million subs by now.
And a new sub 🙋🏼♀️🙋🏼♀️✈✈✈✈✈
Ahh, “jet dryers!”
These are actual things, and they’re often used at race tracks to dry rain or other fluids. Just like these Russian versions, the ones used by race tracks are jet engines on trailers that blow the ground.
I once went through ground safety training for a small UK regional airport. From what I remember, any vehicle moving "airside" has to show an orange flashing beacon, quite simple, no exceptions. This applies to the apron area, on taxiways and runways, even stationary vehicles must show this beacon.
There is a small airport near me, I was talking to the guys that run it and asked if I could do some top end pulls and tune and test my motorcycle, its over a mile long. He looked at me like I was crazy. He said before they can get on the runway with anything they had to do everything you described, notify the air traffic controllers in Atlanta blah blah a whole laundry list. I was naive thinking I could just get out there between planes and race.
The use of jet engines to dry the runway wouldn't surprise me the least. I know someone who studies decontamination - i.e. the removal of harmful radiological, chemical or biological substances from objects or places - and they told me that on a visit to Russia they saw a demonstration of how the Russians would decontaminate a column of tanks, say from chemical weapons. They would place two remodeled tanks on either side of a roadway, each with jet engines on top pointed toward the incoming tank column. That column would then pass between the two tanks with their top mountet jet engines running and the hot exhaust gases from the engines would burn/blow off the harmful chemicals from the outside surfaces of the contaminated tanks.
As to the efficacy or safety of this procedure I can't comment, but it makes the jet engine runway dryer very believable.
Jet engines are used in this manner at racing events. Watch clips from crashes of races like the Indy 500, Talladega, etc. They are used to blow off the quick dry and other fluids and detritus in the aftermath. You don't see them as much on road courses, but on an oval at 230 mph, there is nowhere to run on an oval, and the track has to be slowed as a whole and thoroughly cleaned; whereas on a road course localised cautions can be employed in minor shunts, or the whole track will be slowed in a major incident (think Grosjean's incident). Hence why oval races are NEVER held in wet conditions, and if rain has stopped the race, the jet dryers come out after the rain to clear the track.
I've seen such vehicles in Europe (though all in museums due to their old age) but they are a bit more designed and engineered... Including a nozzle to properly aim a jet of air onto the runway instead of just pointing a jet engine 'roughly over there'.
I'd guess such vehicles fell out of use due to runways being designed with grooves/slight angle to let water flow away without having a cleaning vehicle block the entire runway for a few minutes.
Santa Pod has a truck with a jet engine on the back to dry the track.
I place most of the blame on the operators who turned off the flashing lights.
Had these lights been on, the flight crew would have seen them and gone around.
How much blame do you want to give to the managers who let the drivers get away with leaving their lights off? If I remember the video correctly, this had been going on for a long time.
This sounds like a culture of incompetence was SOP at this airport. Almost every mistake that was made happened because of habitually negligent behavior. May all those passengers RIP.
This is Russian culture. They mess up everything. Barely anyone cares about anything.
Imagine the guilt when as a pilot u the whole crew survive but all passengers perished
It wasn't the pilots fault, it was the 23 year old's tower controller's fault because he could have prevented this crash landing had he not been asleep on the job.
Nah. 1 passenger did actually survive.
The Runway was cleared to land. The Pilot not guilty at all.
@@streptokokke1003 Don't you mean that the aircraft was cleared to land? The runway was already on the ground. It never took off.
@@bobby1970 No, I mean exactly, what I wrote. The Runway was cleared to land on it.
How many accidents does your airline have?
Aeroflot: yes
There was no mistake of Aeroflot.
@@noneedtoknowme5120 of course there is even if not in that particular case. Drunk pilot, kid in the cockpit and massive oversights regarding procedures. Aeroflot is the official Russian airliner, no? The lack of standards in the company/country reflect the same on the ground crew.
@@momchilandonovI’m pretty sure there’s more western air disasters vs Russian ones if you compared per flights
I served in Yugoslavian air force in 1982-83 on airport as electronic tech and yes we used jet engines as a giant hot air blower to clean runaway. They were older MIG fighters jet engines out of commission and they were mounted on rear end of big trucks. It will blow hot air under deflectors behind truck slow moving on the runaways. On your pictures nozzles are mounted in front of trucks but ones I saw were blowing behind from rear end. Right by truck cabin were tank with two thousand gallons of fuel. Each truck had driver and jet engine operator. Four trucks will enter runaway and in staggered formation drive slow blowing snow and practically drying the concrete. Larger accumulation of snow like overnight was cleaned using snow plows first and then running this set up. Landing lights were ON during this operation to give drivers idea where edges are and jet blast will clean areas around lights, signs, antennas and markers that could be covered and damaged with snow plows. Of course head lights and at least two rotating orange lights were activated on all trucks. From the tower you can clearly see all the lights moving down the runaway, impossible to miss even in low visibility. Tower controller will approve clean up by calling ground maintenance base via phone line. Than before clean up crew got on the runaway all taxiway and landing lights will be illuminated. Trucks didn't have radios and most likely radios will be useless because several jet engines blowing air generate huge noise as you can imagine. In the case of emergency tower controller will rapidly blink runaway lights and that was signal for truck operators to shut jets down and get out at nearest taxiway. This actually worked great especially with light powdery snow and took less than 10 minutes to blow it and get nice clean and dry concrete. However this was only military airport and I never saw anything similar in use on civil airports.
Your channel is the only one where I consistently learn of accidents that I've never heard of before. I really appreciate you covering these lesser-known events!
Fifteen years ago , I was taking a flight from St. Petersburg to Moscow. The plane was an Aeroflot converted bomber made into a passenger airplane. I was sitting next to a retired US Airforce Major. We took off ok, but when we were at altitude, there was a problem with cabin pressure adjustment. The Major told me this type of plane required the pilot to adjust the cabin pressure, and he was not attending too it. Everybody was groaning because our ears popped and we were having trouble breathing. Thank goodness it was a short flight to Moscow. Upon arrival, we were treated to a very rough landing that included a bounce. Then the whole cabin filled with the smell of jet fuel. The Major said this was extremely bad, and we pressured the flight attendant to let us off as soon as possible. The steps were pulled up to the plane quickly, and we got off in a rush. It took weeks for my ears to return to a semblance of normal. I called Celebrity Cruise line and told them I was arranging my own flight back, along with many of my fellow cruise mates. I was never compensated for my flight return to St. Petersburg.
Glad you made it!
Any landing you walk away from, is a good landing.
But you were compensated. You are still alive.
@@MrRaddoslaw yes I agree, but Celebrity arranged this at considerable
@@MrRaddoslaw expense for us who took this connection. And to put us in harms way was inexcusable.
I'm so happy to see your channel grow! I remember seeing your first few videos shortly after they came out. Your progress is a testament to your willingness to take constructive criticism well. I really like that you are willing to cover less publicized accidents in a clear and concise manner. Hoping to see more great things from you.
Couldn’t have done it without you!! 👏
@@MiniAirCrashInvestigation you said there was another accident a year after this. We're you referring to the infamous Aeroflot flight 593?
I truly feel terrible for the pilots. They’ll have to live with survivors guilt knowing the plane they were in control of crashed and several people died, but the crash was in no way there fault.
I read about this accident a while back and I'm happy you did a video on it.
However, there are some details that you left out or got mixed up.
Firstly the ground crew saw the plane approaching and astoundingly assumed the plane wasn't actually approaching the airport.
Secondly from the photographs and a Russian TV animation of the accident, the cockpit didn't separate. What happened is that the plane broke apart right where the wings on the TU-154 were. The rest of the
cabin then flipped on its back.
Now this is conjecture, but the broken fuel takes in conjuction with massive amount of fuel the cars *and* trucks had ignited a massive fire.
When the cabin flipped upside down, the doors would have been hard to open, so the passengers and crew would have simply gone for the hole.
Except for the fact that the massive fire and engulfed the entire hole instantly after the crash. The fire soon started to spread into the cabin.
Meanwhile in the cockpit, they had the window they could move to get out. But according to one source, the cockpit door was jammed by the crash so the crew couldn't go back.
Once outside, it soon became clear to the crew that the disoriented passengers were trapped and the cabin was quickly going up in flames.
By the time firefighers arrived, they could only save one passenger who was on fire. The rest of the passengers were simply killed by the fire and smoke.
Mind you, the flight crew were the only ones to walk away with minor injuries.
This crash you could actually feel second hand survivors guilt.
The crew knowing they had in fact spotted the obstruction but did nothing, and then simply watch all but one of their passengers burn must have deeply affected them.
I flew Aeroflot in July 1991, from Moscow to Berlin. The outward journey, at the start of the trip, was a very ‘adventurous’ experience as well, but since we traveled that part by train, I guess will have to save that story for the comment section of a railway video.
Technically, July 1991 was seven months after the fall of the iron curtain, but in everyday life, nothing much had changed yet, except of course for the fact that we were able to travel from and back to Western Europe at all.
In the week before the flight, there were two hijackings of Aeroflot planes, in the week after that, three.
It was a very large plane, rows of 3/4/3 or 3/5/3 most likely. During the takeoff roll, the plane vibrated very badly and the partition panels that were in the cabin, were shaking and rattling vigorously. The noise was deafening. I’m sure other parts of the plane were shaking and rattling as well, adding to the overall experience.
Since I started watching aviation videos, I wonder what sort of plane it could have been. It must have been about the size of a 747, but most likely a Soviet version of it.
If anybody has an idea of what type of plane was, please comment, as in the light of my fairly recent interest in aviation videos, and so many years after the experience, that would be really nice to know.
The TU-154 was Russia's version of the "wide body" jets, which came out in the early 1970s. I don't think it has the capacity of a 747, but I'm convinced it was a Russian version of the Lockheed L-1011 which had engine 2 in an "S" ducted position. The other one was the DC-10 wide body, but that had the third engine (engine 2) built straight into the tail.
Maybe an IL-86. That’s the only Soviet built wide body I can think of.
It's important to note imo that the young ground controller responsible for the accident later committed suicide in his cell :/
The one with two children? Oh, that's horrifically sad. Yes he was negligent, but if others had done their jobs correctly this accident never would have happened. It almost always takes many contributing factors for a plane to crash, and this case was no exception.
An infortunate guy, yeah:( Knowing one's limits was not something taught at Soviet schools, quite the opposite
I have never flown with Aeroflot myself, nor would I ever. Growing up in the 70s and 80s, Aeroflot had the (well deserved) reputation, even here in Western Europe where their planes were few and far between, of being death traps, that u would only board, if u absolutely HAD to go, and there were no other options. And if u had ur life insurance paid up....
Aeroflop.
To be fair - they've come a very long way since the olden days. I've flown with them a few times, to Vladivostok from Moscow in 2020, then to and from Khabarovsk in 2021. Those were direct flights, I think the jet was a 777. The interior was well furbished, the plane wasn't making any weird noises or anything like that, I even ordered some whisky on board and paid for it with my plastic card. Now the airline to avoid in modern Russia is Uralskiye Avialinii. Their planes are in poor condition, they're always late by an hour, sometimes more, and there have been some incidents involving them, thankfully nothing fatal.
Great vlog as always! This is blue print of an accident in western Canada in the mid 70s. Snow removal eqv on the RWY and a 737 cleared to land. No good!
Another great video. As for the accident I honestly don't know what to think. I mean it definitely could have been avoided. How it could have been avoided is a whole new question and debate. For the runway drying. That is the first time I hear about it.
i think the best way to have prevented it would’ve been to follow at least some of the rules. they weren’t supposed to be on the runway for this exact reason. however, their rule breaking wasn’t the only rule breaking that led to this happening, they were just the ones who got the worst possible punishment. stuff like the runway lights being on even when there’s zero air traffic is just one other thing that contributed. ATC not communicating is another. those poor pilots couldn’t have done anything to save themselves and their passengers. i cant even imagine how terrifying it must’ve been to think you landed just fine just to explode because some jackasses with tons of fuel are playing bumper carts on the runway.
@@misseselise3864 You have point there. A lot of rules were broken. Also I think in the video he said the pilots saw something. Also a lot of things contributed to this accident.
@@dimitarivanov3817 and the pilots asked TWICE if the runway was clear.
@@advorak8529 And were told that it was.
@@advorak8529 Yes they have asked. And then they proceeded to land. My point is that the rules were broken. Also if they were not they could have landed safely
Can't imagine the pilot's survival guilt. What's also terrible is the families of the victims had no legal recourse. Sure, suing doesn't bring the dead back. But they had to just sit in their grief and take it.
Ridiculous! The fault lies with the men on the runway who shut their caution lights off because they bothered them. Everything else was failure to communicate. Well, except for the guy who fell asleep 🤔
Nevertheless, it all comes down to those caution lights that would have signaled a go around.
In Soviet Russia, plane crashes you.
@@derp8575, then there's that.
There’s only one person to blame, the airport manager. These guys didn’t not take there job serious and that shows poor oversight at the top levels. Not a single person followed protocol. The pilots could have initiated a go around or a low pass to check for obstructions on the runway but I find it hard to put any blame on them when the entire staff at the airport failed to carry out their duties.
I think you are one level too low. Somebody forgot to put the rind on the swiss cheese or removed it. The state regulatory body is the rind that should have stopped the airport from allowing regulations to be ignored and the pilots from being trained to go around if they have the slightest suspicion the runway is not clear. It is only in the last 20 years or so that the role of the regulators has been highlighted in air incident reports.
Those equipments are called Тепловая машина( teplovaya mashina) means thermal (heat) machine. They have turbojet engines which are powered by jet fuel mixture.
This was around the same time a Soviet pilot killed 70 passengers by attempting to land blind in order to win a bet with the FO and draining out and drinking the alcohol used to cool the plane's avionics for a free pre-flight drinking binge was totally a thing.
Excellent work... Keep them coming!
Its a bit of a change that the pilots lived. Pilots are heroes and do everything to save thier planes when things go wrong. They usually dont survive.
As the rule says, it takes a chain of events to cause an accident. But in this case it's almost unbelievable, a perfect storm of incompetence... Keep up the good work with your channel!
Soviet Russia and incompetence go pretty much hand in hand. There's a very long list of Soviet era air accidents, a phenomenal number of which are "pilot drunk."
I flew with Aeroflot and S7 (previously siberian) many times on international routes, great airlines with modern fleet and service. Their leg room is spacious compare to many western airlines. When i first arrived in Russia in 2003, I still remember being amazed by seeing Tupolev planes on the runway with soviet flags still existing in their tales. Also, their cigar shaped engines where so loud, standing at the entrance of the terminal would be very uncomfortable for the ears
I've had good experiences with Aeroflot on international routes as well. That was before the war in Ukraine started of course. Now without western parts and maintenance flying Russian airlines would be a gamble.
Gonna echo the few others who've brought this up already. Vehicular Jet-Dryers ARE a thing. NASCAR has them available for every track, and if there's a "weather disruption" that doesn't last all day, they will send the dryers out to clear the track for the race to resume... I'd have to suggest that similar methods are perfectly allowable on runways, as squalls (from squall lines) are dangerous little storms, but along with massive downpours of water at a time, they move quickly, and the jet-dryers would be a perfectly equitable method to speed up runway decontamination. It wouldn't have to be "perfect" for the planes to land, of course, but rather than leave water pooling so it forms ice, just get rid of the worst of it, and that should be sufficient...
Again, some sensibility should go along with their use, like about everything else. There's no sense to keep vehicles and dryers out burning fuel in the midst of a storm or blizzard (for instance)... ;o)
I hope you get your 200k subscribers, Mini! Can we have a q&a when you reach it?
From My totally ignorant, non pilot perspective, if you’ve got vehicles clearing the runway of rain, whilst it’s actually raining (as suggested by the video animation), the question should be, “Does this runway need to close?” It’s like me filling the bath and bailing water out with buckets at the same time. If they were worried about the slippery runway that much, then the airport should be closed and planes made to divert. Also, if the pilots had doubts about being cleared to land, and didn’t get a reply straight away, they should’ve gone round. But ultimately, pilots have to be able to take on trust that the runway they land on will be obstruction-free, and none of this is down to them. It’s ground control and ground crew performing a task that I question the need for, that should bear the responsibility.
Thank you for narration. I enjoy listening,
Not reading !!
I know NASCAR uses trucks with jet engines on them to dry wet race tracks. It’s really cool to see…and very loud!
They use them at Santa Pod drag strip in the UK too
Wishing you best of luck in getting to 200k subscribers quickly! Love your videos.
The pilots thought the runway wasn't clear. I would like to think, when in doubt, go around!
We had a foul runway red light that we flipped on as a ground controller AFTER asking with local controller so everyone knew and if they had a brain fart we had that bright red light in our faces. Why would the ground controller have any say about the active runway?!? How can an approach controller clear anything on the runway? As a local controller, I’m the only one that can clear anything onto the active. Seems like there’s a horrible communication issue.
subscribed the moment I saw this channel! Quality content!
Oh how exciting getting so close to 200k subscribers. This is an achievement you have truly earned. I hope it comes quick and off to 300K with a sprint! Thank you.
I wish I could subscribe again for you bro 🥺😍😍 thank you for making the content that regularly gets me through these god-awful bus rides to/from work ❤️
Every sub is definitely deserved! You explain anything a layman wouldn't know about, and just deliver the facts. Not gonna lie, I could binge (and probably have) all these videos and lose track of time.
As for the accident, it's insane that all these mistakes and the careless handling of the runway operations led to such a tragedy. All because corners were cut and someone fell asleep...
Also, why didn't the pilots go around when they thought something was on the runway? I get not being well-rested, but... Jeez...
As always a very good informative video. Thank you
Truly an accident that did not need to happen. Tragic. . Mini, excellent presentation and explanation. Thanks!! 👍✈️✈️👍
Just a small correction, it’s the tower controller is the one who clears planes to land, unless there’s some special procedure in Omsk or Soviet Russia I don’t know about
Unfortunately runway incursions by service vehicles is common occurrence in USSR/Russia. "TOTAL" CEO Christophe de Margerie died in an aircraft crash in Moscow on 20 October 2014, along with the three-member crew (Yann Pican, Maxime Rassiat and Ruslana Vervelle). His Dassault Falcon 50, hit a snowplow on take-off from the Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow.
Give a medal to that snowplough! Total = EVIL
I guess the plane was.. totaled?
The problem start at the top management who have one job, that is to ensure the management and protocols of the airport is to standard and redundancy procedures are in place. I look at it like this. anything under those circumstances could cause a crash. repair work on the runway, a broken down plane on the runway, failure of equipment. If there are no clear procedures which is followed at all times, anything can cause a catastrophic result. those procedures and systems is the responsibility of the top management to keep in place. What if the ground controller had a heart attack, or passed out from low blood sugar or had to use the bathroom. Your airport management cannot rely on a single point of failure and management has the responsibility to work out how things work, protocols, redundancy and rules. but as often the case, top management are political or financial appointees and know nothing about what happens on the ground, they leave staff to figure things out for themselves and that is poor management. Dont blame the staff on the ground to try and do what management was responsible to do.
This incident demonstrates the swiss cheese theory perfectly. A series of actions and inactions ending in tragedy.
I'm not sure, but if I saw something shiny, I'd probably be tempted to do a flyby and go round. Just so many things came together to cause this.
apparently they tried to go around but it was too late. It's why the pilots survived, the nose of the plane lifted over the cars instead hitting the belly of the plane
In 1977 I flew to Delhi from Paris, via Moscow, thankfully without any problems. There but for the Grace of God, go I.
A sub "sink" a train and a plane colliding with a car, I seen it all.
Regarding the turbine runway dryer, the same concept is used at drag strips to keep the track dry. Since the surface of a drag strip is essentially sealed with glue, water just sits on the surface and turns it into an ice rink, so even a small shower can completely shut down racing.
The response was to strap a jet engine to a trailer, duct the exhaust down onto the surface, and drag it up and down the strip until the water is no more, such a device can dry a quarter mile in half an hour.
As NASCAR fans know, they use them too. JPM had a mechanical failure and went into the engine. Cue the hole of Daytona Int'l Speedway turns turn 3 being quite literally on fire from wall to edge of the track banking. In that case it was a surplus helicopter engine.
Makes sense for a racetrack, but I wonder if it's truly necessary for a runway provided that the runway is long enough to compensate for reduced braking action.
it pains me so much that the ground controller was sentenced..
Plowing runways when there is a lot of snow is sensible but attempting to dry them by blowing on them with hot air is not. If there is light rain then airliners are perfectly capable of landing on such lightly wet runway. If there is so much rain as to cause hydroplaning then drying won't work at all anyway. Under freezing rain/snow conditions an attempt to dry runways this way makes things a lot worse as it melts the snow which will then refreeze immediately as ice.
I think "fell asleep" has been used as a euphemism for "got drunk" in Russia. I'm curious if that was the case here.
No. He really fell asleep. Just that.
I would rank the failure of the trucks to have their warning beacons on as the single most important factor. Even though there were other factors, if the beacons were on, the plane would have seen them and gone around.
Thumbnail question
“How Could A PLANE And A Car COLLIDE?”
Me: “Yeah, how’d THAT happen?”
Next frame: Aeroflot
Me: “Answered my question”
I would say the top 3 causes were
1. Not following procedures
2. Ignoring procedures and
3. Violating procedures
Using a MiG jet engine as a snowblower / runway drier?
50% cowboy, 50% genius, 100% Russian. I love it.
6:25 "Bodna" is not used as a short for "Svobodna", the first syllable was just cut off probably
It can be "swallowed" in some accents
It was a question until you see the Aeroflot in the title.
I only read negative shit about Aeroflot but in their defense, I flew with Aeroflot I think it was from Moscow to Armenia and it was my best and most comfy flight so far. Comfy chairs, enough space even the regular seat, and i am a tall guy 1.91m. Free earphones and new multimedia on the screen on the back of the seat in front of you. Free drinks and snacks multiple times even though it wasnt such a long flight. So yes that was a good experience.
Dude this is video quality of a channel which has one million subscribers good luck mate
From what I know in the 1980s USSR they used old TU-104 engines to dry the runways. As my mom, who was a Flight Attendant for Aeroflot at that time, told me, initial reports were saying that the miscommunication between the pilots and the ATC was to blame. When the pilots asked if the runway was clear to land, the ATC reported "cleaning" (pololsa chistaya? - chistim) which was an off-protocol reply. However, as I was researching that specific accident I couldn't find this information anywhere, so either my mom's memory isn't very clear about that crash or something was altered in the final reports
Your mom probably met my parents who were a pilot and a flight attendant for Aeroflot too at the time :)
All of the 'holes in the Swiss cheese' lined up that day
Should have let people like me design the flashing lights, they would be pleasing instead of annoying :))
At 2:56, it is mentioned that the flight crew saw something on the runway. It is my understanding that current SOP's would dictate a Go Around if the pilots have the slightest suspicion of a runway intrusion. Was that the case back then for Aeroflot?
Probably not. Even in the West at that time go arounds were seen as a sort of failure. In the Soviet Union probably moreso.
For some odd reason, at first I thought this video was on BAL 2937 mid air collision with DHL 611, then quickly realized it was not. But thinking about that accident, I would really love to see a video from you on that insane mid-air collision!
I feel bad for all the dead people and their families and their coworkers who now have to pick up additional work for the same pay.
This accident was the worst of its kind. Unfortunately a chain of mistakes and negligence led to this accident. however I did not know the pilots were suspicious about the presence of unauthorized thing on the runway. The ground rule of see & avoid might have overshadowed all deficiencies, but sadly that last chance, did not took place in the cockpit of TU-154 which had up to 5 pilots. RIP...to all those who lost their lives and alas for the ones whose life were ruined due to this accident
In this case there was a long list of people with no situational awareness, except for the pilots. Sounds like they saw "something" on the runway, but control was so dysfunctional that they were cleared to land. This has a long list of contributing factors, but the thing that irks me, is how a controller, who permitted the trucks to dry the runway, fell asleep. I don't care how many kids he has or how tired he was, his little nap ended the lives of well over 100 people, many of whom were children. The MIG engine drying truck you showed was very, very Russian. It has the open engine, the long duct, an added cab and a massive fuel talk. That was Russian "brutal" ingenuity at its best.
imo 13 years for the approach controller is excessive. obviously he shouldn’t have told the jet it was ok to land without getting a clear transmission but i can only imagine how stressed he must’ve been from having sleep deprived coworkers on top of the staff shortages.
The Soviet system of leadership meant the lower ranks being scapegoated no matter what. Managers rarely if ever actually faced consequences while their subordinates were hit with lengthy prison terms or fines.
@@jerrell1169 that describes the US. Not the USSR. But i dont need to tell you that, since you clearly made it up to begin with.
And In this specific scenario the terminal manager was pit in prison aswell.
People saying that pilots are responsible in some way, they did check and raise a query, and they were given the all clear to land.
If they hadn't been told it was clear, they wouldn't have landed, and they did check/query.
All error was on the side of the airport staff, not the pilots as they did double check and query.
Interesting. Until I saw this video, I didn't realize that drying runways during rainy conditions was even a procedure practiced at some airports.
I suspect that the Russians only do it because they already have those jet engines for clearing snow.
No doubt you'll make 200k subs. I think it was around 2k when I started watching and the content only improves!
duuuude, usually you link any mentioned crash. Do you not have a video about the "crash that surpassed the record about 1 year later"? Would've been the prime opportunity to link it I think :o
Nobody can intend to be negligent. Negligence by definition is a mistake. Intentional conduct is something else. I think those prison sentences were totally appropriate.
In 2004, my friends and I flew from Bodrum Turkey, to Sofia Bulgaria on a Tu 154. Because it was election day in Bulgaria, the airline had to send Bulgaria‘s version of Air Force One, fto etch us. We are coin flight had been on a twin engine turbo prop, staffed by very young flight attendants. Our Tu 154 was staffed by flight attendants probably in their 50s or 60s. It was nicely furnished but it was probably 20 or 30 years old At the time. Fortunately, it was early summer, and weather was not an issue on our flight.
Oddly, the same basic scenario played out with the SAS MD-87 at LIN 14 years later. While it was a takeoff instead of a landing and a lost plane, basic systems were inadequate and/or broken leading to a controller clearing a commercial jet onto a runway that wasn't clear. USAir 737 at LAX cleared to land on an occupied runway in the mid 90s is another... Either way, while rare, I wouldn't say it was "solved" worldwide after this crash.
Reminds me of Zebrugga ferry accident. But really, imo, these things are not one person to blame, or even many people to blame. Its down to procedures and systems and fail safes that are not adequate.
Humans make errors.
And when multiple safety systems meant to stop them aren't adhered to the whole culture from the top needs looking at not just the guys at the bottom put in prison. Why did staff shortages mean that he was alone in the control tower etc? True root cause very rarely goes to the top I wonder why
In the Zeebrugge enquiry the judges quite rightly avoided putting the blame on the overworked and fatigued crew member who forgot the bow doors. Instead they commented that the whole company was riddled with the "disease of sloppiness" and put the blame firmly on the management responsible for that culture.
@@philiphumphrey1548 yes, and the industry was made to implement changes to procedures in all ferries to avoid a repeat.
I don't work at an airport. However this sounds like some of the stuff they do where I work. Nobody knows what's going on. somebody's doing something that they're not supposed to be doing. Do you want me to do this? The supervisor says no. The director says yes.
I remember when you were just hit 1,000 congrats man
From the comments i would say people dont realize how different things were 40 years ago
Salyushtations, Mini!
Salyutations to you as well!
Hello Ferrari man
Salyushtations!
Congratulations on your success! Excellent channel ❤️
Guess it depends if the runway is grooved or not…
Please cover a 1994 Baikal Airlines Tu-154M crash in Irkutsk, Russia. It's also an interesting story to tell
Your intros always intrigue the viewer.
When the pilot asked "What's there on the runway?" They should have pressed their equivalent of TOGA and made a pass over the runway at 100 feet with all their lights on. Runways and roads should drain. Heating a road/runway with an overgrown hair dryer is apt to cause icing shortly after it passes and relatively warm ice is slippery.
I’ve been to the former Soviet Union. They couldn’t even build buildings right. Each step in a staircase would be different heights. Passengers always applaud when the plane lands even if it was a smooth flight, because Aeroflot was so awful. It’s no wonder the U.S. beat them to the Moon.
Hey! Congrats on all the subscribers. You deserve way more
I've seen these in use in Kazakhstan recently. It's a Klimov VK-1 engine, used to blast ice and snow away.
2:55 - If it were Australia and I was the pilot and I thought (and was told!) there was something on the runway (it could have been anything - even a part falling off a previous plane taking off, unseen by others), it would be an AUTOMATIC go-around for me till someone could check and clear it. If in doubt, etc. The buck stops with the pilot. Unfortunately this was not Australia and go-arounds were obviously seen as expensive, not macho, a bad look, whatever.
Think about when a car driver is travelling at high speed in fog at night on a poorly-lit road despite seeing what he thinks may be something ahead of him, then crashes into another car (which an investigation subsequently shows had its taillights lit) and kills everyone. Who is held responsible - the speeding driver of course! (Not the local/state government who failed to light the road, although it may be seen to be contributing). Why should it be any different here?
I like how the title of the video is also a Q & A
"How Could A PLANE And A Car COLLIDE?!"
"Aeroflot."
Pilot...What is on the runway?
CoPilot...Yeah I see it, dont know what it is.
Pilot...I guess we will land and find out.!
It all boils down to COMMUNICATE with each other, and repeat yourself if necessary!’
awesome! you got a new mic! man, youtube has hid you from my feed. looking forward to this episode - its been a while. man your voice sounds great now.
I can't imagine the survivors guilt that the pilots felt. This disaster is wild. So much negligence. If I remember correctly, didn't one of the accused take their own life while behind bars? My family and I dislike Aeroflot. We think it is an extremely dicey and unsettling airline, though this is just our collective perspective. My loved ones are near airports that aren't served by Aeroflot, so we always take different airlines, such as Lufthansa and British Airways.