On March 23, 1994, Aeroflot Flight 593 from Moscow to Hong Kong crashed which resulted in the deaths of all 75 people on board. The 30-year-old catastrophic crash unfolded during the aircraft’s first international flight. The cause of the accident was a mystery when accident investigators began their work in the aftermath of the crash. But the true horror of what unfolded on the flight deck soon became clear as the investigation progressed. Although Aeroflot tried unsuccessfully to hide it, the answer stunned the world. At the moment of the loss of control, a 15-year-old was flying the plane, which resulted in a completely preventable tragedy.
According to Simple Flying, the aircraft was carrying 12 flight crew and 63 passengers on board, including pilot Yaroslav Kudrinsky’s two children. Halfway through the flight, the most experienced pilot Captain Andrey Danilov had left the cockpit to rest, leaving Mr Kudrinsky and first officer Igor Piskaryov in charge of flying the aircraft.
The plane was on autopilot and the course was set when Mr Kudrinsky opened the cockpit to some very important guests – his children. Keen to give them an unforgettable experience, he allowed each of them to take a seat in the Captain’s seat and touch the controls to feel like they were flying the plane.
Mr Kudrinsky’s 12-year-old daughter Yana had her turn first without any complications. Her father even adjusted the autopilot to make her think she was actually steering the aircraft. She was followed by Mr Kudrinsky’s 16-year-old son Edgar. Once again, the pilot manipulated the controls slightly to give his son a taste of flying the plane, but in excitement, the boy pushed hard on the control column, which disengaged the autopilot control of the aircraft, leaving the 16-year-old partially in control.
This is clearly a situation that the experienced Russian pilot should have seen coming. According to Medium, a silent warning appeared on the flight deck but was missed before both of the pilots noticed.
The 15-year-old actions eventually caused the plane to veer sharply. From there the pilots attempted to regain control of the aircraft, successfully pulling the plane out of a dive but overcorrecting until the flight was climbing almost vertically, stalling it. This resulted in the plane spinning and dropping back down to the ground. While the pilots were able to level out the wings of the plane they had lost too much altitude by that point and crashed.
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The black box recording of the plane’s final moments was discovered as part of the investigation into the crash. It revealed that in the final moments, Mr Kudrinsky was shouting at his son to get away from the controls. “Eldar, get away. Go to the back, go to the back Eldar! You see the danger don’t you? Go away, go away Eldar! Go away, go away. I tell you to go away!” he said.
Amid the chaos, Mr Kudrinsky struggled to regain control of the plane, but it was too late. “Get out now, all is normal. Pull up gently. Gently! Gently I say,” he said. But the aircraft plummeted to the ground, crashing in the Kuznetsk Alatau Mountain range of southern Russia at a speed of some 160mph.
According to Medium, investigations found no evidence of technical failure, concluding the crash was most likely caused by the children being allowed to take control of the flight. The aircraft was completely destroyed, killing everyone onboard.
