Russian A320 airliner lands largely intact in field, quickly dismantled by digger

[ElPaso Pilot]

Well. that’s really odd. Either the pilots did an awesome job, or not.

A Russian airliner carrying 170 people was forced to crash-land in a field after a hydraulics failure.​

​

No one was injured in the emergency, which left the Ural Airlines Airbus A320 stranded next to a forest in the Novosibirsk region of Siberia.​

​

Ural said the pilot "selected" the landing site after the jet's hydraulic systems failed while approaching Omsk.​

​

The incident sparked denials from the airline that it was unable to service its planes due to sanctions on Russia.​

​

Pictures showed the plane stranded in a corn field, its emergency doors open and ramps down, and people milling around.​

​

A video on social media showed a heavy digger then dismembering the plane, lopping off the cockpit, tail and wings to more easily remove the plane from the field.​

​

Russia's aviation agency Rosaviatsia said that the "unscheduled landing" happened in the early hours of Tuesday.​

​

Russian aviation experts said there are back-up systems and disputed the crew's decision to make the landing.​

​

"There are three hydraulic systems, one electric," pilot Andrei Litvinov told Gazeta.ru of the A320. "There is no need to land the plane in a field."​

​

He added the decision endangered the lives of those on board and on the ground.​

Russian airliner forced to land in open field

Ural Airlines says no one was injured and denies a lack of spare parts was to blame for hydraulic failure.

www.bbc.com

 

[Clip4]

The Russians should be able to maintain their fleet - they stole all the leased aircraft they could when the war broke out.

 

[NoHeat]

It’s a weird story all around. Even more than the off-field landing, I’m especially puzzled by the quick destruction of the airframe using construction equipment, to remove it from a field where nothing else was happening anyway. Someone didn’t want an NTSA-style investigation?

 

[Albany Tom]

Any guesses as to how much of the hydraulic system was functional on takeoff?

 

[ElPaso Pilot]

The Russians should be able to maintain their fleet - they stole all the leased aircraft they could when the war broke out.

Yup. This was one of those.

Formerly leased friom AerCap in Ireland, until it had a new registration painted on it on March 25, 2022.

RA-73805 Ural Airlines Airbus A320-214

Airbus A320-214 with registration RA-73805 (ex A6-ABB, CN-NME, VP-BMW) airframe details and operator history including first flight and delivery dates, seat configurations, engines, fleet numbers and names

www.planespotters.net

Perhaps they figured with the sanctions, they’d never get repair parts for it anyway, so it was more valuable chopped up for local spares?

 

[Albany Tom]

Of all the plane mishaps to make fun of, this should top the list. Russian? Nobody hurt? Cut apart by farmer with "digger"?

Maybe a new marketing technique for Airbus: "A320. Runway, river, cornfield - Land wherever the f*(*k you want, it'll be fine. We'll make more."*

(*Airbus guys, I'll license this to you for an incredibly low price if you're interested.)

 

[Sac Arrow]

It's a shame the aircraft was dismantled after landing. The crew could have practiced their soft field takeoff procedures.

 

[TCABM]

With enough vodka, a dark field at night might just look like a deserted airport in Siberia. Especially if they forgot about the pilot controlled lighting.

 

[Tantalum]

Reminds me of the time my favorite type, TU-154, landed in a field, mowed down a bunch of small trees and brush.. everyone got out safe, and they flew the plane out!!

The “Lucky” Landing of the Tupelov Tu-154

On the 7th of September 2010, a Tupelov Tu-154M (registration RA-85684) suffered a complete loss of electrical power during a cross-country flight to Moscow. The Tupolev Tu-154 is a three-engine So…

fearoflanding.com

and was subsequently flow out:

While on the topic of the TU-154, Malev flew these for a long time, and more than once did two engine ferry flights with them.

 

[ElPaso Pilot]

I'm calling crappy Googlefu and reporting on the media for this one.

After searching multiple times for photos / video of the "digger" disassembly that did not seem to exist, I found this one:

Russia, salvage of Ural airline Airbus A321 a | IMAGO

Russia, salvage of Ural airline Airbus A321 after emergency landing in corn - Buy a single licence or a picture package and use it immediately

www.imago-images.com

Which is the last time Ural airlines landed an Airbus in a Russian cornfield - but I guess this gets confusing as it becomes more standard practice with Ural.

 

[Mtns2Skies]

Okay this whole backcountry bush flying craze has officially gone too far

 

[hindsight2020]

looks like the ruskies have been watching inspection-"Pass" Palmer on the uboob.

 

[ElPaso Pilot]

And the BBC updated the original linked article to remove any “digger” references without commenting or edit notes.

 

[172andyou]

Which is the last time Ural airlines landed an Airbus in a Russian cornfield - but I guess this gets confusing as it becomes more standard practice with Ural.

"Just following the checklist comrade"

 

[frfly172]

no problem they’ll just steal another one

 

[Domenick]

Air-to-air Missile May Have Downed Wagner Group Leader Prigozhin's Jet | AIN

An aviation security expert said an air-to-air missile likely caused the crash of the Embraer Legacy 600 that killed Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.

www.ainonline.com