A Sukhoi Superjet passenger plane crashed in the Moscow region on Friday and three crew members were presumed killed, the Russian emergencies ministry said.
It said the plane had crashed in woodland near the city of Kolomna and there had been no casualties apart from those three crew members on board. The cause of the crash was not clear.
Mash, a Telegram channel close to Russian law enforcement, said the plane had been on a test flight after repairs and belonged to Gazpromavia, an airline owned by gas giant Gazprom that operates passenger and cargo charters.
The plane was manufactured in 2014 and was solely operated by Gazprom, TASS reported citing ‘aviation services’.
The aircraft was reportedly flying from the Voronin Production Center outside Moscow to the capital’s Vnukovo Airport.
A Sukhoi Superjet passenger plane crashed in the Moscow region on Friday and three crew members were presumed killed, the Russian emergencies ministry said
It crashed near the village of Apraksino, some 12 miles from where it took off, according to Russian media
It crashed near the village of Apraksino, some 12 miles from where it took off, according to Russian media.
The Sukhoi Superjet-100 crashed just three hours after undergoing maintenance, Telegram news channel Baza reports.
Baza added that the aircraft sent a distress signal and unsuccessfully attempted to circle around to burn off fuel before crashing to the ground.
The pilot is believed to have diverted the aircraft away from built up areas – the villages of the villages of Apraksino and Maloe Karasevo – areas and it crashed in a forest.
The aircraft exploded on impact triggering a column of black smoke.
Footage showed the plane flying low but steadily in the sky shortly before the crash.
The dead crew were named as Yevgeniy Bulavko, the captain, and Maxim Lukmanov, co-pilot, and Vladislav Kharlamov, flight attendant. The pilots were working for the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company, according to TASS.
The plane disappeared from radar screens around 3pm Moscow time. The reason for the crew’s mayday signal was not immediately disclosed.
Earlier the aircraft – built in 2015 – had been used on routes to Siberia. A criminal case has been opened regarding the plane crash in the Moscow region.
This type of aircraft has been involved in two major crashes.
On May 5, 2019, 41 out of 78 people were killed after Sukhoi Superjet-100, was struck by lightning shortly after takeoff from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.
The plane, suffering electrical failure, returned to the airport and bounced on the runway causing a fire. A long court case blamed the captain for the scale of the losses.
The plane disappeared from radar screens around 3pm Moscow time. The reason for the crew’s mayday signal was not immediately disclosed (pictured: smoke from the crash)
A Sukhoi Superjet passenger plane crashed in the Moscow region on Friday and three crew members were presumed killed, the Russian emergencies ministry said (file image of a Sukhoi Superjet-100)
On May 9, 2012, a Sukhoi Superjet-100 crashed into Mount Salak in Indonesia during a promotional tour.
All 45 people on board, including crew and prospective clients, died in the crash, which was also blamed on pilot error.
Superjets are widely used in Russia, but have become vulnerable due to sanctions preventing the supply of Western parts.
Vladimir Putin is seeking to expand use of a new Superjet based entirely on Russian-made parts, but he does not use the planes himself.
There have been several safety incidents with Sukhoi Superjets since Russia launched its war against Ukraine, which triggered sanctions from the West.