Passengers Push Stuck Airplane in Russia

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Video of passengers pushing an airliner where its wheels had frozen to the ground in northern Russia made news around the world this week. The video shows people pushing the Tupolev Tu-134 backwards on a tarmac in Igarka, where it was 61 degrees below zero, the Associated Press reported. The UTair Russian airliner was to carry 74 oil workers and seven crewmembers from Igarka to Krasnoyarsk 800 miles to the south, but the plane’s brakes were frozen, according to the AP report. Reaching above their heads, the passengers pushed the leading edges of the wings until the wheels began rolling. In the last few seconds of the video, a towbar attached to the nosewheel comes into view, but it’s not clear if a powered vehicle was also pushing the aircraft.

Russian officials launched an investigation into the incident, the AP reported. It would be funny if it didnt pose a horrendous threat. People could have damaged the aircraft skin and the flaps, Oksana Gorbunova, adviser to the West Siberian transportation prosecutor, told the Tass news agency.The passengers were asked to exit the plane when it got stuck, Gorbunova said. When a tractor began towing the airliner, some of the passengers left a bus and tried to help move it. The plane was towed, of course, because it would be physically impossible for people (to move it), she said in the AP report.The plane, operated by UTair subsidiaryKatekavia, departed and landed safely in Krasnoyarsk, a report from The Guardian said.

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