There were no injuries among 167 people onboard an Airbus A320 that landed in an open field about 100 miles west of Novosibirsk on Tuesday. The aircraft was originally headed for Omsk, about 200 miles further to the west, from Sochi but on approach to Omsk the crew reported failure of a hydraulic system. They decided to divert to Novosibirsk, reportedly because of the longer runways (11,800 feet vs. 8200 feet) but didn’t make it.
So far there’s been no explanation as to why the crew put down on the field, but Mentour Pilot said that local media had reported the crew “calculated that they had enough fuel for this diversion.” Whatever the reason, the landing didn’t seem to cause much damage to the aircraft, although it’s not clear if it will be able to fly out.
It’s the second time in four years that a Ural Airbus has ended up in the weeds. In 2019 an A321 carrying 233 people went through a flock of birds on takeoff from Zhukovsky Airport in Moscow and crash-landed in a cornfield about 3 miles from the runway. A total of 74 injuries were reported, but none were serious. The aircraft was written off.
If you need a field in front of you to land in, sure looks like a nice one.
“…although it’s not clear if it will be able to fly out.”
PF: “Turn up the soft field takeoff checklist.”
PNF: “Let’s see, soft field takeoff, soft field takeoff…uh, er,…”
Actually there are jets that do that in some parts of the world are there not? I’ve a vague memory something about old 737s and gravel… Which doesn’t make sense from the FOD pov. But what do I know from the armchair here? (heh)
“ Actually there are jets that do that in some parts of the world are there not? I’ve a vague memory something about old 737s and gravel…”
You’re right. The early 737’s had a “Gravel Runway” kit. One component was a deflector on the nose wheel to keep from kicking up FOD into the belly and engines.
It’s Russian. Of course they’ll fly it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhGwR1Ub-_E
The wages of a parts embargo? The Aviation Herald is reporting today that Ural has announced “that the aircraft is going to fly again soon.”
Possibly sounds like a similar scenario to HF3378 in 2000, where surprisingly 😉 it turned out that the FMC was not very good at forecasting remaining range in a “gears out, low altitude” scenario…
But of course do not want to jump ahead of the investigation (but also not so sure if in Russia that can be trusted to produce the real cause…)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hapag-Lloyd_Flight_3378
A brand new B-737, operating as TACA Flt 110 made a successful forced landing on a levee near New Orleans, Louisiana in May of 1988. The aircraft had experienced dual engine failure due to severe hail damage in a thunderstorm; however, it was only lightly damaged and, with an engine change, flew out several days later.
Here’s a link to the story:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TACA_Flight_110
Oh, by the way, the Captain who made the landing only had one eye.
“So far there’s been no explanation as to why the crew put down on the field”
It’s easier to explain a landing in a field than attempting to explain a smoking hole in a field.