All 71 people aboard a Saratov Airlines An-148 regional jet were killed Sunday when the aircraft went down shortly after takeoff from Domodedovo Airport near Moscow. There were 65 passengers and six crew on the aircraft, which was on a flight to Orsk. Some Russian media are reporting the flight crew reported a technical malfunction and planned an emergency landing at Zhukovsky. The aircraft came down on a treeless plain about 50 miles east of Moscow. There was an explosion and debris was spread over a wide area. Russian authorities said the crash was not survivable.
The crash differed from many in Russia in that the aircraft was a relatively new example of a modern design. The An-148 is a high-wing regional aircraft that entered service in 2009 and the aircraft that crashed was eight years old, according to Russian authorities quoted by various media outlets. It’s a fly-by-wire aircraft with a glass cockpit and two turbofan engines. There are about 40 in service, all in Russia or in countries with close ties to Russia.
