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Russian civilian planes have suffered a record spate of dramatic accidents after Western sanctions prevented fleets from buying essential parts.
Since the New Year, there have been a staggering 16 significant incidents recorded across Russia’s 11 time zones.
Monday alone saw two horrific incidents, one a crash of an An-2 plane in the Nenets autonomous region in which two people, including the pilot, were killed and four survived with injuries, including two children.
The second was an An-26 making an emergency landing after its rear floor came open on take off striking terror among the 25 on board – whose hats flew off their heads vanishing through the gaping hole.
A video taken from the AN-26 passenger flight showed travellers looking unnerved as the rear door of the plane flung open – sending hats and luggage flying
Today, a Nord Star Boeing 737-800 with 116 passengers and six crew floundered for unclear reasons while taxiing in Norilsk, sliding off the runway and aborting its takeoff.
The Moscow Times has said that Russian aviation has been hit by a ‘record series of accidents’ in the past year dominated by the war.
The country already had a poor record for air safety but Novye Izvestia counted more than 130 civil and military aviation accidents in 2022, including some 28 aircraft crashes.
In another extraordinary development today, flights to one of the world’s remotest airports in Arctic village Tiksi have been halted this month due to a lack of aviation fuel.
Magan is eight miles from Yakutsk, the world’s coldest city, and capital of Yakutsk region in Siberia, eastern Russia
On Monday, an An-2 plane (pictured) crashed in the Nenets autonomous region in which two people, including the pilot, were killed and four survived with injuries, including two children
The flights are from Yakutsk, regional capital of world’s coldest region Yakutia, in Siberia. They have been suspended for January, it was reported.
Many planes in Russia’s civilian fleets are suffering because supplies of Western spare parts and engineers are banned due to sanctions, causing major maintenance problems.
Nor can Putin’s airlines lease or buy new aircraft from the EU or US, which means decrepit aircraft continue to be flown daily across Russia.
‘Serious accidents can happen – it is only a matter of time,’ said an aviation analyst speaking anonymously.
‘Shortcuts with safety are being taken, and the consequences are all too predictable.’
On January 6, an Azur Air plane from Novosibirsk to Thailand was forced to return due to windshield damage.
On January 8 a Pobeda airline plane skidded off the runway and got stuck in deep snow, aborting its takeoff
In another extraordinary development today, flights to one of the world’s remotest airports in Arctic village Tiksi have been halted this month due to a lack of aviation fuel
The plane with 263 on board took off at 1am and returned only at 7am.
A day earlier, an air conditioning malfunction caused a Utair plane to make an emergency landing and on January 8 a Pobeda airline plane skidded off the runway and got stuck in deep snow, aborting its takeoff.
An Airbus A320 of S7 Airlines failed to fly from Bratsk to Moscow and made an emergency landing in Kazan after four hours of flight due to a major malfunction of its toilet system.
A recurring problem is with landing gear, seen as due to lack of servicing.
On January, two separate Boeing 737s at Vnukovo airport in Moscow reported front landing gear issues.
An Airbus A320 of S7 Airlines had a similar problem after landing at Novosibirsk, this time caused by overheating of the hydraulic system.
Investigators examine the An-26 after its rear door opened soon after takeoff, terrifying passengers
A Nord Star Boeing 737-800 with 116 passengers and six crew floundered for unclear reasons while taxiing in Norilsk
Some 80 Boeing and Airbus aircraft in Russia are due ten yearly overhauls on landing gear – which will not happen in the normal way, said Aviatorshchina aviation channel on Telegram.
Russia is relaxing its own safety rules due to sanctions but there are warnings of ‘a surge in incidents related to landing gear failure’.
Russia’s Sukhoi Superjet 100, which has become a workhorse during the war, is suffering increasing safety concerns.
On January 6, the landing gear failed to retract on a Red Wings flight from Kazan to Yekaterinburg, leading to the pilot returning to the departure airport for an emergency landing.
A day later a similar problem hit an Aktyubinsk to Moscow flight leading to an unscheduled landing in Orenburg.
The problems faced by Russian airlines are a clear sign that sanctions are – months after being imposed – having an impact on the economy.