A passenger airliner careened off the runway at Russia’s third-busiest airport and partly onto a highway while landing on Saturday, broke into pieces and caught fire, killing at least four people.
A fatal passenger jet crash was caught on a dashboard camera. The plane skidded into a highway after making a hard landing at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport. Five people were killed, three others critically injured. Officials believe the cause could be pilot error.
FIRST VIDEO: Passersby assist victims after a Tu-204 crash-lands into a Moscow highway near Vnukovo Airport. A graphic version of this video is available on the “Emergencies Behind the Scenes” Facebook page for Arlingtoncardinal.com — Facebook.com/CardinalEmergencies …
Eight Crew Members: 5 killed, 3 Critically Injured
On December 29, 2012 at 16:35 local time (12:35 GMT), a Red Wings TU-204 aircraft — flight number RWZ9268 — crashed after overrunning the runway in bad weather at Moscow Vnukovo International Airport. The aircraft was landing after a flight from Pardubice Airport in the Czech Republic. The aircraft broke up and caught fire after landing.
The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that the captain, first officer, flight engineer and one flight attendant were killed on impact. A female died of her injuries after initially surviving the crash. Three other crew members were transported to a hospital in critical condition.
Those killed in the crash were Capt. Gennady Shmelev, 58, First Officer Evgeniy Astashenkov, 52, Flight Engineer Igor Fisenko, 54, and Flight Attendant Evgeniya Zhigalina, 25. A second Flight Attendant, Tatiana Penkina, 31, died in a Moscow hospital the day after the accident.
The aircraft was built in 2008, investigation is ongoing. The December 29 accident was the second runway overrun involving a Red Wings operated Tu-204-100B in nine days. A Moscow Vnukovo to Novosibirsk flight on December 20, 2012 overran runway 25 at Tolmachevo Airport by 1,150 feet (350 meters) when its brakes failed on landing.
Preliminary examination of the aircraft’s flight data recorder indicates that the aircraft touched down in the proper landing area on the runway, but the braking system also appears to have failed in the second crash.