Ural Airlines Airbus A321-211 plane crash
Moscow, Russia
Updated on
Russian airline pilots averted disaster while their Airbus struck a flock of birds and lost power in both engines. The A321-100 operated by Ural Airlines took off from Moscow Zhukovsky, Russia, for a passenger flight to Simferopol, Ukraine. 226 passengers and 7 crewmembers were onboard. The plane was in the initial climb through 750 feet (200 meters) when the Airbus A321 flew through a flock of sea gulls and ingested them into both engines. This resulted in both engines failure, prompting the crew to land straight ahead in a corn field. All the people onboard survived, 10 occupants were injured. The aircraft sustained substantial damage.
A few seconds after takeoff, birds got caught in the engines, with the left engine stalling immediately. Then they got caught in the right engine, which also stalled. The plane had reached an altitude of 750 ft (200 meters) but was then unable to maintain altitude. The captain took control manually and decided to land in a corn field straight ahead about 2.8NM past the runway. The landing was performed with landing gear retracted. Although the Airbus A320 received substantial damage, there was no fuel leak and no fire erupted. The occupants were evacuated via the slides. 10 of them required medical attention.
Ural Airlines is currently on the blacklist of airlines banned from flying in the European Union.
