On May 9, the Sukhoi SuperJet-100 piloted by Alexander Yablontsev was making a demo flight in Indonesia when the pilot took it dangerously close to terrain, and flew south into the mountains instead of turning north to the airport, crashing the plane and killing all 45 aboard the plane. The Russian Trade and Industry Ministry accepted the findings of local experts which blamed the crash on human error. Pilots ignored the collision avoidance system’s warning.

The investigation is not officially over. The French and US reports are part of the investigation. The NTSB Preliminary report is brief:

On May 9, 2012, at 1450 local time, a Sukhoi SJ100-95, Russian registration RP97004, collided with terrain about 35 miles south of Jakarta, Indonesia. The airplane was on a demonstration flight. The 40 passengers and 4 crew were fatally injured, and the airplane was destroyed.

This investigation is being conducted by the National Transportation Safety Committee of Indonesia (NTSC/KNKT). As the state of design and manufacture of the the ACSS/L3 Terrain Warning and Traffic Collision Avoidance System (T2CAS), the NTSB appointed a U.S. accredited representative upon being invited to do so by the NTSC.

Russian officials expect to make the final report public in October.

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Family Charges Bombardier with Negligence
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Family Charges Bombardier with Negligence

The National Transportation Safety Board’s decision on the Colgan Air Flight 407 crash is that the pilot responded inappropriately to the stick shaker, which led to an aerodynamic stall from which the airplane did not recover. The stick shaker only comes into play when the plane is already slow enough to stall. The plane fell 800 feet before crashing pointing northeast, away from the airport

The family of Ellyce Kausner has filed a lawsuit against Bombardier. Bombardier is the manufacturer of the plane involved in the crash. The suit charges that Bombardier was “negligent and careless” in the design of the plane by not providing more efficient internal mechanical warning systems.

Kausner was a 24 year old Jacksonville law student traveling to NY to visit family.

At least 19 other families have filed suits.

At the time of the crash, the automated “stick-pusher,” pushes the control column down in order to send the aircraft into a temporary dive so it can regain speed and recover from a stall but Capt. Renslow yanked back on the controls while adding thrust, manually overriding the stick-pusher.

Colgan Air, Clarence Center, NY, Accident Dockets

George’s Point of View

Time for Bombardier to step up to the plate. Although this has little to do with the pilot, who had flunked numerous flight tests during his career and was never adequately taught how to respond to the emergency that led to the airplane’s fatal descent. Maybe Ellyce would still be here if the warning systems on the Bombardier were simply better.

When the plane slowed down to a dangerous level, it set off the stall-prevention system, and the pilot performed the opposite of the proper procedure. So there were hiring and training issues involved too. And Captain Renslow had about 109 hours of experience, hardly enough to be pilot.

Even if procedures seem counter-intuitive, shouldn’t the pilot be aware of them?

Barring the inefficiency of an ill-prepared pilot, shouldn’t Bombardier have some kind of way to limit ineffective pilot responses?

When the hiring and training fails, and when the pilot fails, shouldn’t there be some kind of fail-safe within the plane? Even a copy of the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Not Crashing your Bombardier for pilots who flunked their last check write 16 months before and who apparently didn’t read the real manual?

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Nordwind Airlines Flight with Flaps Issue, Safe Landing at Krasnoyarsk

What: Nordwind Airlines Boeing 767 en route from Krasnoyarsk to Phuket
Where: Krasnoyarsk Airport
When: Dec 9 2012
Who: 279 passengers
Why: While en route, the Boeing flight from Krasnoyarsk to Phuket developed flaps problem. After an alarm indicated the problem, the pilot returned to Krasnoyarsk and made a safe landing at 15:35. The plane was examined, and passengers were “sent to the Phucket reserve board.” (We take this to mean they were pointed to alternative flights to their destination.)

There were no reported injuries. The incident is under investigation by the Yenisei transport office.

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VIM Airlines Flight Makes Emergency Landing in Russia

VIMVIM Airlines flight NN-264 had to divert and make an emergency landing in Bratsk, Russia, on August 29th.

The Boeing 757-200 plane heading from Vladivostok to Moscow, Russia, was diverted after left hand engine’s generator stopped working.

The plane landed safely. Everyone aboard remained unharmed.

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Sukhoi plane crash Caused by Pilot Error

The National Commission on Safety Transportation announced that the Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 that crashed into a mountain in Indonesia seven months did so as a result of pilot error. All 45 Aboard were fatalities.

Indonesian authorities claimed that the plane functioned adequately and there were no malfunctions of safety gear.

The fact that the pilot digressed from the route, and that the (foreign) pilots were not well aware of the mountainous terrain may be behind part of the decision. As a demonstration flight, the pilots were probably encouraged to make dramatic maneuvers at a terrible price.

Thirty-eight seconds prior to the impact, cockpit instruments issued a warning saying “pull up, terrain ahead”. Later the warning “avoid terrain” was issued six times, but the instruments were turned off because the crew assumed there was a problem with the database.

Officials said that “The crew was not aware of the mountainous area surrounding the flight path,”

The Jakarta radar service was incapable of informing flight crews of minimum safe altitudes.

The Russian pilots, while experts, were not intimate with the Indonesian topography.
Six minutes after takeoff, the pilot and co-pilot requested Jakarta ATC for permission to drop from 3,000 meters to 1,800 meters on the scheduled half-hour flight. Six minutes later, the plane struck Mount Salak.

READ MORE:

Sukhoi SuperJet-100 Demo Disaster Final Report In October

Russian Pilots Bail out of Sukhoi Jet

The Investigation of Sukhoi Superjet’s Crash holds Answers to Many Questions

Black Boxes Located and in Indonesian Custody

Continuing Search for Sukhoi Superjet Wreckage Indicates Probable Black Box Location Buried Under Debris

Joy Flight Steals Joy

Superjet Wreckage Found

Sukhoi-Superjet Goes Missing on Demo Flight over Indonesian Mountains

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UTair Aviation Flight Makes Emergency Landing in Moscow

UTair Aviation flight UT-595 had to return and make an emergency landing in Moscow, Russia, on April 19th.

The Boeing 737-500 plane took off for Usinsk, Russia, but had to turn back after the crew reported issues with the stabilizer.

The plane landed back safely. There were 91 people aboard at the time; all of them remained unharmed.

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Rossiya Airlines Plane Makes Emergency Landing in Russia

Rossiya AirlinesRossiya Airlines flight SU-6617 had to divert and make an emergency landing in Rostov, Russia, on November 3rd.

The Airbus A320-200 plane heading from Saint Petersburg, Russia, to Larnaca, Cyprus, was diverted after the crew reported the failure of domestic equipment.

The plane landed safely. All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.

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