UTair Flight 471 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight of a

Tupolev Tupolev (russian: Ту́полев, ), officially Joint Stock Company Tupolev, is a Russian aerospace and defence company headquartered in Basmanny District, Moscow. Tupolev is successor to the Soviet Tupolev Design Bureau ( OKB-156, design off ...

Tu-134 The Tupolev Tu-134 (NATO reporting name: Crusty) is a twin-engined, narrow-body jet airliner built in the Soviet Union for short and medium-haul routes from 1966 to 1989. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain ot ...

on March 17, 2007, that suffered heavy structural damage during a

hard landing A hard landing occurs when an aircraft or spacecraft hits the ground with a greater vertical speed and force than in a normal landing. Landing is the final phase in flight, in which the aircraft returns to the ground. The average vertical s ...

Samara Kurumoch Airport Kurumoch International Airport (russian: Международный аэропорт "Курумоч") is the international airport of Samara, Russia, located 35 km (22 mi) north of the city. Besides Samara, the airport serves Tolyatt ...

near Samara,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. Of the 50 passengers and 7 crew members on board, 6 people were killed and 20 injured when the aircraft broke apart. The plane was flying from the Siberian city of Surgut to Samara and then to

Belgorod Belgorod ( rus, Белгород, p=ˈbʲeɫɡərət) is a city and the administrative center of Belgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Seversky Donets River north of the border with Ukraine. Population: Demographics The population of B ...

Background

The aircraft was a

passenger aircraft, operated by

UTair Utair (russian: ОАО «Авиакомпания «ЮТэйр») () is a Russian airline with its head office at Khanty-Mansiysk Airport while its hubs are at Surgut International Airport and Vnukovo International Airport. It operates schedule ...

. On the day of the accident the aircraft was thought to be carrying 50 passengers and seven crew. It was flying as a domestic passenger carrier based in

Surgut Airport Surgut Airport , also listed as Surgut North Airport, is an airport in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia located north of Surgut. It services medium-sized airliners. In 2018 Surgut Airport handled 1,758,310 passengers. In May 2019, the airp ...

, serving Surgut,

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

and

, with a scheduled stop in Samara.

Event

The aircraft was landing at Samara Kurumoch Airport, when it touched down about 400 meters short of a runway in heavy fog, bouncing and flipping over.Pilot blamed as 6 die in Russian plane crash
Russian Jet Crashes Short of Runway, Kills 6
/ref> Six people were killed and 26 injured. The accident occurred at about 10:45 a.m. local time (06:45 GMT).Five dead in Russian jet crash
-

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20t ...

- ''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughou ...

'' - Obtained March 17, 2007. The aircraft did not catch fire after the accident,Russia plane crash
- Sky News - Obtained March 17, 2007.

Emergency response

At least 23 people were hospitalized in facilities in Samara and nearby

Tolyatti Tolyatti ( rus, Толья́тти, p=tɐlʲˈjætʲ(ː)ɪ), also known as Togliatti, formerly known as Stavropol (1737–1964), is a city in Samara Oblast, Russia. It is the largest city in Russia which does not serve as the administrative center ...

, six of whom were in serious condition.Update: 6 people remain in crashed plane body in Samara
- RIA Novosti - Obtained March 17, 2007. Six people were trapped in the wreckage for a total of three hours before being cut free by rescue crews.Seven die in Russian air crash
- Al Jazeera English - Obtained March 17, 2007. 23 more people were not injured but received psychological treatment at the airport.

Investigation

According to transport officials and prosecutors a full investigation was launched by the relevant authorities.Passenger jet crash landing in central Russia kills 7 people
- 570news.com - Obtained March 17, 2007. Investigators state that they recovered the

cockpit voice recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has ...

and

flight data recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has ...

on the day of the accident and studied them to determine the cause of the accident. Prosecutors investigating the crash in Samara said bad weather and

pilot error Pilot error generally refers to an accident in which an action or decision made by the pilot was the cause or a contributing factor that led to the accident, but also includes the pilot's failure to make a correct decision or take proper a ...

were the most likely causes. Initial analysis of the flight data recorder suggests the aircraft was not experiencing any obvious technical malfunction before the accident. Russia's interstate aviation committee MAK states a preliminary assessment shows both engines were operating up to the point of impact. The aircraft was in landing configuration, with the undercarriage lowered and the flaps positioned at 30 degrees, and did not suffer fire or other damage while airborne. According to the findings of the official MAK investigation,MAK investigation conclusion (Russian)
the crash can be blamed on both the airport services, which did not inform the pilot about the reduced visibility in time due to organizational problems, and on the pilot, who did not give the dispatcher the correct information about his landing trajectory and, consequently, did not decide to stop the landing procedure and try to take another approach at the time he should have done so.

UTair's reaction

Within hours of the crash,

issued a statement saying that the aircraft had been in good technical condition and that foggy weather was likely to have caused the accident. The company also said the crew was well-skilled and had long experience.Weather, technical, human factors considered Tu-134 crash versions
- RIA Novosti - Obtained March 17, 2007. They also decided to pay out

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

75,000 to the families of each deceased person.

Prosecution

The captain and co-pilot of the aircraft were both tried at a regional court in Samara on charges of negligence causing the deaths of two or more people. The captain was sentenced to six years imprisonment and the co-pilot to two years imprisonment. The sentences were suspended.

References

External links

Aircraft ownership historyPre-accident photos of the aircraft
{{coord missing, Samara Oblast Aviation accidents and incidents in 2007 Aviation accidents and incidents in Russia Accidents and incidents involving the Tupolev Tu-134 Airliner accidents and incidents involving fog 2007 disasters in Russia March 2007 events in Europe