Did you miss the story about a Russian passenger jet crash landing?

With all the developments happening on the frontlines of the war in Ukraine, it’s not hard to miss some of the stories coming out of Russia. One that flew under the radar recently was the emergency crash landing of a passenger jet in an open field. 

A Russian Ural Airlines Airbus A320 carrying one hundred and seventy passengers was forced to make an emergency landing due to a hydraulic issue with the plane’s hydraulic system, the company reported according to BBC News. 

The pilots brought the plane down in an open field somewhere in the Novosibirsk region of Siberia after the passenger jet’s hydraulic system failed while on its final approach to the far eastern city of Omsk, just north of Kazakhstan. 

Pictures of the incident after the passenger plane made its emergency landing showed the jet stranded in a field surrounded by trees with its emergency doors opened and its inflatable ramps activated while those previously onboard standing close by. 

Russian authorities released more footage of the incident according to The Moscow Times which noted that no passengers were injured in the incident and most were later housed in a nearby village following the crash landing. 

Russia’s aviation agency Rosaviatsia explained that the site for the crash landing was chosen from the air and added that there were one hundred and fifty-nine passengers onboard the flight and six crew members. 

A criminal investigation into the emergency has been launched by Russia’s Investigative Committee according to The Moscow Times in order to determine if any major violations of the country’s air traffic safety rules took place. 

Images released of the crash site show little damage to the plane but small black marks on the crashed Airbus A320 look as if the jet may have caught fire, a claim head of Ural Airlines Sergei Skuratov denied calling it “just dirt” according to BBC News. 

The emergency landing comes months after Western sanctions have likely taken a toll on the Russian aviation industry with the country’s airline companies cut off from spare parts that would normally be provided by Western manufacturers. 

The Associated Press reported Western sanctions banned the transfer of surplus parts to Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine but a May report by the New York Times found that $14.4 million in sanctioned Boeing parts made their way to Russia.  

Reuters reported that Russian airline companies were still able to keep their planes in the air through a complicated web of international trade that has seen roughly $1.2 billion in spare airplane parts flow into the country from May 2022 to the end of June 2023.  

“The equipment ranged from essential items needed to keep a jet airworthy—such as … cabin pressure valves, cockpit displays and landing gear—to more mundane spares, such as coffee makers, flight attendant telephone handsets and toilet seats,” Reuters reported. 

Customs records showed that spare parts made their way to Russia through a variety of middlemen in other countries, including Tajikistan, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, China, and Kyrgyzstan—all of whom have endorsed Western sanctions, Reuters added. 

In March, Ural Airlines’ Igor Poddubny was quoted by Russian media outlet Vedomosti explaining that the airline only had about three months left before they would be forced to break up other planes in their fleet for parts. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons

However, BBC News noted that Skuratov also rejected this claim and previously noted that the planes flying in his fleet were serviced with genuine parts. "We will never allow incorrect spare parts to be used," Skuratov said. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons

"It's difficult, with a fight, but all the spare parts used on our aircraft are certified,” the Ural Airlines chief added. "I stake my head on it." Unfortunately, that statement may come back to haunt Skuratov if there are more crash landings.