The Innocent Choice That Caused The Deadly Crash Of Aeroflot Flight 593 – Grunge
We’ve all heard that planes are the safest way to travel, and that’s true. EU Flight Compensation cites the risk of death from a plane crash as 1 in 11 million. Compare that with the vastly greater car crash death rate of 1 in 5,000. Put differently, NSC Injury Facts says that the fatal accident rate for commercial U.S. airlines is 0.0 — none — per 100,000 miles. To be clear: 100,000 miles equals four round trips around the Earth’s fattest point, its equator. So everything you’ve heard about planes being safe? It’s completely true. This is why plane crashes are such big news.
And yet, accidents do happen. The attorneys at the Wisner Baum — who among other things specialize in aviation accidents — cite a variety of typical reasons that plane accidents occur, like pilot error, mistakes by air traffic control, mechanical failures, and weather trouble. Sometimes these reasons are egregious to the point of unbelievable, like in the 2023 case of a ATR-72 Yeti Airlines plane landing at Pokhara Regional International Airport (VNPR) in Nepal, Tibet. As Aerotime says, the plane didn’t have any “functioning instrument landing system” whatsoever.
Other times, such as in the case of Aeroflot Flight 593 in 1993, the reason for the crash was as tragically senseless as it was utterly preventable. All it took was one child hitting one switch by mistake mid-flight.
In the hands of a child
Skycolors/Shutterstock
Simple Flying tells the whole, horrific story about what happened to Aeroflot Flight 593, starting with a practice that was common for the time and is sometimes still allowed: visits to a plane’s cockpit. If this idea makes the hackles on the back of your neck rise, you’re not alone.
Aeroflot was, and is, Russia’s state-owned national airline. The plane that crashed — an Aeroflot Airbus A310 — had been in service for only about three months by the time it took to the skies on March 23, 1994 to head to Hong Kong from Moscow. As the story goes, relief pilot Yaroslav Vladimirovich Kudrinsky’s children Eldar and Yana were on board and wanted to visit their father in the cockpit. Relief pilots, for the record, are fully-trained, regular pilots who substitute for main pilots and take over at certain points during flights.
Everything was fine until Kudrinsky demonstrated an incalculable lapse in judgement by letting his children handle the controls of the airplane. The autopilot was engaged, so minor movements to the plane’s control column — the steering wheel-looking thing — didn’t cause the plane to turn. Kudrinsky’s son Eldar, however, yanked on the control column, which disengaged the autopilot. The whole plane started to bank right, but shockingly, none of the pilots apparently noticed — at least not right away. They didn’t even see the flashing lights in the cockpit. By the time they regained control of the plane, it was too late.
A completely preventable tragedy
OlegRi/Shutterstock
Virtual Globetrotting shows us the precise spot where Aeroflot 593 crashed in the Kuznetsk Alatau mountains of Russia northwest of Mongolia. All 63 passengers and 12 crew members died, including Yaroslav Vladimirovich Kudrinsky and his children who wanted to visit their father at work.
An archived 1994 article from The New York Times discusses excerpts from Aeroflot 593’s cockpit voice recorder. The beginning of the end came when Kudrinksky’s daughter Yana asked her father, “Daddy, can I turn this?” Kurdrinsky lets her do so, but tells her not to push any buttons. He also explains the city lights below and starlight above. Kudrinksky’s son Eldar apparently grabs the control column of his own accord, and his dad yells at him. A full four minutes passes before Eldar asks, “Why is it turning?” and his father replies, “It’s turning by itself?” Only then does a co-pilot realize what’s happening. The pilots spend the next couple of minutes trying to right the plane even as it spirals into a nosedive. They apparently do regain control at 1,300 feet above the ground, but it was too little, too late. You can listen to the original recording on the Dark Records YouTube channel.
Simply Flying says that it was against regulations for Kurdrinsky to let his children handle the plane’s controls, and that the plane experienced no technical faults at all. Everyone on board paid the price, and their deaths serve as a warning to the rest of us.
Related News & Content
-
How to optimize ‘select found_rows()’ query? Several ‘high load average’ alerts daily
How to optimize 'select found_rows()' query? Several 'high load average' alerts daily,I have 5,000 regular posts, 6,000 posts in one post type and 2,000 posts in another post type. Needless to say, that has made the wp_posts table quite large. Not to mention, I have custom taxonomie... -
How to Use JSON With AJAX?
How to Use JSON With AJAX?,I've defined a PHP callback function to handle the communication between server-side and client-side: function json_render_modal_body() { check_ajax_referer( THEME_PREFIX . '-modals', 'nonce'... -
Filtering context for render_block function
Filtering context for render_block function,I am trying to use render_block within a function called from the WP admin via AJAX The render_block returns null/empty however if I run my function using the wp hook returns the rendered HTML for ... -
How do I hide submenus from the top menu bar?
How do I hide submenus from the top menu bar?,My website is wiki-style and has a lot of pages that should only be reached through links on other pages. Having these all accessible from the top menu bar under their respective headings leads you... -
Register users without confirmation
Register users without confirmation,I'm looking to register users without requiring confirmation of their emails (and even better, no password when they register). Basically, I want them to subscribe their mails using wp registration -
How to use AJAX in wordpress front end?
How to use AJAX in wordpress front end?,I have two inputs in an HTML Widget block on a post. What I need to do: send the inputs (from the html widget) value to AJAX, construct and execute a query, render a table with the results back on ... -
Display posts from Custom Post Type, group by term, arrange term groups and arrange items within groups by menu order
Display posts from Custom Post Type, group by term, arrange term groups and arrange items within groups by menu order,I have a Custom Post Type 'my_cpt' and a custom taxonomy 'types' which has several terms, all of which have posts. I want to do is be able to control both the order of the groups (terms from my cus... -
How do I know if the custom theme is a child theme or a full-custom theme?
How do I know if the custom theme is a child theme or a full-custom theme?,Inherited a custom built WordPress site. How do I know if the theme it uses is a child theme or a full-custom theme? I would like to delete the unused themes for security and to free up space, but ... -
getEntityRecords/useEntityRecords: How to use CPT metadata?
getEntityRecords/useEntityRecords: How to use CPT metadata?,I use getEntityRecords as described in the official data API tutorial (https://learn.wordpress.org/lesson/retrieving-wordpress-data-records/). I.e.: const [searchTerm, setSearchTerm] = useState... -
Carol Kirkwood stuns in figure-hugging dress amid BBC Breakfast technical chaos
Carol Kirkwood stuns in figure-hugging dress amid BBC Breakfast technical chaos,CAROL Kirkwood stunned in a figure-hugging dress amid a technical blunder. BBC Breakfast was flung into chaos this morning after a string of sound issues. However Carol, 61, was all smiles as she p… -
Families ‘to sue prison’ where loud inmates ‘terrorise kids’ with screaming
Families 'to sue prison' where loud inmates 'terrorise kids' with screaming,Residents living next door to a new prison who say their kids have to sleep wearing headphones and some leave during weekends due to the racket are threatening to sue the prison service -
Doctor Strange’s Secret Wars Role May Be More Important Than You Thought – Looper
Doctor Strange's Secret Wars Role May Be More Important Than You Thought - Looper,According to entertainment leaker Alex Perez, Doctor Strange will find himself confronting his inner struggles as he headlines "Avengers: Secret Wars." -
I’m a clown for not trying Korean beauty secret for glowy skin sooner – don’t worry, I’m not putting cheese on my face
I’m a clown for not trying Korean beauty secret for glowy skin sooner – don’t worry, I’m not putting cheese on my face,A BEAUTY influencer has regrets about not trying out Korean beauty advice for glowy skin sooner. Although the trick can look a little strange at first, she assured viewers that she was not putting … -
“Not every artist deserves to be rich”: Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows on Spotify revenue and why Web3 is the future
“Not every artist deserves to be rich”: Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows on Spotify revenue and why Web3 is the future,Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows has shared his opinion on the difficulty of making money through streaming platforms as an artist, arguing that “not every artist deserves to be rich”. -
‘We are at risk’ – health expert in urgent warning for Irish people over Easter
‘We are at risk’ - health expert in urgent warning for Irish people over Easter,AN URGENT warning has been released to those jetting off over the Easter break. With measles already on the rise, there is an increased risk of a more widespread outbreak in the coming weeks. Trave… -
Black Holes Are Even Weirder Than You Imagined
Black Holes Are Even Weirder Than You Imagined,It’s now thought that they could illuminate fundamental questions in physics, settle questions about Einstein’s theories, and even help explain the universe. -
The odd history of on-hold music
The odd history of on-hold music,We've all been put on hold when we've tried to reach someone. Have you ever thought about the music that plays while you wait? -
‘What Jennifer Did’: Netflix doc explores shocking Ont. murder-for-hire case
'What Jennifer Did': Netflix doc explores shocking Ont. murder-for-hire case,Most of Jennifer Pan's entire life was made up of lies. When her parents began to catch on, she decided to bring in hired hitmen. -
Stuff a Cornwall Transit bus tomorrow with menstrual hygiene products
Stuff a Cornwall Transit bus tomorrow with menstrual hygiene products,United Way Centraide SDG is calling for the community to come together and donate menstrual hygiene products to support those in need. Cornwall, Ontario (March 6, 2024) The United Way… -
Most actively traded companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange
Most actively traded companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange,TORONTO — Some of the most active companies traded Monday on the Toronto Stock Exchange: Toronto Stock Exchange (21,740.20, down 159.79 points): TC Energy Corp. (TSX:TRP). Energy. Down 13 cents,…
