All 234 passengers and crew onboard a Russian passenger plane survived after it crash landed in a cornfield very shortly after take-off from Moscow.
The Ural Airlines Airbus A321 had just taken off from Zhukovsky airport when it reportedly flew through a flock of birds within three seconds of rotation.
Both engines failed, and after the plane failed to gain altitude, the pilots controlled the descent into the field – just 1km from the runway.
The entire flight lasted less than a minute.
Twenty-three people were hurt – though it is not yet clear whether their injuries were sustained during the emergency landing or the subsequent emergency evacuation.
The plane, flying under the number U6 178, was aiming for Sevastopol, in Russian-occupied Crimea.
A passenger told Russian state TV that the plane shook violently almost immediately after take-off. “The lights on the right side of the plane started flashing and there was a smell of burning,” he said. “Then we landed and everyone ran away.”
Immediate parallels were drawn with the “miracle on the Hudson” in 2009, when a US Airways Airbus A320 commanded by Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger hit a flock of birds shortly after take-off from New York’s LaGuardia airport.
Both engines shut down with the aircraft flying at barely 200mph and 3,000 feet. During the 208 seconds of the flight, the crew decided to ditch in the Hudson River. All passengers and crew, including a nine-month-old baby, survived the evacuation.
State media has called the Russian landing the “miracle over Ramensk”.
The aircraft is believed to have been written off.
Aviation safety in Russia has been under scrutiny following a series of fatal accidents.
The worst accident in Russian aviation history was also on an Airbus A321. All 224 people aboard the Metrojet charter flight died when it crashed shortly after take off from Sharm el Sheikh airport in Egypt.
A bomb is believed to have been placed onboard at the Egyptian airport.
