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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-49355236
A Russian passenger plane has made an emergency landing in a cornfield near Moscow after striking a flock of birds.
At least 74 people were injured in the incident, which saw the plane land with its engines off and landing gear retracted, emergency officials said.
[...] The Kremlin on Thursday hailed the pilots as heroes for "saving people's lives and landing the plane". A spokesman said they would receive state awards soon.
The airline said the plane was significantly damaged and would not fly again. An official investigation is under way.
[...] The plane had more than 230 passengers and crew on board when the birds were reportedly sucked into its engines and the crew immediately decided to land.
[...] Collisions between birds and planes are a common occurrence in aviation, with thousands reported every year in the US alone. However, they rarely result in accidents or cause damage to the aircraft.
Flight is U6178 Moscow-Simferopol, plane was VQ-BOZ.
Reports say one engine was out and the other was badly damaged so the crew shut it off. But on this video I can hear some engine noise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f893GhbiBA
Glide-landing 7 crew, 226 passengers, and ~6 tons of jet fuel safely in a corn field is undoubtedly an achievement.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday August 16 2019, @11:29AM (14 children)
But, one must ask, what use is landing gear in a cornfield? You are going to slow down, in any case.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by pkrasimirov on Friday August 16 2019, @11:46AM
It was the right decision. In this drone footage you can see the actual landing distance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KedQRSa4sew [youtube.com]
The corn field really helped, provided the fuel did not ignite.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Friday August 16 2019, @12:27PM (6 children)
Just in case you feel the need to stick the landing gear into soft soil, either taking a tumble due the abruptness of the stop or otherwise sending fragments of the landing gear at high speed through your fuel tanks.
You know? Adrenaline junkies, suicidal maniacs, sociopathic TV-crews [wikipedia.org] and all that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Username on Friday August 16 2019, @12:56PM (5 children)
On the other hand, landing in dirt and grass is common, and a similar dual engine failure happened to TACA Flight 110 which was able to land, gear down, on a dirt levee without any damage. The plane even took right back off after engine repair.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday August 16 2019, @01:54PM (3 children)
Well, yeah.
Every now and then a novice pilot fails to transform his plane into a fireball. But those events are rare enough (very... large... grin...)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @02:44PM (2 children)
do you have to end every single fucking post with a sarcastic shadenfreude rictus
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday August 16 2019, @03:11PM (1 child)
Only when I intend the fucking post marked with a sarcastic shadenfreude rictus to be taken as a joke.
If I manage to project a sense of black humor and cynical attitude to the audience, I managed in my intention.
If not, well... I fall back in reminding myself that not everybody in this world can be full-witted (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @10:13PM
I'm not a nihilist I'm just full-witted!
(Score: 5, Informative) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday August 16 2019, @02:25PM
The key being "dirt levee", as in the ground was compacted, reasonably level, and ended up taking the weight of the plane distributed on the gears. Same story for dirt and grass landing fields (although there are reasons why 737's don't normally land on grass landing fields). One has to fly the conditions one finds and use the superior pilot's judgment to determine what one does, which doesn't change the general principle of better-to-skid-than-flip. But if you read the Wikipedia on TACA 110 they were prepared to water ditch gear-up but then spotted the levee, "The aircraft was towed from the levee to the nearby NASA facility [Michoud], fueled to the minimum amount needed and departed from Saturn Boulevard, a roadway built atop the original World War II-era runway."
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by deadstick on Friday August 16 2019, @12:40PM
"what use is landing gear in a cornfield"
Basically none. In a smaller airplane, you'd go ass over teakettle. In an Airbus, it would dig in and drastically increase the deceleration.
(Score: 4, Informative) by DutchUncle on Friday August 16 2019, @12:58PM (3 children)
Exactly. The landing gear would only have gotten stuck, snapped off, and the open doors would have been even worse. The smooth bottom of the plane (relatively smooth) along the nice crushable plants (better than freshly plowed earth and rocks) was the best call. Makes me wonder if the pilot was ex-Navy.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday August 16 2019, @01:29PM (1 child)
My guess without a map is we're missing the time factor.
We always have an emergency airport kinda in mind or at least a vague plan ... Engines blow up, lets land at the nearest airport, no idea if hydraulics are leaking so pop the gear immediately while we still can ... time passes ... Whoops.jpg we're way too far from the nearest airport so we'll land in this nice farm field...
(Score: 3, Informative) by legont on Friday August 16 2019, @08:59PM
It was still above the runway when the birds went into the left engine. So, it seems the pilots intentionally retracted gear before the emergency landing.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday August 17 2019, @03:15AM
After watching the videos... I'm impressed. That was a pretty durn soft landing, all things considered.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @08:01PM
Poor corn. Just doing it's corny thing and BLAMO...total annihilation, decimation and destruction.
Also, no one ever says if the farmer gets reimbursed by the airlines for crashing in their field wiping all their hard work out. Inquiring minds want to know!