Shades of Sully: Russian safely lands bird-struck jet
MOSCOW — A Russian pilot whose passenger jet lost power in both engines after colliding with a flock of gulls shortly after takeoff Thursday managed to land in a cornfield smoothly enough that only one of the 233 people on board was hurt seriously enough to be hospitalized.
The quick thinking of the captain, 41-year-old Damir Yusupov, drew comparisons to the 2009 “Miracle on the Hudson,” when Capt. Chesley Sullenberger safely ditched his plane in New York’s Hudson River after a bird strike disabled its engines.
Experts say the two neartragedies could force aircraft makers and regulators to rethink engine designs so they can better withstand bird strikes, although technology to do that is not yet available.
Yusupov was hailed as a hero after his feat, and Russian television stations showed passengers standing in headhigh corn next to the plane, hugging Yusupov and thanking him for saving their lives.
The Ural Airlines Airbus A321 was carrying 226 passengers and a crew of seven as it took off from Moscow’s A Ural Airlines’ A321 rests in a cornfield after an emergency landing Thursday near Ramenskoye, outside Moscow. Only one passenger required hospitalization.
Zhukovsky Airport en route to Simferopol in Crimea.
Russia’s Rosaviatsiya state aviation agency chief, Alexander Neradko, said the crew “made the only right decision” to immediately land the plane with its wheels up after both of its engines malfunctioned. The plane was fully loaded with 16 tons of fuel.
“The crew has shown courage and professionalism and deserve the highest state awards,” he said. “Just imagine what the consequences would be if the crew didn’t
make the correct decision.”
The airline said Yusupov, the son of a helicopter pilot, is an experienced pilot who has logged over 3,000 flight hours.
Yusupov’s wife told Rossiya state television from their home in Yekaterinburg that he called her after landing, before she had heard about the emergency.
“He called me and said: ‘Everything is fine, everyone is alive,’” she said. “He said that birds hit the engine and we landed in a field. I was horrified and in panic and
burst into tears.”
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, hailed the pilots as “heroes” and said they will receive state awards.
The Emergencies Ministry said 74 people asked for medical assistance after the incident. Health authorities said 23 people, including five children, were taken to a hospital, but all but one was released following check-ups.
Bird strikes on planes occur regularly around the world even though airports use bird distress signals, air cannons and other means to chase them from runways. Smaller birds are usually chopped up by turbine fan blades, but engines aren’t designed to withstand strikes from multiple birds or larger birds such as geese, said John Hansman, an aeronautics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Birds rarely disable both of a jet’s engines, but with two cases reported in a decade, jet makers may have to redesign future engines to better resist such a strike, Hansman said.
John Goglia, a former member of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, said the bird-vs- engine problem has been under study for years, with no fix available at present. If engine components are made of heavier, stronger materials, there’s a risk that they could crack and break off, striking the fuselage and injuring passengers, he said.
On Jan. 15, 2009, a US Airways Airbus A320 piloted by Sullenberger hit a flock of geese after taking off from New York City’s Laguardia Airport and both of its engines shut down. The crew made an emergency landing in the Hudson River along midtown Manhattan and all 155 people aboard survived despite landing in frigid water.