Crash of a Ural A321 in Russia: heroic pilots avoid the tragedy

A Ural airline Airbus A321, made Thursday a spectacular emergency landing in a cornfield with 233 people on board, after a bird strike. In the early morning, the Airbus A321 of the Russian airline Ural Airlines took off from the airport of Zhukovsky in Moscow at 6:10 PM, to Simferopol, capital of the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula annexed in 2014 by Russia. But at take-off, the aircraft with 226 passengers and 7 crew members « hit a flock of seagulls, » causing « significant disruption to their aircraft. « , according to the Federal Aviation Agency Rosaviatsia.

The crew of the Ural airbus A321 decided to land urgently « in a cornfield “ located more than one kilometer from the runway without landing gear, » explained the l the agency, noting that « no fire broke out on board ».

The incident injured 23 people including 9 children, according to the Russian Ministry of Health. Twenty-two of them received medical assistance before being sent home, while a 69-year-old woman was hospitalized, the ministry said in a statement.

« Congratulations to the pilots, heroes who saved lives and landed the plane, » Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. « Thanks to the crew’s professionalism and coordinated actions, the landing did not lead to tragic consequences, » Ural Airlines, based in Yekaterinburg, Urals, said.

« The crew of the Ural Company has shown fantastic craftsmanship and self-control, » enthused Instagram’s governor Yevgeny Kuyevachev. The pilot-in-command Damir Yusupov, from Yekaterinburg, and his team « saved 233 lives. They are heroes, « he said. The pilots were thanked in many messages on social networks, sent by the passengers of the plane.