The most desperate landing in the history of civil aviation
A soft touch and a cheerful wheelset on concrete are not a reason for standing ovation. Ironically, the most powerful wreck in stories civil aviation happened not in the air, but on the ground.
In 1977, an explosion thundered at the Canary Airport of La Palma - the bomb of the terrorist did not harm anyone, but was the first act in the horrible events of that day. All arriving planes were redirected to the small airport of Los Rodeos on about. Tenerife, where the fog, inexperienced dispatcher and overcrowded airfield completed the work begun. On the runway, two Boeing 747s crashed, filled to capacity and passengers. 583 man ascended to heaven without the help of aircraft.
Similarly ended landing at the Irkutsk airport (2006). The already-landed Airbus A-310 was deployed and dropped from the runway by the left engine, which, due to the erroneous actions of the crew, accidentally went into take-off mode. The plane collapsed and burned, of the more than two hundred people on board, only 78 was able to escape.
And yet, despite all the prejudices, aviation remains one of the safest modes of transport. Air crashes occur much less frequently than road accidents or death lightning strikes. Even when the engine is turned off, the control system fails and the chassis gets stuck - the passengers on board have a considerable chance to return safely to the ground. Instead of frozen computers and faulty mechanization, there arises the human mind and inexhaustible will to win.
50 thousands of commercial flights around the world every day
I bring to your attention a selection of the most famous emergency landing of airliners, which, however, ended in a safe manner.
And from the platform they say - this is the city of Leningrad (1963)
The story of the miraculous rescue of the aircraft, which, in an attempt to prevent a fall in the middle of the northern capital, managed to spill over onto the Neva.
The background is as follows: a Tu-124 passenger airliner on the Tallinn-Moscow flight followed a report on the problems that occurred on board. Immediately after takeoff, the nose strut of the chassis is wedged in a semi-folded position. The nearest airport, where it was possible to land an emergency plane "on the belly", was Leningrad Pulkovo Airport (at that time - "Highway"). There and it was decided to send "Carcass".
Upon arrival, the liner began to "cut circles" over Leningrad. For the speedy development of fuel, he patrolled at a height of less than 500 meters, at this time the crew was actively trying to unlock the chassis mechanism using a metal pole. Behind this fascinating occupation of them and found the news of the stop of the left engine due to a shortage of fuel. The commander and co-pilot rushed to the steering wheels and, having received permission for a through-span over the city, urgently led the "Carcass" in the direction of "Pulkovo". At this time, the second engine stopped. The reserve height was not enough, even to divert the aircraft outside the city.
At that moment, the commander of the aircraft Viktor Yakovlevich Mostovoi made the only right decision - to try to land the plane on the Neva, which was squeezed into the granite banks. The airliner passed at 90 m. The Liteyny Bridge, rushed 30 meters above the Bolsheokhtinsky bridge, jumped A. Nevsky's bridge under construction at a height of several meters and collapsed into the water, almost catching the steam tug of the wing.
The landing turned out to be surprisingly smooth: all 45 passengers and 7 crew members survived. The pilots, according to tradition, were immediately taken by the KGB officers, however, soon everyone had to be released due to the interest of the world media in this incredible landing and the heroes, whose actions saved five dozen people from a seemingly hopeless situation.
Race with death
31 December 1988, the crew of the Tu-134 was in such a hurry to the holiday table that they chose to descend along the steepest trajectory, not paying attention to the heart-rending cries of signaling about too high speed and fast approaching the ground. At a speed of 460 km / h in violation of all the rules and instructions were released chassis. It was already too late to release flaps - at that speed the air flow would simply tear them off "with meat".
The speed at the moment of contact was 415 km / h (with the maximum allowable value of the chassis conditions 330 km / h). Thus, the crew of the Soviet airliner has so far set an unbroken record of landing speed in civil aviation.
When the speed dropped to 6 km / h in 380 seconds, the pilot pilots wondered for the first time in the entire flight how they would slow down. Despite all the measures taken by them (reverse engines, the release of flaps and spoilers, braking), the plane still rolled out of the runway and stopped on the security strip, in 1,5 meters from the descent to the ground. Fortunately, only the heads of careless pilots were injured in the incident.
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In the same year, 1988, there was another surprising case.
An old Boeing flight from Hilo to Honolulu (Hawaiian Islands) was hit by 35 squares due to explosive decompression. meters fuselage skin. PE occurred at an altitude of 7300 meters at a flight speed of about 500 km / h. 90 passengers in a flash found themselves in a roaring air stream, the speed of which was 3 times the speed of the hurricane wind; at air temperature overboard minus 45 ° С.
The pilots dropped urgently and slowed down to 380 km / h, however, 65 people managed to get injuries and frostbite of varying severity. After 12 minutes, a plane with a minute deviation from the schedule landed at Honolulu Airport.
The only victim of an unusual accident was a stewardess - the unfortunate thrown overboard at the time of the destruction of the fuselage.
Gimli Glider (1983) and Century Pilots (2001)
“Gimley Glider” - that was the name worn by Boeing-767-233 (w / n C-GAUN 22520 / 47) of Air Canada, which made an amazing feat. The 132-ton airliner with the engines stopped neatly planned from the height of the 12 000 m and landed safely at the abandoned Gimli airbase (where at that moment the car races were carried out). The situation was complicated by the lack of electricity, as a result of which many flight instruments turned off. And the pressure in the hydraulic system was so low that the pilots could barely move the ailerons and rudders.
The cause of the incident is the error of the ground services of the airport in Ottawa, which mixed kilograms and pounds. As a result, less than 20 tons of kerosene came into the aircraft’s tanks instead of the required 5 tons. The situation was saved only by the presence in the cockpit of an experienced FAC Robert Pearson (at leisure - an amateur glider) and a second pilot, a former military pilot M. Quintal, who knew about the existence of an abandoned runway Gimli.
Interestingly, a similar incident happened in 2001, when the engines of the French Airbus flying along the Toronto-Lisbon route were stalled over the Atlantic Ocean. FAC Robert Pishe
and the co-pilot Dirk de Jager were able to fly another 120 km on the "glider" and make a soft landing at Lajes air base in the Azores.
Flying over the volcano vent (1982)
... The stewardess held out a cup of coffee and, as if by chance, looked out the window. Seen behind the board left no doubt: the fears of the pilots are not in vain. From both engines came a strange glow, like strobe flashes. Soon inside, the choking smell of sulfur and smoke appeared. Commander Eric Moody was forced to make one of the most naive statements in the history of civil aviation:
“Ladies and gentlemen, says the commander of the aircraft. We had a little problem, stopped all four engines. We are doing everything possible to run them. Hope this doesn't give you too much anxiety. ”
None of the passengers and 248 crew members aboard the 15 at that moment had suspected that the Boeing 747 flew through a cloud of volcanic ash ejected by the suddenly awakened Galungungung volcano (Indonesia). The smallest abrasive particles scored engines and damaged the fuselage skin, putting flight No. XXUMX (London-Auckland) on the brink of disaster.
The huge liner was planning over the night ocean. Straight along the course a mountain range grew on the southern coast of Fr. Java. The crew had to decide whether they had enough height to fly over the obstacle and make them forced at Jakarta airport, or should they just put the liner on the water. While the PIC together with the Indonesian dispatcher calculated the remaining distance and the aerodynamic quality of the aircraft, the co-pilot and flight engineer did not stop trying to restart the engines. And, lo and behold! The fourth engine sneezed, spitting volcanic pumice out of itself, jerked and blew in a steady manner. Gradually, two more engines were put into operation - there was enough traction to reach the airport, but another problem arose on the landing approach: the windshield was cut with abrasive particles and completely lost its transparency. The situation was complicated by the lack of an automatic drive for landing at Jakarta airport. As a result, the British still managed to land the plane safely, looking through two tiny, transparent areas on the windshield. None of the people on board were injured.
Miracle on the Hudson
New York is served by three airports, one of which is La Guardia, located in the heart of the city. Taking off, the planes are over the skyscrapers of Manhattan. Doesn't that sound like a starting point for the next blockbuster in the 11 September genre?
That time the situation was similar! In the afternoon of 15 on January 2009, an Airbus A-320 flew out of La Guard with 150 passengers on board, heading for the New York - Seattle route. Approximately in 90 seconds after takeoff, the plane crashed into a flock of birds - the flight recorder recorded impacts and a change in the engine operation mode. Both engines instantly "cut off." At this point, the plane managed to gain altitude 970 meters. The dense residential buildings of 10-million metropolis were spreading under the wing ...
Returning back to La Guard was excluded. The reserve of height and speed was enough only for 1,5 minutes of flight. The PIC immediately made the decision - go to the river! Hudson (the real name is Hudson River) is several times wider than the Neva and does not have significant bends in the lower reaches. The main thing was to reach the water, gently align the plane - and then the matter of technology. Airbus plopped into the cold water and swam among the ice floes, like a real Titanic. The crew and all passengers remained alive (however, around 5 of poorly fastened passengers and the stewardess were still seriously injured).
The main hero of this story, of course, was Chesley Sullenberger - a former military pilot who once piloted the Phantom.
Taiga novel
7 September 2010 of the year in a remote Siberian wilderness landed Tu-154B of Alrosa Airlines, following the route Yakutia - Moscow. After 3,5 hours after takeoff, there was a complete loss of power supply on board: most of the instruments turned off, the fuel pumps stopped, it became impossible to control the wing mechanization. In the fuel tank in the fuselage, there was an operational fuel reserve (3300 kg), which was enough only for 30 minutes of flight. Having dropped to an altitude of 3000 m, the pilots began a visual search for a suitable site for landing an 80-ton monster. As the artificial horizon was used an ordinary glass of water.
Luck! A concrete strip of Izhma airport appeared ahead. Short - just 1350 meters. Two times less than necessary for normal operation of the Tu-154B. In the past, 3-4 class aircraft (Yak-40, An-2, etc.) landed here, but since 2003, the strip was finally abandoned and used only as a helipad. Here and had to land an emergency aircraft. Due to the inability to release flaps and slats, the landing speed of the "Carcass" exceeded the calculated value by almost 100 km / h. The pilots were able to land a poorly controlled aircraft on "three points", but it was impossible to stop on the runway - the Tu-154 rolled into a small fir-grove on 160 m behind the runway end. None of the 72 passengers and nine crew members were injured.
Aircraft commander E.G. Novoselov and the second pilot A.A. Lamanov was awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation. The remaining members of the legendary crew (flight attendants, navigator and flight engineer) were awarded Orders of Courage.
The plane passed on the site of an ersatz repair and under its own power (!) Flew to Samara at the Aviakor aircraft factory. In the summer of 2011, the repaired car was returned to the owner for further operation on passenger airlines.
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