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Subscribe to RSSA jet breaks into pieces after sliding off the runway at a Moscow airport. NBC's Kate Snow reports.
MOSCOW -- A Russian airliner split into pieces after it slid off the runway and crashed onto a highway outside Moscow on Saturday, killing at least four of the 12 crew on board and leaving smoking chunks of fuselage on the icy road.
Television footage showed the Tupolev 204 jet, broken into pieces, with smoke billowing from the tail end and the cockpit broken clean off the front.
A man was thrown from the plane as it rammed into the barrier of the highway outside Vnukovo airport, one witness told the TV channel Rossiya-24.
Another witness described pulling other people from the wreckage.
"The plane split into three pieces," Yelena Krylova, chief spokeswoman for the airport, said in televised comments.
An Emergency Services spokesman said four people died of injuries after the crash and four others were in hospital. Police said 12 crew members were on board, but no passengers.
"The plane went off the runway, broke through the barrier and caught fire," police spokesman Gennady Bogachyov said.
The mid-range Tu-204 was operated by the Russian airline Red Wings and was traveling from the Czech Republic, Krylova said.
Rubble from the crash was scattered across the highway and the plane's wings were torn from the fuselage, witnesses said.
Alexander Usoltsev / AP
Rescuers work at the site of the plane crash at Moscow's Vnukovo airport on Saturday.
"We saw how the plane skidded off the runway ... The nose, where business class is, broke off and a man fell out," said a witness, who gave his name as Alexei. "We helped him get into a mini-bus to take him to the hospital."
Another witness described pulling four people from the wreckage when he arrived at the scene before emergency service workers. "We could not get the pilot out of the cockpit but we saw a lot of blood," he told Rossiya-24.
Russian investigators said preliminary findings pointed to pilot error as the cause of the crash.
Russia and other former Soviet republics had some of the world's worst air-traffic safety records last year, with a total accident rate almost three times the world average, the International Air Transport Association said.
A passenger jet crashed and burst into flames after takeoff in Siberia in April, killing 31 people, and an airliner slammed into a riverbank in September 2011, wiping out the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ice hockey team in a crash that killed 44 people.
The Russian-built Tu-204, which is comparable in size to a Boeing 757 or Airbus A321, is a Soviet-era design that was produced in the mid-1990s but is no longer being made. There have no major accidents previously reported with Tu-204s.
The crash during peak holiday travel ahead of Russia's New Year's vacation, which runs from Sunday through Jan. 9, cast a spotlight on Russia's poor air-safety record despite President Vladimir Putin's calls to improve controls.
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That pretty much mirrors the country as a whole......splitting, tearing, ripping apart at the seams.
Air brakes, wheel brakes, we don't need no stinking brakes, the fuselage will be the brakes. Rolled 1600 feet onto a highway, yeah lets get rid of those pesky oversight and regulatory agency's like the FAA. Then we too can have accidents like this.
I Know that plane was NOT MADE IN AMERICA ......
Well in this case, it was a hard landing that caused it. The plane didn't just split apart in mid-air due to poor manufacturing and design. Which, in this case, looks like an Airbus A320 with Boeing 757 wings, landing gear, and tail.
Antistupidity
Right because the people calling to get rid of bloated, wasteful, ineffective government bureaucracies don't want something sensible to replace them we just want to go completely without any rules or regulations whatsoever. /sarcasm
You may have the most ridiculous screen name on NewsVine, unless it is supposed to be sarcastic in which case it fits you to a tee.
gizmowiz,
"That pretty much mirrors the country as a whole......splitting, tearing, ripping apart at the seams."
Which country do you mean? Ours or theirs?
Sam,
"I Know that plane was NOT MADE IN AMERICA ......"
You're right about that! The TU-204 is a masterpiece of Soviet engineering. Engineering by committee.
Backcountry - he's your typical snide knee-jerk reactionary liberal who believes that just because many people feel the government has overreached its power in many areas, then that by default means said people believe that ALL government oversight and regulations should be banished. You have to remember that liberals are nothing but the minds of emotion-driven children occupying adult bodies. They are all so predictable too. If I had a dollar for every time I read a snarky blog comment from one of them regarding government regulations and those against government overreach, I'd be eating at Ruth's Chris steakhouse every Friday night.
So instead of fixing them you want to replace them, what makes you think that will be different than just fixing them, rename them and everything will change? You call for fiscal responsibility, yet you want to take a far more expensive path, I have never seen anything about replacing them just eliminating them, your name shouldn't be Backcountry it should be Backwardthinker, I have read your posts before, I know what your position is. Thats a much more appropriate name for a flatlander.
Jhawke
That would be centrist, but I expect no less from an extremist
Antistupidity
More expensive? What the @!$%# are you talking about? Surely you couldn't be stupid enough to believe I'd want to replace a bloated, worthless government bureaucracy with another one?? Only a liberal who is being worked like a sock puppet with Uncle Sams hand shoved up his ass would come to the conclusion that more government would be the "obvious" solution to problems caused by government.
All of the things done by the FAA could be done more efficiently and effectively by private companies. And don't even bother with the standard liberal response because Underwriters Laboratory and the ASTMI have been debunking that BS for over a hundred years.
Backcountry164 and Jhawke In response to Antistupidity, you really can't argue with a Liberal. My Mother once told me "Jim, men can seldom win an argument with a woman, because they're emotional and will
bring up issues that have nothing to do with the argument and they never forget a trespass"! This is typical of Liberals, they argue like an emotional female, and no matter how much Logic (Reason) and the consequences of their actions you put into the argument they will never understand because they think with their heart not their mind! Look at the financial Cliff we’re at right now. They’re like a child who has stolen their parents Credit Cards and have bankrupt the family but somehow it’s the parents fault!
Like planes never crash here.
They earned their "Red Wings"
@stupidity - your idea of "centrist" is far left. And anyone who you don't agree with is an "extremist" in your emotionally-charged liberal mind. And Jhawke is right: you people far too often cite reference to anyone opposing more government nanny statist regs as someone who is an anarchist completely against all forms of government. People will and DO have differing opinions than you, liberal, and they are NOT extremists. Get over it and go pound sand.
Comment post of the day right there James! And so very, very true. Throw a fact at liberals and watch them recoil and change the subject faster than a disappearing pizza in front of Rosie O'Donnell.
WOW I thought it was one of the NHL teams falling apart but I was wrong but if it said NHL on the side of the plane and not RED WINGS maybe I'd be right .
Only a bunch of hotheads can turn a story about a plane crashing in Moscow into politics. It's over people, take a look at the scoreboard! The Left won, get over it, find something else to do for the next 4 years other than whine and stomp your feet!
Jhawke
Sorry I misspoke I didn't mean extremist, I meant a dumbass with a pimple for a brain. Extremists are more intelligent than you, pussbrain.
I wouldn't fly on on a Russian airline if you paid me. It's not that Russian aircraft are inherently bad, but the upkeep on them is very poor, and Russian airlines will do the least amount possible to insure they're in working order.
I'm glad we do have the FAA, because I guarantee you some airlines here would cut corners too if they had to.
More vodka...
.
gizmowiz:
I agree, the USA under B H Obama is pretty bad. The USA could have had a winner, but choosed a loser... Obummer!
I live in Russia parts of the year and I always fly Delta, Air France, British Airlines, other JAP.
Wow looks like I missed out on all the fun later today. Thank you antistupid, for the name calling. I wear it like a badge of honor from the likes of you and your ilk. Makes my morning Wheaties taste so much sweeter.
"Choosed"?!?! Did somone really write "Choosed"???
Speaks volumes, doesn't it?
[ shhhhhh... requesting quiet please. Welcome. Welcome all, to the Petty People's Grammar Nazi QUIET Convention; held Online this year, for our safety, as well as yours. We are glad you choosed to be here; out of all the places you could have choosed to be, instead of here. ]
Way to attack Obama in an article about a Russian plane falling apart on a Russian runway. I am sure there is an article about a dog rescue you can spew your hate in too.
Mock it all you want. When having a discussion, it takes away from credibility when basic words can not be spelled properly. Especially when there is free spell checker to use.
Not to mention the childish attack on Obama in an article about a plane accident in another country.
Just keep thinking that grammar and punctuation are not important when we start electing our future illiterate generations into office.
UnitedStates1776,
"More vodka..."
Is that what the pilot said?
@FamousAmos-3755959
So... what? You only pay attention to politics once every four years?? That's pretty pathetic and a good example of why Washington is full of worthless ass-holes.
All I heard was...whine stomp whine stomp and some WWWWwaahhhhhhhhhahhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
I watched the dash cam video of a Russian motorist on the expressway which that airplane crashed into. He was very lucky and a heck of a driver to miss all that debris.
Ranman, we've had some differences before but you hit on the crux of the entire issue! Maintenance. Russia does not adhere to even close to the standards set down by the FAA here. It's not unheard of for aircraft over there to go thousands of hours with no safety or maintenance checks, resulting in a much higher accident rate than found in the U.S. In many cases, checks are done by shadetree mechanics out in the boonies that these aircraft regularly fly to and from.
Never, never, ever fly on a Russian airline in a Russian built plane!!! There is nothing in the air that is more dangerous!
There have (been) no major accidents previously reported with Tu-204s.
Missed that part did you??
Passenger jets with some of the worst safety records include the Boeing 737-200 and the DC-10
Thank you.
Because most of those aircraft now fly in other nations with lackluster maintenance regulations...irrespective of the fact their hulls are 30+ years old now. And I don't know many DC-10s (or MD-11s) that are still flying anywhere on the planet. America hasn't flown a 200 series 737 in regular scheduled service since the mid 1990s when the rudder actuator assembly design flaw was discovered after two crashes.
And I flew Aeroflot some 20 years ago in a Tu-154 (looks like a 727) when I was a young stupid know-it-all college kid visiting Russia. It was the most harrowing experience of my life. Creaks, shakes, and unsmooth flying. I was praying the entire time
Ok well I've flown on TU-154s a number of times and I really didn't think there was anything wrong with them. Sure it's an older plane but I didn't feel like it was going to crash any more than say an old 737.
I WAS GONNA create a daily repeating reminder in my iCal calendar app : "Do not fly in Hoidy-Toidy Class !" But, since I am on the No-Fly List, the repeating reminder won't matter anyway.
I remember living in Burbank, when the Southwest 737 airplane crashed through the fence and onto Hollywood Way, ALMOST plowed into that gas station, on 5MAR2000. I went down to see it. Wow. Where was Bruce Willis?
Let us not forget to put part of the blame on the ground crew that was supposed to clear the ice off the runway, but did not do a very good job of it.
2 people out of 12 killed, on a plane that holds 210 people. Good thing there weren't many passengers. (Maybe others feel like Orenda.)
Did you actually read the story. The first line says 4 killed, and there weren't any passengers on board, only crew members.
The Russians are still making their airplanes out of recycled aluminum and steel. Steel is brittle when it gets really cold. If not alloyed properly, aluminum can tear and crack when exposed to heat/cold cycles. (See F-111 saga). This sort of even has never been uncommon in Russia, but only since the fall of the wall has the mainstream vulture media been able to report such happenings without fear of being sent to the Gulag Archipelago for an extended vacation. Russia, though it (and China) has stolen much of the technology it now has, is still struggling to advance past the use of vacuum tubes and outdated materials in their aging aircraft.
@backto
but who is it with such backwardness that still carries US to ISS?
Me thinks backtobasics was just check-mated, Warren. Most likely his knowledge ran out with his first post. Probably expected support, rather than a challenge to his post. There are a lot of them on the Vine.
LOL.
The USSR broke apart after their pointless expensive 12 year war in Afghanistan.... as they also ended up flat broke financially. LOL All that war fund that could have been used to rebuild their country's infrastructure. Seems like Afghanistan is the ultimate moneypit.. It is where good money goes to sink into oblivion.... hmmm LOL
Anyhoo, it has just been in recent times that info about what is happening in that country is being allowed to be reported and heard outside that country. Not that long ago the reporters had to toe the party/govt line regarding the news even after the breaking apart of the Soviet Union. But then that is the internet/smart phones /social media for ya these days.. nothing secret anymore no matter how hard whatev govt tries to do a blackout some genius finds a way to do a broadcast spilling the beans. There is even the old hackers are us types doing their outing thing. It is getting harder to lock folks away (or was it being sent to Siberia...) without the whole world hearing about it these days. LOL
Really think certain folks in Russia wanted all their airline and other internal woes including their citizens protesting and marching etc being broadcast around the globe? Nothing like showing the world that they have a firm hand on things and their people. But can't recall hearing about this many plane crashes over there though, throughout the years.
Seems like it is time for the powers that be in Russia to get a new fleet of passenger aircrafts don't you think, cause these old planes aren't working from the look of the evidence? How many dead this time round? Aren't they having a bit of a bother with their trains too?
Oh well, all that fortune spent warring in Afghanistan for 12 years, has a draining effect on a country's coffers, coupled with greed, corruption etc leaving certain things to fall apart.... Perhaps they also have the old conservative viewpoint of ...'who need those nuisance rules regs and oversight anyway', and the 'lets privatize everything possible cause private industry does it better even when they cut corners to make a bigger profit.... the 'these private companies still can be trusted to police themselves anyway' really dies hard, even when the evidence points to the opposite ...if some folks on these message boards are to be believed...LOL
Tea time... anyone...? who will 'av a cuppa Rosielee? LOL
Oh well, Cheers for the New Year...... blah blah blah... no .....yah yah yahhhh LOL
Seriously though... when will the culling end... so many deaths and for what?
Why does it all sounds so familiar.... which country are we talking about again?
The problem isn't, once again, isn't Russian plane design or quality. It's the upkeep that airlines there refuse to properly maintain and take care of. Couple that with the old age of a lot of planes there and you've got a recipe for disaster.
On the contrary, Russian plane designs were fantastic. It's just their airlines there are cheap bastards about it and have no governmental enforcement to change it around.
My ass will never, EVER set foot on a Russian plane flying from a Russian airport for that reason alone. The chances of the plane crashing may be minute, but the chances increase drastically once you factor in that.
I have a friend of mine that owns a Antonov AN-2 biplane transport and flies it around the U.S. to airshows. He loves the thing and says it is easy to maintain and fly. Says he has never had a problem with finding parts either. Even though this aircraft is an anachronism as far as aircraft go, he says it is very rugged and robust. The main thing is that he babies this thing like one of his own children and keeps very accurate and current maintenance records and he exceeds the FAA requirements on safety checks! He has owned it for over 10 years and never had one major problem. This thing is a trip and a half to fly in as well
Thankfully it was almost empty (12 on board, capacity of 210 plus crew.) They must have been letting one of the passengers try his hand at a landing.
First Class just ain't what it used to be.
Well, in first class the front doesn't fall off.
The front falling off is not very typical, I’d like to make that point. There’s a lot of these planes flying and you would want for people to get the idea that their not safe. Some of them are built so the front doesn't fall off at all. These aircraft are built to very rigorous aviation engineering standards where the front is not supposed to fall off. There are regulations governing the materials they can be made out of. For example cardboard’s out and no cardboard derivatives like paper. No cellophane tape or string. Rubber is out too and they have to have a steering wheel. These are very, very strong aircraft but the front fell off in this case but it’s very, very unusual. The part of plane that the front fell off has now been towed beyond the environment.
And they're worried about unfit parents from the US adopting russian children....nice
probably carrying a load of unadoptable children that they need to get rid of that was stuck at the airport !
Yes.
Even though the rate of child abuse for Russian's adopted to the US is 15 times less than for the average US child...and 120 times less than for the average child in Russia!! I mean 19 cases forover 60,000 children is VERY low..even for the US.
Looks like the US should ban Russian planes from our airports!
Moral of the story is........................"Don't buy ANYTHING made in Russia!"
Or China
the only 2 exceptions are russian built AK47's are built real well though and awesome as all ,and stolichnaya vodka !
Do they have anything to sell other than Vodka which taste like medical alcohol?
Mark
I'll take the Ak, you can keep the stoli, I'll take some rum though.
The TU-204 is a poor copy of the Boeing 757. However, it was the poor quality of the captain's judgement to land long/fast that proved to be their undoing this morning.
Putin has a fleet of 58 aircraft, a billion dollar home, but fly's in an Airbus. He's not stupid... If a Russian airline crashes and you die your family will receive $10,000.00 US.
It's not their civilian machines that concerns us. True, they've had bomber, sub and rocket failures too, but so have we and other 1st world countries.
I believe it is THEY who still provide rides to the Int'l Space Station and put other countries' satelites into space. Correct? It's the sh!t that works well enough...that we consider most about Russia.
Putin may fly in civilian Airbus, but he had no problem flying in the Tu-190 Blackjack bomber either.
I dont' think our Military and Political Leaders read into this much. Neither should US civilians.
I have flown a few times on Russian-made jets in and out of Ukraine. The first time was fine, the plane was clean and the trip uneventful. The second time I flew I was forced to do it because my Lufthansa flight into Frankfurt circled the airport for 2 1/2 hours before landing and I had to find a new connecting flight to Kiev. I wanted to turn around as soon as I got on the plane. The aisles were dirty and more than one of the seats were totally destroyed (ripped and torn) and my initial seat had no operating seat belts.
The new flight had to stop in a small airport in Lviv, Ukraine before it went forward to Kiev. The plane was loud and the rear engine sounded like a Yugo with an engine knock.
We made it to the Lviv airport fine, but, when we were landing I actually saw cows standing on the side of the runway. This would have been fine, but, there were no fences between the runway and the cows. Next, after we landed, a man came on the plane without a ticket and sat down. The crew confronted the man and called airport security. What was truly amazing was when security showed up the man just handed some cash to the cop and he was allowed to stay on the plane!
Then we took off from the Lviv airport at an angle closely approximating a space shuttle launch! The rear engine was whining and knocking at an astonishing rate. I was never so glad that I had chosen to use the filthy restroom on the plane before takeoff. When we landed at Kiev I was not the only person who litterally kissed the tarmac! One bit of wisdom: If you fly into Russia or Ukraine fly Lufthansa or an American airline!
I used to take American from o-hare to Moscow but that route has been canceled along with other Us airlines for some reason? Delta is the only one So now I take Lufthansa from O-hare to Frankfurt to Moscow. I will not get onto domestic Russian Airlines. I travel on business a lot to Russia and know about paying those at the gates and customs!!! Russia is a corrupt society and if you are an American and they know that, beware!!!
Meanwhile, a Russian aircraft mechanic is wondering where his missing wrench got off to.
As well as his 9 months back pay.
I'm glad their selling all their good stuff to Syria
Awesome comment Bn Over!!
Go home pilot your drunk
Vodka? !!!
just think how our astronauts feel about being shuttled to & from the space station !!!! :-)
I wonder how that jet earned it's red wings..
Yeah, I had the same question. The first giveaway not to fly this airline would have been the name. No thanks.
It appears that there will continue to be at least as much stupid on these forums into the new year. So very sad.
My prayers to the families of the victims of this crash. May God bless them with the Truth. Amen.
Dave-3493908
...Looks stop the self-righteousness’ BS. People vent and enjoy writing post no matter how childish they may seem. Chill will you? People here are also concerned about those who died and you really don't know what they're thinking or whether or not they've prayed for the families and friends of those lost and who are still hospitalized. Its people like you who Judge others without knowing their heart. As a Christian I state emphatically that its people like you who are a good reason so many run from God because you’re so quick to pull out the stick in another’s eye before pulling out the beam in your own!!
Good point. Plenty of people are indeed turning from "God" because of blowhards like Dave, the rest of us just kinda sorted out that God is imaginary. But thanks for calling him out on his "everyone is so stupid but my prayers go out to the families" post. What rubbish.
A year after communism fell in Russia, I was approached by a company in Moscow (through a U. S. representative) about a business proposition. I was prepped for the situation, had my papers, and the round air trip ticket they provided. I learned I would be flying Aeroflot Airlines. My heart sank! I felt very uneasy about the airline. I kept thinking "Aeroflop."
Then a rep from Moscow visted here and my family had a dinner meeting in the home of a Russian family. There was a brief discussion of business (via a translator). The next day, I gave the Russian CEO a tour of a similar business here in VA. He was impressed. They had much more advanced equipment than the Russian counterpart. We made some good friends and learned a lot about Russia and the family's background. But in the end, the trip did not pan out and I was very relieved. The business plan they proposed was not feasible as costs to their intended clients would have increased over what they were then paying.
Don't fly on Russian built planes.
I wonder if any orphans were created in this accident.
If there were and your an American, you can't help out and help by adopting the poor child.
Don't worry, Putin has it all under control. Russia is powerful and will take care of it's own...
Well, so says Putin...in his dreams!
If it ain't Boeing, I'm not going
Doesn't matter if it's a Boeing or an Airbus. If they're maintained by any Russian airline, eventually, they'll run into problems, because they don't maintain them worth a damn. They'll cut costs any way they can.
(In my best Russian accent)... " No extra charge for bumpy ride....And if you complain, we will kill you so hard you will die from it!!"
I would think after the Yaroslavl Locomotiv accident that killed an entire hockey team, the maintenance on Soviet aircraft would be better. Most Russian aircraft have been lacking proper maintenance in a serious way.
everything Americans are flying on U S airlines is getting maintenance outside of this country, where that bloated govt agency...FAA can't tell them what to do.....happy landings !
The article indicated that the crash was due to pilot error, so the quality of the airplane is not at fault, nor is air traffic control, nor the completely unrelated FAA.
Four less commies. Good news for us warriors.
commies???? you got to be kidding me?
where did you spend last 20 years for your stinking life?
basker:
Man you gotta ease off on the pot and masturbation, it is ruining your "stinking" life and keeping you from ever being able to move out of your parent's basement!
If basker do'es smoke pot and masterbait,it would seem that it makes people smarter. Or were you just too drunk and too busy blowing "the other guy",to notice that communism died? The Soviet Union fell in 1991!
Lostinwyoming...Communism never died!! It took on a different strategy. The philosophy of Government
running economies is still with us! Socialism is but another step to communism and once the last bastion of hope and freedom has been squelched by Progressivism in this country the world will be open for this World Government!
Again the USA is the big obstacle from its fulfillment! Look at the Gun Control Extremest, the force behind their main objective is to disarm the citizens of America through fear and propaganda! Guns aren't the problem it's Liberalism!
The Liberal idea that you can't judge, no shame, Godless schools, no Virtue or Morals being taught! Violence in the media, and disdain for the U.S.Constitution! At 62 years of age I've seen the radical change in America due to Liberalism! Look at the idiot who burned his house down and then shot his sister and 2 firemen. The Liberals start yelling “It’s the Guns” when the real problem is Liberal “Restorative Justice” in which the inmate is released into the public to restore him to society. This man by the way bludgeoned his 80 year old Grandmother to death with a hammer and the Liberal Court system handed down a 17 year manslaughter sentence! He should have been executed not released!
Please tell me you're not an adult.
Do you often reference masturbation when attacking another persons comment? It seems you also think people live in their parents basement when you don't agree with them.
All signs of a childs mentality.
Simply amazing. Aside from your complete ignorance, which is sad at your age, it's criminals and the mentally ill that commit these hideous acts.
Also, could you please climb down off your soapbox long enough to take your unrelated rant to one of the many article about firearms. This article is about a Russian plane going off a Russian runway. Not one single word in this article has anything to do with gun violence.
Just for the record, since your agenda makes you blind, four fireman an an off duty officer were shot. Two of the firemen were killed. One of which I knew. Their family wouldn't appreciate you using their death as a tool for you your agenda.
I thought wisdom came with age. Guess not in your case.