Six Russian civilian planes report mid-air breakdowns in one week
A passenger plane carrying 182 passengers and six crew members from Kazan to Moscow made an emergency landing at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport after the stabilization control system failed, The Moscow Times reported on Dec. 5.
This is the sixth Russian plane to experience a mid-air breakdown in a week.
An Aeroflot Airbus A321 flying from St. Petersburg to Moscow requested an emergency landing at Sheremetyevo Airport on Dec. 2. The decision to make an emergency landing was made due to the failure of the left engine.
Breakdowns of Russian civilian aircraft have become more frequent after sanctions imposed over the full-scale invasion of Ukraine cut Russia off from aircraft maintenance and the supply of original spare parts.
Read also: 76 Russian passenger planes seized due to Western sanctions on aviation industry
The United States and the European Union banned the supply of aircraft and components to Russia, and also obliged lessors to return leased aircraft, which make up as much as 40% of the Russian fleet. A number of Russian aircraft have been seized.
Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia, issued aircraft manufacturers' certificates to airlines to keep the planes in service. This allowed the airlines to make repairs themselves, after which they began cannibalizing some planes for components to service the rest of their fleet.
Since spring 2022, airlines have required their staff not to record equipment defects in their logbooks, which often resulted in planes being rendered inoperable.
Read also: Russian aviation ‘on verge of collapse’ due to sanctions, Ukraine announces after successful hack
Many airlines began to fly relying on "Russian luck," a former Russian Nordwind pilot revealed.
Sanctions are accelerating the collapse of Russian aviation, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) reported. The comments were made after analyzing classified official documents HUR obtained in a complex special cyber operation against Rosaviatsia, which is responsible for flight safety and records of all emergencies.
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