On March 23, 1994, a devastating and preventable aviation tragedy claimed the lives of all 75 passengers and crew aboard Aeroflot Flight 593, as reported by the Mirror.
The ill-fated flight, en route from Moscow to Hong Kong, was staffed by a highly experienced crew: Captain Andrew Viktorovich Danilov, First Officer Igor Vasilyevich Piskaryov, and Relief Captain Yaroslav Vladimirovich Kudrinsky.
Together, the trio had thousands of hours of flight experience.
The incident occurred on an Aeroflot flight. Credit: JoanValls/Urbanandsport /NurPhoto via Getty Images
However, even their expertise could not counter the fatal consequences of a costly decision.
Flight 593 was special for Relief Captain Kudrinsky as it marked the first international trip for his children, Yana, 13, and Eldar, 15.
Hoping to make the occasion memorable, Kudrinsky invited his children into the cockpit to witness his work.
Though against airline regulations, the crew believed it was safe to allow the children to sit at the controls since the autopilot was engaged.
At approximately 12:43AM, Yana took her father’s seat, pretending to “fly” the plane.
Minutes later, her brother Eldar replaced her, manipulating the controls to simulate flying. However, at 12:54AM, the situation turned dire.
There were no survivors. Credit: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Eldar’s inputs to the control stick – lasting over 30 seconds with forces of up to 10 kilograms – overrode the autopilot’s commands, shifting the aircraft into manual control.
A small indicator light flashed to warn the crew, but the subtle signal went unnoticed.
With the autopilot disengaged, the aircraft began to bank. The angle of the wings disrupted its stability, and the plane started losing altitude.
Realizing the danger, Captain Kudrinsky acted swiftly to remove his son from the cockpit seat, shouting: “Eldar, get away. Go to the back, go to the back Eldar! You see the danger don’t you? Go away, go away Eldar! Go away, go away. I tell you to go away!”
Despite their efforts to regain control, the pilots inadvertently overcorrected, sending the aircraft into a steep climb.
This led to a stall and a subsequent spin, from which recovery proved impossible.
At 12:58AM, Flight 593 crashed into the Kuznetsk Alatau Mountain range in southern Russia’s Kemerovo Oblast region.
The plane was destroyed upon impact, and everyone onboard lost their lives.
In the immediate aftermath, Aeroflot initially denied pilot error.
However, cockpit voice recordings and flight data ultimately revealed the truth, per the New York Times.
The tragedy was the result of human error and regulatory breaches.
The decision to allow children into the cockpit – coupled with the crew’s failure to recognize the autopilot’s disengagement – sealed the flight’s fate.
