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Due to strong indication of pilot eror and poor training on latest crash in Perm Russia's aviation authority has suspended flights of all Boeing 737s until the nation's pilots receive additional training..
Federal Agency of Air Transport spokesman Sergei Samoshin said the agency has suspended flights by planes similar to the one that crashed until pilots can undergo more training on simulators.
Samoshin said that six Russian carriers now operate 107 Boeing 737s. He wouldn't say how many of them will be affected by the measure or specify how long the suspension would last.
The training was necessary to make sure that all pilots properly read a key indicator showing the plane's attitude, the so-called attitude indicator or artifical horizon, Samoshin said.
The pilot of the Aeroflot jet that crashed in perm killing all 88 people on board ignored commands from air traffic controllers. Experts say the pilot's strange behavior could have been caused by his failure to properly read the attitude indicator's reading which could have led to a dangerous maneuver and then crash. The pilot of the plane which crashed in Perm had flown Soviet-made planes before and had relatively little experience in piloting Boeing planes.The attitude indicator, which informs the pilot about the plane's orientation in relation to the ground, is designed differently on Soviet-made planes and Western airliners
Flight 821, operated by a subsidiary of national flag carrier Aeroflot, carried 82 passengers and six crew members, Aeroflot said. Company officials said the plane was circling at about 3,600 feet (1,100 meters) in "difficult weather conditions" — including low cloud cover and rain — when it went down.
Flight controller Irek Bikbov told that the pilot was behaving strangely, disobeying orders to descend on the final approach and instead taking the jet to a higher altitude.
"I informed the pilot that he has reached a point where he should go down," Bikbov said in an audio recording broadcast on TV. "He confirmed he was going down but kept climbing."
Bikbov then ordered the pilot to make a second run, but instead of making the right turn he turned left.
When he asked the pilot whether things were normal on board, the pilot answered positively but his voice was strained as if under stress, Bikbov said.
"He was behaving in a strange manner and wasn't following my orders," Bikbov said. The last thing controllers heard was a scream in the cockpit seconds before the plane crashed.
The plane's flight recorders have been found, and analised and it confirms what the controller said.
The plane slammed into the ground on the outskirts of this industrial city, just a few hundred meters (yards) from small wooden houses and apartment buildings. No one on the ground was killed.
The jet crashed on a railroad embankment, damaging a section of the track. Parts of the plane's fuselage reading "Aeroflot" and "Boeing" lay askew on the rails, along with clothing, life preservers and engine parts. The crash briefly disrupted traffic on a section of the Trans-Siberian railway.
Aeroflot said it would pay victims' families an equivalent of US$80,000 in compensation per victim — a princely sum in a country where the average monthly salary is equivalent to about US$700.
Russia and other former Soviet republics have some of the world's worst air traffic safety records in recent years, according to the International Air Transport Association. Experts blame weak government regulation, poor pilot training and a cost-cutting mentality among many carriers.
"The problem isn't the planes, it's mainly about the staff and money," said Miroslav Boichuk, head of Russia's Flight Personnel Union.
Aeroflot officials have said no problems were reported with the 15-year-old jet when it was last inspected at the beginning of the year. The plane had been used by a Chinese carrier before the Aeroflot subsidiary, Aeroflot-Nord, leased it earlier this year.
Sunday's crash was also the second involving a Boeing 737 in the former Soviet Union in the past month. A Boeing flying from the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan to Iran crashed shortly after takeoff Aug. 24, killing 64 of the 90 people on board.
Investigators have yet to determine what caused Russia's worst air disaster in two years. Aviation experts and observers said the crash was likely caused by a pilot error.
"We have sent telegrams to a number of Russian air companies, in which we are not just recommending, but categorically prohibiting the use of Boeing-737-500 VP-BKT aircraft," a spokesman for the agency said.
He said the telegrams had been sent to six air companies, including Aeroflot-Nord, Aeroflot-Don and Volga-Dnepr, and the ban would remain in force until pilots from the airlines undergo additional training.
Federal Agency of Air Transport spokesman Sergei Samoshin said the agency has suspended flights by planes similar to the one that crashed until pilots can undergo more training on simulators.
Samoshin said that six Russian carriers now operate 107 Boeing 737s. He wouldn't say how many of them will be affected by the measure or specify how long the suspension would last.
The training was necessary to make sure that all pilots properly read a key indicator showing the plane's attitude, the so-called attitude indicator or artifical horizon, Samoshin said.
The pilot of the Aeroflot jet that crashed in perm killing all 88 people on board ignored commands from air traffic controllers. Experts say the pilot's strange behavior could have been caused by his failure to properly read the attitude indicator's reading which could have led to a dangerous maneuver and then crash. The pilot of the plane which crashed in Perm had flown Soviet-made planes before and had relatively little experience in piloting Boeing planes.The attitude indicator, which informs the pilot about the plane's orientation in relation to the ground, is designed differently on Soviet-made planes and Western airliners
Flight 821, operated by a subsidiary of national flag carrier Aeroflot, carried 82 passengers and six crew members, Aeroflot said. Company officials said the plane was circling at about 3,600 feet (1,100 meters) in "difficult weather conditions" — including low cloud cover and rain — when it went down.
Flight controller Irek Bikbov told that the pilot was behaving strangely, disobeying orders to descend on the final approach and instead taking the jet to a higher altitude.
"I informed the pilot that he has reached a point where he should go down," Bikbov said in an audio recording broadcast on TV. "He confirmed he was going down but kept climbing."
Bikbov then ordered the pilot to make a second run, but instead of making the right turn he turned left.
When he asked the pilot whether things were normal on board, the pilot answered positively but his voice was strained as if under stress, Bikbov said.
"He was behaving in a strange manner and wasn't following my orders," Bikbov said. The last thing controllers heard was a scream in the cockpit seconds before the plane crashed.
The plane's flight recorders have been found, and analised and it confirms what the controller said.
The plane slammed into the ground on the outskirts of this industrial city, just a few hundred meters (yards) from small wooden houses and apartment buildings. No one on the ground was killed.
The jet crashed on a railroad embankment, damaging a section of the track. Parts of the plane's fuselage reading "Aeroflot" and "Boeing" lay askew on the rails, along with clothing, life preservers and engine parts. The crash briefly disrupted traffic on a section of the Trans-Siberian railway.
Aeroflot said it would pay victims' families an equivalent of US$80,000 in compensation per victim — a princely sum in a country where the average monthly salary is equivalent to about US$700.
Russia and other former Soviet republics have some of the world's worst air traffic safety records in recent years, according to the International Air Transport Association. Experts blame weak government regulation, poor pilot training and a cost-cutting mentality among many carriers.
"The problem isn't the planes, it's mainly about the staff and money," said Miroslav Boichuk, head of Russia's Flight Personnel Union.
Aeroflot officials have said no problems were reported with the 15-year-old jet when it was last inspected at the beginning of the year. The plane had been used by a Chinese carrier before the Aeroflot subsidiary, Aeroflot-Nord, leased it earlier this year.
Sunday's crash was also the second involving a Boeing 737 in the former Soviet Union in the past month. A Boeing flying from the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan to Iran crashed shortly after takeoff Aug. 24, killing 64 of the 90 people on board.
Investigators have yet to determine what caused Russia's worst air disaster in two years. Aviation experts and observers said the crash was likely caused by a pilot error.
"We have sent telegrams to a number of Russian air companies, in which we are not just recommending, but categorically prohibiting the use of Boeing-737-500 VP-BKT aircraft," a spokesman for the agency said.
He said the telegrams had been sent to six air companies, including Aeroflot-Nord, Aeroflot-Don and Volga-Dnepr, and the ban would remain in force until pilots from the airlines undergo additional training.
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