A soft touch and a cheerful clatter of wheels on the concrete are not yet a reason for applause. Ironically, the most powerful crash in civil aviation history happened not in the air, but on the ground.
In 1977, an explosion thundered at the Canary airport of La Palma - a terrorist bomb did not harm anyone, but became the first act in a series of terrible events of that day. All arriving planes were redirected to the small Los Rodeos airport on about. Tenerife, where fog, an inexperienced dispatcher and a crowded airfield finished the job. On the runway, two Boeing-747s, filled to capacity with fuel and passengers, collided. 583 people ascended to the sky without the help of airplanes.
The landing at the Irkutsk airport (2006) was completed in a similar way. The Airbus A-310, which had already landed, was deployed and dropped from the runway by the left engine, which, due to erroneous actions of the crew, accidentally switched to takeoff mode. The plane collapsed and burned down, of the more than two hundred people on board, only 78 were able to escape.
And yet, despite all the prejudices, aviation remains one of the safest modes of transport. Plane crashes are far less common than accidents or fatal lightning strikes. Even when the engine is turned off, the control system fails and the landing gear gets stuck - the passengers on board have a good chance of safely returning to the ground. Instead of frozen computers and faulty mechanization, there is a human mind and an inexhaustible will to win.
There are 50 thousand commercial flights in the world every day
I bring to your attention a selection of the most famous emergency landings of airliners, which, nevertheless, ended in a safe way.
And from the platform they say - this is the city of Leningrad (1963)
The story of the miraculous rescue of an airplane that, in an attempt to prevent a fall in the middle of the Northern capital, managed to splash down on the Neva.
The background is as follows: a Tu-124 passenger airliner on the Tallinn-Moscow flight reported on the problems that had arisen on board. Immediately after takeoff, the nose landing gear stuck in a semi-retracted position. The nearest airport where it was possible to land the emergency aircraft "on its belly" was the Leningrad airport "Pulkovo" (in those days - "Shosseinaya"). It was decided to send the "Carcass" there.
Arriving at the place, the liner began to “cut circles” over Leningrad. For the fastest development of fuel, he patrolled at an altitude of less than 500 meters, at which time the crew was actively trying to unlock the chassis mechanism using a metal pole. During this exciting activity, they were caught by the news of the stop of the left engine due to lack of fuel. The commander and co-pilot rushed to the controls and, having received permission to fly through the city, urgently took the "Tushka" towards "Pulkovo". At this time, the second engine stopped. The stock of altitude was not enough, even to take the plane out of the city.
At this moment, the aircraft commander Viktor Yakovlevich Mostovoy made the only correct decision - to try to land the plane on the Neva, which is sandwiched in the granite banks. The airliner passed the Liteiny Bridge at an altitude of 90 m, rushed 30 meters over the Bolsheokhtinsky bridge, jumped over the A. Nevsky bridge under construction at a height of several meters and collapsed into the water, almost hooking a steam tug with its wing.
The landing turned out to be surprisingly soft: 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 completely hopeless situation.
Death Race
On December 31, 1988, the Tu-134 crew was in such a hurry to the festive table that they chose to descend along the steepest trajectory, not paying attention to the heart-rending screams of signaling about too high a speed and a rapid approach to the ground. At a speed of 460 km / h, the chassis was released in violation of all rules and instructions. It was too late to release the flaps - at such a speed the air flow would simply tear them off "with meat."
The speed at the moment of touchdown was 415 km / h (with the maximum allowable value under the conditions of chassis strength of 330 km / h). Thus, the crew of the Soviet liner set an unbeaten landing speed record in civil aviation.
When, after 6 seconds, the speed dropped to 380 km / h, the pilot-racers, for the first time in the entire flight, wondered how they could slow down. Despite all the measures they had taken (engine reversal, flaps and spoilers release, braking), the plane nevertheless rolled out of the runway and stopped in the safety lane, 1.5 meters from the descent to the ground. Fortunately, only the heads of careless pilots were injured in the incident.
Fly in Aloha Airlines convertibles
In the same 1988, another amazing incident occurred.
An old Boeing, flying on the route Hilo - Honolulu (Hawaii), was blown off 35 square meters by explosive decompression. meters of fuselage skin. The emergency occurred at an altitude of 7300 meters at a flight speed of about 500 km / h. 90 passengers in an instant found themselves in a roaring air stream, the speed of which was 3 times higher than the speed of a hurricane wind; at an outside air temperature of minus 45 ° С.
The pilots urgently decreased and dropped their speed to 380 km / h, nevertheless, 65 people managed to get injuries and frostbite of varying severity. Twelve minutes later, the plane landed at Honolulu airport with a one-minute deviation from the schedule.
The only victim of an unusual accident was the flight attendant - the unfortunate woman was thrown overboard at the moment of the destruction of the fuselage.
Glider Gimli (1983) and Pilots of the Century (2001)
Air Canada's Boeing 767-233 (w / n C-GAUN 22520/47) was named "Glider Gimli", which accomplished an amazing feat. The 132-ton airliner, with its engines stopped, neatly glided from an altitude of 12,000 meters and landed safely at the abandoned Gimli airbase (where auto races were taking place at that moment). The situation was aggravated by the lack of electricity, as a result of which many flight instruments were turned off. And the pressure in the hydraulic system became so low that the pilots could hardly move the ailerons and rudders.
The cause of the incident was a mistake by the ground services of the airport in Ottawa, who confused kilograms and pounds. As a result, less than 5 tons of kerosene entered the aircraft tanks instead of the required 20 tons. The situation was saved only by the presence in the cockpit of an experienced PIC Robert Pearson (at his leisure - an amateur glider pilot) and a co-pilot, a former military pilot M. Quintal, who knew about the existence of the abandoned Gimli runway.
Interestingly, a similar incident happened in 2001, when the engines of the French Airbus flying on the Toronto-Lisbon route stalled over the Atlantic Ocean. FAC Robert Pichet
and co-pilot Dirk de Jager were able to fly an additional 120 km on the "glider" and make a soft landing at the Lajes airbase in the Azores.
Flight over the mouth of the volcano (1982)
… The stewardess held out a glass of coffee and, as if by chance, looked out the window. What was seen overboard left no doubt: the fears of the pilots are not in vain. A strange glow emanated from both engines, like the flashes of strobe lights. Soon a suffocating smell of sulfur and smoke appeared in the cabin. Commander Eric Moody was forced to make one of the most naive statements in civil aviation history:
“Ladies and gentlemen,” says the aircraft commander. We had a little problem, all four engines stopped. We are doing our best to launch them. Hope this doesn't bother you too much."
None of the 248 passengers and 15 crew members on board at that time suspected that the Boeing 747 flew through a cloud of volcanic ash thrown out by the suddenly awakened Galunggung volcano (Indonesia). Tiny abrasive particles clogged the engines and damaged the fuselage skin, putting Flight 9 (London-Auckland) on the brink of disaster.
A huge liner glided over the night ocean. A mountain range on the southern coast of Fr. Java. The crew had to decide whether they had enough height to fly over the obstacle and make the forced one at the Jakarta airport, or should they immediately land the liner on the water. While the PIC together with the Indonesian controller were calculating the remaining distance and 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 stone out of itself, jerked and whistled regularly. Gradually, it was possible to put into operation two more engines - there was enough thrust to reach the airport, but another problem arose on the landing glide path: the windshield was excised by abrasive particles and completely lost its transparency. The situation was complicated by the lack of an automatic landing gear at the Jakarta airport. As a result, the British nevertheless managed to land the plane safely, looking through two tiny areas on the windshield that retained transparency. 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 find themselves over the skyscrapers of Manhattan. Doesn't it sound like a starting point for another blockbuster in the genre of "September 11"?
At that time it was a similar way! On the afternoon of January 15, 2009, an Airbus A-320 departed from La Guardia with 150 passengers on board, en route New York - Seattle. Approximately 90 seconds after takeoff, the plane crashed into a flock of birds - the flight recorder recorded the impacts and changes in the operating mode of the engines. Both engines instantly "cut off". At that moment, the plane managed to gain an altitude of 970 meters. Dense residential buildings of the 10 millionth megalopolis lay under the wing …
Returning back to La Guardia was out of the question. The stock of altitude and speed was only enough for 1, 5 minutes of flight. The PIC immediately made a decision - let's go to the river! The Hudson (real name - 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, to accurately align the plane - and then it was a matter of technology. The Airbus plunged into the cold water and floated among the ice floes, like a real Titanic. The crew and all passengers survived (however, about 5 poorly fastened passengers and the flight attendant were still seriously injured).
The protagonist of this story is undoubtedly Chesley Sullenberger, a former military pilot who once piloted the Phantom.
Taiga romance
On September 7, 2010, Tu-154B of the airline "Alrosa" landed in the remote Siberian wilderness, following the route Yakutia - Moscow. 3.5 hours after takeoff, there was a complete loss of power on board: most of the instruments were turned off, the fuel pumps stopped, and it became impossible to control the wing mechanization. An operational fuel supply (3300 kg) remained in the supply tank in the fuselage, which was only enough for 30 minutes of flight. Having descended to an altitude of 3000 m, the pilots began a visual search for a suitable landing site for the 80-ton monster. An ordinary glass of water was used as an attitude indicator.
Luck! The concrete strip of the Izhma airport appeared ahead. The short one is only 1350 meters. Two times less than is necessary for the normal operation of the Tu-154B. In the past, planes of 3-4 classes (Yak-40, An-2, etc.) landed here, but since 2003 the runway was finally abandoned and was used only as a helipad. The emergency plane was to be landed here. Due to the impossibility of extending the flaps and slats, the landing speed of the "Tushka" exceeded the calculated value by almost 100 km / h. The pilots were able to land the poorly controlled aircraft at "three points", but it was impossible to stop on the runway - the Tu-154 rolled out into a small spruce forest 160 m behind the runway end. None of the 72 passengers and nine crew members were injured.
The aircraft commander E. G. Novoselov and co-pilot A. A. Lamanov was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. The rest of the legendary crew members (flight attendants, navigator and flight engineer) were awarded the Orders of Courage.
The plane underwent ersatz repairs and flew under its own power (!) To Samara to the Aviakor aircraft plant. In the summer of 2011, the repaired car was returned to the owner for further use on passenger airlines.
