On March 23, 1994, Aeroflot Flight 593 crashed in Siberia, killing all 75 on board. Relief Captain Kudrinsky let his children briefly handle the controls, unknowingly overriding autopilot. Despite the skilled crew’s efforts, the Airbus A310 spiraled out of control, turning a playful moment into a devastating tragedy.
To alert the crew, a tiny indicator light flashed, but the faint warning was ignored. The plane started to bank when the autopilot was turned off. The plane’s stability was upset by the wings’ slant, and it began to lose 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!”
The pilots attempted to restore control, but they unintentionally overcorrected, which caused the aircraft to ascend steeply. This resulted in a stall and a spin that was impossible to recover from. Flight 593 crashed into the Kuznetsk Alatau Mountain range in the Kemerovo Oblast region of southern Russia around 12:58 AM.
Everyone on board perished when the plane crashed and was destroyed. Aeroflot first disputed pilot mistake in the immediate aftermath. But the reality was eventually exposed by flight data and cockpit audio recordings, according to the New York Times. Human mistake and regulatory violations led to the tragedy. The crew’s failure to notice the autopilot’s disengagement and their choice to let kids in the cockpit ultimately contributed to the flight’s demise.
