An Antonov An-24 passenger plane carrying 48 people crashed yesterday in the Russian Far East while preparing to land. All passengers and crew members died in the accident, which has reopened the issue of the use of old Soviet-era aircraft.
After the Antonov disappeared from radar, a search helicopter crew spotted the burning fuselage of the 1976 plane, Reuters reported.
The plane, operated by the private regional airline Angara from Siberia, was flying from the city of Blagoveshchensk, near the Chinese border, to Tynda, a major railway hub in the Amur region. It was carrying 42 passengers, including five children, and six crew members.
Investigative authorities said they had opened a criminal investigation into suspected violations of air traffic and transportation rules. According to Russian news agencies, the plane had recently undergone a technical inspection and had been involved in four, allegedly minor, incidents since 2018.
Reuters writes that the accident is likely to raise new questions about the justification for using such old planes in remote parts of Russia, at a time when Western sanctions have made it difficult for Moscow to access investment and spare parts.
President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences to the families of the victims and held a minute of silence at the beginning of a government session.
At least one Chinese citizen was on the plane, and Chinese President Xi Jinping sent his condolences to Putin.
Moscow announced that, in addition to the criminal and security investigation, a commission has been formed to manage the consequences of the accident.
Angara is based in Irkutsk and serves airports across Siberia and the Russian Far East. According to the RussianPlanes website, before yesterday's crash, the company had ten An-24 aircraft manufactured between 1972 and 1976. It was one of two Siberian airlines that last year asked the Russian government to extend the service life of the Antonovs, as Russian manufacturers try to fill the void left by the withdrawal of foreign companies, Reuters reports.
The An-24, which some call “flying tractors,” is considered reliable in Russia and well-suited to the harsh conditions of Siberia because it can fly in sub-zero temperatures and does not have to land on runways. But airline executives, pilots and industry experts say the cost of maintaining the Antonovs, which make up a small part of Russia’s fleet of more than 1.000 passenger planes, has soared due to sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine.
Almost 1.340 An-24 aircraft were produced in the Soviet Union. According to data from the RussianPlanes portal and an analysis by Reuters, 88 aircraft have been lost to crashes, 65 to serious incidents without casualties, and 75 are currently in service.
The age of these planes has long been a cause for concern. Back in 2011, then-President Dmitry Medvedev proposed grounding Russia's An-24 fleet after one crashed in Siberia, killing seven people.
Many of these aircraft are scheduled for retirement in the coming years, but mass production of the new Ladoga aircraft, in the same class as the An-24, is not expected before 2027.
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