Interstate Aviation Committee: SJ-100 crash at Sheremetyevo in 2019 caused by 'uncoordinated' pilot actions
MOSCOW. March 28 (Interfax) - The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) has published a final report presenting the findings of an investigation into the crash of an Aeroflot Superjet 100 (SJ-100) passenger jet at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport in May 2019, in which it predictably blamed the accident on the captain's actions during the landing.
"The aircraft accident was caused by the captain's uncoordinated control inputs at the flare-out phase of the landing sequence and when the aircraft repeatedly bounced on the runway, which were manifested by repeated disproportional alternate longitudinal motions of the control stick with its fixation in extreme positions," the report says.
"Said control inputs led to three rough landings, their result being that, during the second and third landings, the amount of energy absorbed significantly exceeded the maximum values for which the structural strength assessment was carried out during the aircraft type certification, which caused the destruction of the airframe's structural elements and fuel tanks, leading to a fuel spill and a fire."
In the opinion of IAC specialists, the factors that contributed to the accident included inefficiency of programs for training SJ-100 pilots to act "in a special (complicated) situation after the system switches from fly-by-wire control to direct mode," not clear enough wordings of the aircraft's operation manuals, "the captain's excessive psycho-emotional stress," and the captain's intentional ducking under while on the final approach.
Based on the investigation findings, the IAC issued a number of flight safety recommendations.
Shortly after the IAC published its report, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) hurried to say that the IAC commission did not uncover "design flaws [in the SJ-100] that might prevent its further operations." The plane's manufacturer, Regional Aircraft, a subsidiary of Yakovlev PJSC , "accepted the recommendations aimed at ensuring safe and regular aircraft operations," the UAC said.
Along with the report, the IAC also published a special opinion by an Aeroflot representative, without identifying their name, who reasoned, inter alia, that the SJ-100's typical design does not comply with the aviation rules according to which it was certified. Said rules require that an aircraft's landing gear must be designed in such a way that its destruction due to overstressing during a takeoff or landing must not cause a fuel system leak posing a risk of fire.
The Aeroflot SJ-100 crash at Sheremetyevo Airport happened on May 5, 2019. Having departed Moscow for Murmansk, the airliner was exposed to a severe storm. A lightning strike disabled the plane's autopilot, switching it to direct mode, and the crew decided to return to the departure airport. The plane eventually crash-landed at Sheremetyevo and caught fire, killing 41 of the 78 people on board. The investigation initially pursued pilot error, mechanical fault, and adverse weather as possible causes of the accident.
The IAC said in its tentative findings in October 2019 that the plane's captain, Denis Yevdokimov, was responsible for the loss of life in the crash. The Khimki City Court in the Moscow region ruled in June 2023 to sentence Yevdokimov to six years in a settlement colony. Reports said the court also ordered that he pay 2.5 million rubles in favor of two crash victims and banned him from working as a pilot for three years.
