It was an unbelievable luck that on Septermber 7th, 2010, the crew of the plane carrying 72 passengers on board, managed to make an emergency landing on an abandoned runway near Izhma Village. Since then, the lucky Tu-154 has been called ‘a miracle of Izhma’.
The company ‘ALROSA’, the second largest dimond-mining company in the world, which owns the plane, did not leave it in taiga but spent over 20 million rubles (65o thousand dollars) to restore it and make ‘the lucky aircraft’ fly again.
The next day after the landing, they cut the surrounding trees down and built a small house.
This plane’s really lucky! Near the road on the left, there is a gully and if the plane rolled several more meters…
The plane’s left gear touched the bushes and left a trace.
It looks like blood but it’s not. It’s fluid which flew out of the seriously damaged wheels.
The cabin.
A passenger compartment.
SU #1.
SU #2 is Ok.
SU #3.
The one responsible.
As far as you can see, the plane suffered little damage. So, an unprecedented decision has been made – to restore the plane and make it fly again. Many people did not believe in success, but on March, 23rd, the aircraft commander and his crew came to Izhma to take off the plane.
‘Izhma’ ‘five-star’ hotel.
The commander was in a good mood before the takeoff.
In the hotel somebody glued a Tu-154 to the picture of the village.
On March, 24th the people of the whole country were sitting in front of their tvs waiting.
Airport
They covered the plane with defroster.
A memorable photo.
A call home before the takeoff.
A preflight meeting.
Ruben Esaryan is ready for the flight!
They exchanged their pens.
Saying good-bye…
They’ve started the engines.
The takeoff run…
They’ve gone it! It is flying!
A good-bye fly over Izhma.
Now its destination is Ukhta.
These guys could have stayed home.
Happy End!
Location: Izhma
via passajirlexa
It’s story like tale.
Yeh, straighten her up mate she’ll be right.
Yes Mr. Fox it is a nice story.
Yes, nice story.
To everyone who was involved with the landing, restoration and the flight out, “Good Work”…
So, near disaster was result of accumulator fire? Why was accumulator from Soviet time being used??
Those responsible should be harshly punished.
accumulator = battery? i agree why would more than 20 year old battery still be in service? don’t they do maintaince?
or is it just the case for battery that is made in soviet time? i think so.
MMM all what I hear that happen in the Komi Republic is somewhat weird.
Considering the fact that the airframe itself wasn’t damaged, it’s no surprise that the company didn’t decide to scrap the plane. There are more than a few planes here in the US that have suffered mishaps such as this and been rebuilt as well.
Those are some really strong landing gears!!!
how could they even still fly that old junk?
Those old soviet planes really are made to last.
The 154′s were designed to land on unpaved strips, so that’s probably why the gear survived so well. You can just imagine a 737 or similar landing there, the wings would be entirely separate from the plane
Tom
Great story! Well done! I am sure they had to replace pilot’s seats as well?
great post, interesting and informative, thanks
In Soviet Russia planes don’t crash.
This are the nice story of TU-154. When the sentimental value speaks, money doesn’t matter…
so why the Tu154M with Polish President on board was so damaged after landing on the similar area..?
Because Tu-154M with Polish President crashed in the swamps, not landed. And this plane landed near runway and stopped in the trees, not crashed.
What is the difference between these two crashes? The Russian flight was operating as normal from one of north airport to Moskva. As I know at an altitude of 10,600m the Tu-154 has lost all of its electrical systems including radio and navigation systems, flaps and fuel pumps that deliver fuel from primary tanks on the wings into the central tank that directly feeds the engine.
After emergency decent below cloud level the crew were able to spot an abandoned air strip near town of Izhma. The abandoned air strip is 1325m, whereas Tu-154 requires a minimum of 2200m. The aircraft came to rest 160m past the end of the runway. It was the main difference- Russian A/C performed almost normal landing whereas Polish airplane contacted upsloping terrain at a distance of about 1100 meters from the runway and 40 m to the left of extended centreline. The aircraft height at that point was 15 m below the level of the runway threshold. The left wing struck a large tree causing the airplane to roll inverted. The Tu-154 crashed and broke up! The immediate cause of the accident was the failure of the crew to take a timely decision to proceed to an alternate airdrome. According to the conclusion made by the pilot-experts and aviation psychologists, the presence of the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Air Forces in the cockpit until the collision exposed psychological pressure on the PIC’s decision to continue descent in the conditions of unjustified risk with a dominating aim of landing at any means. According to accident reporst cause of the accident was the descent below the minimum descent altitude at an excessive rate of descent in weather conditions which prevented visual contact with the ground, as well as a delayed execution of the go-around procedure. Those circumstances led to an impact on a terrain obstacle resulting in separation of a part of the left wing with aileron and consequently to the loss of aircraft control and eventual ground impact.
“…led to an impact on a terrain obstacle resulting in separation of a part of the left wing…”
Ha, ha. Unlike the one in the photos above, where the plane never even contacted any “terrain obstacle”, right? Give me a break. One plane loses a wing on a tree, the other cuts a swath in the woods. It doesn’t add up. A humongous lie is what the “Polish” report looks like.
Because was shot
this interesting question will last unsolved for more 50-100 years, and than, maybe someone will agree to open some FCB files…
polish TU154M crashed with pretty big tree that could have easily stopped a fully loaded lorry, tress in those pictures look pretty young and weak.
Oblige us and keep your “pretty” bollocks and JP2 out of here.
cuz TU154M crashed before landing… this one just fail to brak after landing
from the condition of the tires, it braked plenty!! also the red on the tires / wheels are just matching spots to maintain balance of wheel, nothing leaking.
My old man was a pilot, I showed him this and he loved it. He referred to this Tupelov as a “copy” of a 727… to what extent is this true or false? I want objective information and not a bunch of emotive nonsense.
In soviet russia they use planes to chop off trees.
But seriously? this plane is really tough! A boeing 747 would evaporate to be left in tiny bits
This and the Hudson river landing what makes me remember well of the days when I flew. My experience (very limited on these types is that the Tu-154 is harder plane to steer than the 727, but aémost a clone in other aspects.
great pilot and great luck……
Those who say that the TU 154 is a copy of the US Boeing 727 are only partly right. They are similar as US planes are built as lightly as possible with the load profit motive as secondary to safety systems, the Soviet philosophy is to not worry about load carrying but build the airframes like Mack trucks for longevity. Their engines needed more frequent maintenance (cheaper than airframe maint)and the Soviet planes needed to be built to handle unpaved runways as the USSR was largely comprised of so many such fields. They were still good planes and served the USSR well but since the end of the Cold War, CIS countries need to use planes that will make a profit, hence so many Western types. I’m an American but mty favorite airliner is still the TU 154. Watching those triple bogie landing gear cycle gives me a big woody!
Did the bent fan blades get swapped out before getting it airborne again?
basic is simple,, USSR equipment is build to survive the harsh conditions in Russia, Western airplains are build for efficiency, and with modern computersystems calculated… they don’t have the computer sophistication in USSR,, build to be maintained and operated with a spanner and a screwdriver…in that lie’s the difference..