Haunting last words of pilot who let his children in cockpit to control plane that crashed and killed 75 passengers
The final words of a pilot who died in a plane crash after he let his children at the controls were recorded by the aircraft's black box.
On 23 March, 1994, Aeroflot Flight 593 from Moscow to Hong Kong crashed which resulted in the deaths of all 75 people on board.
Split decision turns deadly
It was the first international flight for the children of pilot Yaroslav Vladimirovich Kudrinsky, and this led to the disaster which ultimately caused the plane to crash.
Kudrinsky let his children into the cockpit and allowed both his son and daughter to sit in the pilot's chair.
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His 13-year-old daughter Yana was first, and her father adjusted the autopilot to make her think she was actually steering the aircraft.
The fatal 30 seconds
When 15-year-old Eldar got into the pilot's chair he moved the plane's control column enough to cause parts of the autopilot to switch off for 30 seconds, with the boy noticing that the flight was banking rather sharply to the right.
The pilots missed a warning light which would have told them what had happened to the autopilot, with Kudrinsky getting his son away from the plane's controls.
From there the pilots attempted to regain control of the aircraft, successfully pulling the plane out of a dive but overcorrecting until the flight was climbing almost vertically, stalling it.
This resulted in the plane spinning and dropping back down to the ground.
While the pilots were able to level out the wings of the plane they had lost too much altitude by that point and crashed.
Harrowing final moments
The black box recording of the aircraft's final moments was discovered as part of the investigation into the crash.
It recounted that in the flight's final moments Kudrinsky was shouting at his son to get away from the controls.
He said: "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!"
From there the pilots attempted to regain control of the aircraft, and the last part of the flight recorded was the attempt to pull out of the second dive.
The box recorded Kudrinsky saying: "Get out now, all is normal. Pull up gently. Gently! Gently I say!"
Just two minutes and six seconds after the events unfolded, Flight 593 crashed in a flat altitude at high vertical speed at around 160mph, in the Kuznetsk Alatau Mountain range in the Kemerovo Oblast region of southern Russia.
The aftermath
Despite Aeroflot initially denying the pilots were at fault, it was forced to change its account of events when a leaked copy of the cockpit voice recorder transcript was published.
Investigations found no evidence of technical failure, concluding the crash was most likely caused by the children being allowed to take control of the flight.
The aircraft was completely destroyed, killing everyone onboard.
Topics: Travel, World News, News
Joe Harker