Massive flight safety violations uncovered at Azimuth after Superjet 100 accident

Rostransnadzor and Rosaviatsiya revealed concealment of aircraft landings with increased overload

After the accident with the burning Superjet 100 aircraft in Antalya, Rostransnadzor and Rosaviatsiya conducted an inspection of the airline "Azimuth" and discovered more than twenty violations in the field of flight safety and flight operations organization. Cases were revealed when information about SSJ-100 flights with increased load was concealed, and the crew's flight time was underestimated. It also turned out that aircraft were allowed to fly without the necessary technical maintenance.

SJ-100
Image source Объединённая авиастроительная корпорация

Experts identified 18 cases of violations of the restrictions established in the flight operations manual (FOM). Among them are fuel imbalance in flight of more than 500 kg and non-fixation of the landing gear in the retracted position.

The airline "Azimuth" did not pay due attention to prevention aimed at improving flight safety.

In cases where pilots deviated from the established aircraft control norms, including repeated separation of the aircraft from the runway during landing, they were given individual tasks, including methodological flights. However, after some time, similar deviations were repeated.

According to the report, in 2024, about 12% of all landings in 11 months were associated with repeated touching of the runway during landing.

Repeated separation of the aircraft from the runway (porpoising) is a dangerous phenomenon when the aircraft starts jumping on the runway, which is a consequence of piloting errors, and sometimes technical malfunction.

Роман Гусаров, главный редактор "Авиа.ру"

In the event of an unsuccessful landing of an aircraft due to porpoising, serious structural damage and significant overloads are possible. If every tenth flight in an airline is accompanied by bouncing during landing, this may indicate problems in pilot training.

Cases of repeated violations were also identified, which can be classified as an unstable approach. In more than 19 cases, crews exceeded the permissible vertical descent rate at the final stage of landing.

At the end of November, a fire broke out on board an aircraft of the Russian airline "Azimuth" at Antalya Airport. One of the engines of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 caught fire during landing. The fire was noticed after the plane stopped on the runway (RWY). Later, the airline explained that the cause of the fire was wind shear during an emergency landing, which led to a rough landing.

Earlier, Rosaviatsiya held a meetingdedicated to the state of the Superjet 100 aircraft fleet. It was attended by operators of these Russian-made short-haul aircraft, as well as the new General Director of the United Aircraft Corporation, Vadim Badeha.