The crew of the Tu-22M3 long-range bomber managed to land the plane on the ground in the Astrakhan region after an engine failure during a planned flight.

“Thanks to the competent actions of the crew, it was possible to take the car with the engine that failed with the engine out of the village and land on the ground,” the Defense Ministry said.

The department was informed that the pilots left the car on their own and were delivered to the airfield. It is noted that the flight was carried out without ammunition, there is no destruction on the ground.

They plan to reward those who landed the plane away from the settlement, the Russian Ministry of Defense said.

“For the selfless actions of the Tu-22M3 crew, who managed to take the plane with the engine that failed to drive away from the village, the command petitioned the Minister of Defense to submit pilots for state awards,” RIA Novosti reports.

The Tu-22M3 long-range bomber was created in the late 1970s. The developers designed a machine for delivering strikes in the depths of the enemy’s defense and hitting large sea targets.

The first major combat use of a bomber took place during the Afghan campaign of the USSR in 1979-1989. In turn, the Russian armed forces used this aircraft during the conflict in South Ossetia in August 2008 and during the Syrian operation since the fall of 2015.

In 2019, at least eight incidents involving aircraft of the Russian Ministry of Defense were reported. The latest was the crash of the Mi-28 attack helicopter on December 11 in the area of ​​the Korenovsk airfield in Krasnodar. An emergency occurred during a scheduled training flight in the dark in difficult weather conditions. The flight was carried out without ammunition.

Both crew members were killed - Lt. Col. Alexander Sklyankin and Major Ruslan Kushnirenko.

In October, the An-12 military transport aircraft made an emergency landing at Koltsovo Airport in Yekaterinburg. None of the ten people on board were injured. According to preliminary data, the cause of the accident was a malfunction of the chassis. Media reported that the plane received minor injuries and will soon return to flights.

According to TASS, another incident without injuries occurred in September 2019. The agency’s source spoke about a clash in the sky over the Lipetsk region of two Su-34 bombers, and the crews of both aircraft managed to land planes at the airfield.

At the same time, TASS notes, the situation in Lipetsk was classified as a serious aviation incident with an airplane breakdown, and one of the Su-34s was badly damaged and required factory repair.

In the same month, an Mi-8 helicopter of the Russian Ministry of Defense crashed at an airport in the Saratov Region. According to TASS, citing its own sources, on board was a crew of three people, who successfully evacuated. There were no casualties or injuries. The helicopter itself, after hitting the ground, completely burned out on the taxiway.

“We go to the right, in the sun, along the rows of corn”

One of the most resonant air transport incidents in Russia in 2019 occurred in the field of civil aviation. On August 15, an Ural Airlines Airbus A321 aircraft made an emergency landing a few kilometers from Zhukovsky Airport in the Moscow Region.

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The aircraft was controlled by commander Damir Yusupov and co-pilot Georgy Murzin. On board were 233 people, including the crew. Shortly after takeoff, the airliner collided with a flock of seagulls, birds got into the engines and interrupted their work.

Pilots said that they originally intended to turn around and sit in Zhukovsky, but there was not enough time to maneuver, and they had to sit in a corn field. The plane was planted directly on the "belly", but everything ended well.

The skill of the pilots was noted by the passengers of the aircraft, many members of the public and officials. Later, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded pilots the titles of Heroes of Russia, and awarded the remaining members of the team with the Order of Courage.