Going around again: The court has returned the case of the pilot who landed a passenger plane in a field near Novosibirsk to the prosecutor.
The court found numerous violations in the criminal case against the Ural Airlines pilot. Sergei Belov, who landed a plane in a wheat field near the village in September 2023 Moskovka.
How to notes his lawyer Sergey Stepanyants, Investigators did not recognize the plane and the black boxes as material evidence, were unable to prove the extent of the damage to the airline and passengers, submitted documents in English without translation, and brought in an incompetent person to conduct the examination.
“How did the prosecutor’s office approve the indictment in one day under such conditions?” the defender is perplexed.
Sergei Belov blamed that he violated flight safety regulations. According to the pilot himself, he decided to take the Airbus off the ground with a failed hydraulic system. Novosibirsksince in Omsk The runway was too short. However, due to a strong headwind, the fuel ran out early, and they had to land in a wheat field.
None of the 167 people on board were injured. The plane, which had been flying since 2004, was planned to be recovered from the field and returned to service, but in the end disassembled for spare parts.
First, about the commander Sergei Belov and the second pilot Eduard Semenov They were talked about as heroes, but then Rosaviatsiya pushed a version about the crew's error, who did not pay attention to the landing gear being released in flight, which could have led to excessive fuel consumption (the pilots claimed that they were unable to retract the landing gear due to a hydraulic system failure).
Rosaviatsiya and the prosecutor's office claimed the plane could have landed in Omsk without a second approach, but the pilots decided to proceed to Novosibirsk, following the airline's internal regulations—flying to a location with a repair base and technical crew.
Belov faced up to two years in prison. However, the court concluded that prosecutors had erred, and the criminal case is now being retried.
Photo: Govorit NeMoskva, Ural Airlines
