Russian Crew Deadsticks Tu-154 Safely

September 7, 2010
Russian Crew Deadsticks Tu-154 Safely

By Russ Niles, Editor-in-Chief

A Russian airline crew may have pulled off an amazing dead-stick landing on Tuesday. According to Russian media, the Alrosa Airlines Tu-154's "power supply, fuel pumps, radio link and navigation equipment failed" and the only available airport was at Izhma, whose only runway is 4,500 feet long. The reports say the crew deadsticked from 35,000 feet, put down on the short runway and overran it by 600 feet. Although the aircraft suffered some damage, all 72 passengers and nine crew were uninjured.

The flight originated in Polyarny, Siberia, and was headed to Moscow. So far there's been no explanation of how virtually everything on the aircraft could shut down, if that's what actually happened. The passengers and crew were put up in a school building while the airline figured out how to get them to Moscow.

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For those of you wondering what a Tu-154 is, it's not exactly small:

 

These planes are such POS, I have only flown on one once. Never again. Everything Tupolov has ever made, from the 144 all the way down have always been ripped off American designs with all the material-safety engineered out and as much cheap-production and low-grade hardware put in to just barely keep it in the sky.

Anyway, sounds like the pilots did an amazing job with nothing but the stick. They're definitely lucky the it didn't fall off into their hand though.

 

For the aviation noobs here (myself included) ... dead stick means no power, no nothing? Just manual controls?

 

^^^ Correct.