On 15 August 2019, there was a successful emergency landing of the Airbus A321 passenger jet near Zhukovsky in Moscow Oblast.
The Ural Airlines A321 collided with a flock of gulls during takeoff. Two of the jet engines failed. The flight commander gave a signal about an emergency situation on board. The pilot was told that he had to make decisions on further actions independently. It was decided to land the plane in a cornfield straight ahead.
The plane made a forced hard landing with the engines turned off and without landing gear release approximately 5 kilometers from the runway. All people from the jet were evacuated via inflatable escape slides. Upon the arrival of the first fire and rescue unit, the absence of open burning, smoke from engine 2 and a spill of jet fuel up to 1 ton were detected. All passengers were placed on buses and sent to Zhukovsky Airport. All 233 people on board (226 passengers and 7 crew members) survived and 74 people were injured to various degrees of severity.
- Flight Commander: Damir Yusupov
- Co-Pilot: Georgy Murzin
- Flight Attendants: Dmitry Ulicki, Aliya Lakaeva, Nadezhda Vershinina Yana Yagodina, Dmitry Goncharenko
Based on Wikipedia
The hero pilot who landed the jet in the field, Damir K. Yusupov, previously worked as a lawyer.
Rinat I. Sharafutdinov, a friend and colleague of the hero pilot who saved 266 passengers, told about his life in Syzran.
He claims that this feat is quite characteristic of the pilot.
For many years, Damir Yusupov was the Deputy Chairman of the Regional National and Cultural Autonomy of the Syzran District Tatars. He worked there as a lawyer.
He is a very reliable, noble, honest man. You can rely on him for everything. He is a true Muslim.
Damir is a man of great intelligence; quiet, taciturn, patient. He can give more than take.
But in spite of his restraint, there has always been a certain inner strength about him. He could have been expected to do something heroic.
After school, he wanted to go to flying training school but did not pass the medical examination. He always wanted to fly. Eventually Damir enrolled in flight school as an adult.
Despite the tough job and difficult financial situation, he did a lot for free and helped many people.
He left Syzran and now lives in the Urals. However, he very often comes to our city. He still has a lot of friends here.
Damir is a wonderful husband and father. He spends a lot of time raising his three children. His family is very close.
President of the Union of Criminalists and Criminologists
Igor M. Matskevich
Translated by Elizaveta Ovchinnikova
