Wednesday, April 8, 2009

A Boeing 757 passenger jet, operated by Yakutia airlines, successfully made an emergency landing at the Vnukovo airport in the Russian capital of Moscow on Tuesday. The plane requested the landing after technical problems were reported on board. None of the 174 passengers and nine crew members aboard were injured.

“The airplane took off from Vnukovo airport, en route to Yakutsk. After some time, some technical difficulties started, due to which the crew made a decision to return to the airport,” ^{((Translated from Russian))Russian language: ???????? ??????? ?? “???????” ? ??????, ?????? ????? ????????? ????? ????????? ?????-?? ??????????? ?????????, ??-?? ???? ?????? ?????? ??????? ????????? ??????? ?? “???????”} said a spokeswoman for Vnukovo airport. The plane was originally scheduled to land at 20:20 local time, but circled around the airport in a holding pattern for three and a half hours to burn off excess fuel.

Yakutia Flight 478 departed from Vnukovo at 17:26 local time. Twenty minutes after takeoff, at 17:46, the captain of the airplane reported technical troubles. He then decided to return to Vnukovo and land the plane. Reports suggest that the cabin depressurized while the jet was climbing to cruising altitude.

This incident occurred only a few days after Sky Express Flight 229, a Boeing 737, had to perform a similar landing shortly after takeoff, though no reports have indicated the two incidents are related.