Volga-Dnepr Group has decided to ground, effective immediately, their entire fleet of eight An-124s. Following a recent incident at Novosibirsk, where one made an emergency landing after an engine failure.
Reported by Loadstar, the carrier has today filed a letter with the Russian aviation authorities; notifying them of their decision to ground their eight operational aircraft immediately.
Volga-Dnepr is talking to Russian aviation authorities, as well as launching an internal and independent investigation into the recent incident.
According to the Aviation Herald, The Novosibirsk incident on 13th November saw the aircraft, carrying 14 people and about 84 tons of cargo to Vienna, suffer engine failure at about 1,000 feet after take-off. Debris damaged cabling and took out the electrical supply this resulted in loss of: communication, all electrical systems, instruments, brakes and thrust reversers, making the runway over-run unavoidable.
It reported: “Numerous holes punched through the fuselage damaged the structural integrity; the structural integrity of the landing gear was compromised, numerous holes were punched into elements of the wings as well as the engine pylon” One engine was unable to be turned off for three hours following the emergency landing.
Observers said that the pilots had completed an extraordinary landing in highly dangerous conditions.
Video of My Flight on Antonov An-124
Article Source: Loadstar and Volga Dnepr
Oh man.. we used to get one flying into our airport here in Tulsa, OK once in a while. I was wondering why it hasn’t been flying in for a bit now 🙁
Sam, Great post. One of your best. Hope that you are doing well. Remember our day in Melbourne, over 10 years ago, when John Travolta flew in.
Oh yes, I have your latest book on order as well.
All the best……… Peter G.