Security camera video shows a Tatarstan Airlines Boeing 737 descending nearly vertically at a Russian airport on Sunday before exploding in a massive fireball.
All 44 passengers and six crew members were killed in the crash after the jetliner aborted one landing attempt and was attempting another. Weather does not appear to have been a factor in the go-around, which was initiated after the pilots reportedly told controllers they weren’t ready to land. The crew didn’t report problems at any point during the flight, which originated in Moscow and was bound for Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan 500 miles away.
The Tatarstan Airlines Boeing 737-500 first flew in June 1990 and was delivered to Air France a month later, according to public records. In 2001, while operating with Rio Sul, the jetliner undershot the runway on approach to Belo Horizonte in poor weather, ripping off its left landing gear. No one was seriously hurt and the aircraft was repaired.
Investigators will be focusing on why the Tatarstan jet descended out of control as they seek to recover the 737’s flight data and cockpit voice recorders. This was the first fatal crash for Tatarstan Airlines in its 20-year history and the first Russian airline crash of 2013.
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