Saratov Airlines has suspended flight operations with its fleet of Antonov An-148 regional airliners, following the fatal crash involvin...
Saratov Airlines has suspended flight operations with its fleet of Antonov An-148 regional airliners, following the fatal crash involving one of the type in its fleet on Sunday.
The temporary grounding will affect the remaining five An-148 in Saratov's fleet.
The flight 6W703 crashed approximately six minutes after taking off from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, and was bound for Orsk, about 1500 km southeast of Moscow.
Eyewitness account reveals that the aircraft was on fire prior to impacting the ground, causing mid-air dis-integration, which has been proved by the wide dispersion of the wreckage.
According to Flightradar24, the aircraft had a very high rate of descent of 3300 ft during the final moments.
Meanwhile the two black boxes, the Cockpit Voice Recorder and the Flight Data Recorder has been recovered from the wreckage site, but have sustained serious damage according to the Russian Interstate Aviation Committee (MAC).
6W703 was operated by a Saratov Airlines Antonov An-148-100B, registered RA-61704. The aircraft was originally delivered in 2010 to Rossiya Airlines and began operation with Saratov in February of 2017.
The 8 year old aircraft was configured with 83 seats and carried 71 including 65 passengers and 6 crew members. None on board survived the crash.
Being the initial batch, the aircraft had a no of teething troubles during the service with Rossiya.
Saratov says the RA-61704 had complected its C-check maintenance in January 2018, which included careful inspection of wings, engines, and airframe.
The aircraft also underwent routine checks prior to the accident flight, and it was the fourth flight of the aircraft on that day.
Both the captain and the first office were experienced pilots, having logged 2147 and 812 hours respectively on the type.
The An-148 was the first modern regional jet to enter serial production in Russia, assembled by Voronezh in close cooperation with Ukrainian Antonov.
The aircraft was designed to operate from rough runways and featured a high-wing monoplane design with T-tail. The high mounted engine enabled low ground clearance, and was hence equipped with integral stairs.
Powering the An-148 are two Ivchenko Progress-designed D-436-148 turbofans, with full-authority digital engine control (FADEC) and de-rated to each generate 14,080 lb thrust (63kN).
The aircraft had a Maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of 92,480lb (42 t), a service ceiling of 40,000 ft and a maximum speed is 470 kt.
Meanwhile Russia stopped assembly of the An-148, last month following lack of orders and hostility with Ukraine.
