26 May Should the Russian Superjets continue to operate?
There has been a lot of publicity recently about the safety of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft, but it is not the only modern plane with a dubious safety record. In Russia the Aeroflot Superjet has had similar problems and people are asking why it has not been grounded in the same way.
On the 5th of May, 2019, at approximately 6.30pm, an airliner, the ‘Sukhoi Superget 100’, from the Aeroflot airline landed at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow. It caught light, burning to ashes even before the plane actually stopped.
There were 78 people onboard including 5 members of the crew . This devastating tragedy has forever taken away 41 innocent people from their friends and families. This is not the first incident that has occurred with the Superjet.
Just 7 years earlier, a ‘Sukhoi Superjet 100-95B’ flew into Mount Salak , in the province of West Java in Indonesia, which resulted in the death of all the people onboard – 45.
These are only two case studies of several catastrophes on the Sukhoi Superjet , and who knows, maybe there are more coming.
‘Superjet’ was initially developed and constructed in Russia , right after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. However some other countries have provided materials for the construction of the plane.
The question whether superjets are good or bad , and whether they should have been removed from service has been up for debate for many years . However those planes are still regularly operating , even though it is clear for professionals that they are not ideal and definitely need an improvement.
Ivan Obodovskiy has been a Ukranian military pilot since 2009, “ This plane model was released before it was ready , I think that it was too early to implement this particular aircraft . The main problem of those Superjets is their landing gear and their engines. In the recent catastrophe in ‘Sheremetyevo’ , one of the main reasons for the fire was a problem with the landing gear, and since 2011 , there have been so many incidents that resulted because of it.”
Many people argue that the Superjet is still in service for political reasons. Obodovskiy agrees:
“For some reason nobody is doing anything , and nothing is changing . I think that Russia tries to prove to the whole world what a great country they are and that they can construct planes well , and unfortunately because of that people suffer. If it were up to me , I would try to improve Superjets or even just stop exploiting them at all.”
At the time of the crash in Sheremetyevo, President Putin released a statement honouring the memory of the victims , however he did not mention anything about the future of the Superjet.
So unlike the Boeing 737, in Russia the Superjet, which many claim is unsafe, will probably carry on flying.
