The pilot of the SSJ100 that burned down in Sheremetyevo received 6 years in a penal colony

The court in the Moscow Region sentenced Denis Evdokimov, the crew commander of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 plane that crashed during an emergency landing at Sheremetyevo Airport in 2019, to six years in a penal colony. Then 41 people died.

The pilot was found guilty of violating the safety rules for the operation of air transport, Interfax reports. The prosecutor’s office requested the same term for him earlier. In addition, Evdokymov is prohibited from holding the position of a pilot for three years.

Evdokimov pleaded not guilty. The defense insisted that the cause of the incident was a malfunction of the aircraft and erroneous actions when one of the flight attendants caught fire.

On May 5, 2019, the Sukhoi Superjet 100 passenger plane crashed at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. The plane carrying out the Aeroflot flight to Murmansk made a hard landing 27 minutes after takeoff and caught fire. 41 people died, including one crew member. 37 passengers managed to escape.

The Investigative Committee named the cause of the crash as the error of the pilot Denis Evdokimov. The preliminary report of the Interstate Aviation Committee speaks of the possible responsibility of the crew.

Before the disaster, the plane was struck by lightning – the direct flight control mode was activated on board, and the on-board computer stopped correcting the actions of the crew. The pilots continued the landing and after the plane bounced off the landing strip, despite the fact that in such cases, the instructions prescribe starting an emergency takeoff. During the next touchdown, the landing gear of the airliner collapsed, punctured the plane’s fuel tank, and as a result, it caught fire.