when planes have to land on water in an emergency it's an extremely rare and
dangerous situation it takes a skilled pilot and just the right conditions but
what's worse is when the aircraft just falls apart after ditching it was August
21st 1963 when the then Soviet airline Aeroflot was about to perform its
regular flight from Tallinn Estonia to Moscow there were 45 passengers and 7
crew members onboard the aircraft their pilot was 27 year old Captain Viktor
mostovoi his copilot was Vasily Chechen F this wasn't the first time these two
Airmen were flying together in other words everything was totally routine and
normal except for the fact that the plane was a brand-new tu 124 model but
hey new is good right at 8:55 a.m. the plane took off from Tallinn Zula misty
Airport and headed for Moscow's new Cova but very soon it became apparent that
the plane along with all those who were on board was experiencing serious
problems the aircraft's nose gear wouldn't retract besides that during the
takeoff one ball screw got lost and was later found on the runway the cockpit
crew faced a dilemma they needed to get the plane down but by that time it was
already impossible to return to Tallinn due to a thick fog that had covered the
airport that's why ground control decided to
divert the flight to Leningrad present-day st. Petersburg there the
pilots could perform an emergency belly landing on a dirt runway at pole covo
airport the pilots confirmed that they
understood the task at hand and led the plane toward their destination at a low
altitude at the airport all emergency services were at the ready fire trucks
and ambulances were waiting next to the dirt runway where the plane was supposed
to land everything seemed to be going more or less smoothly considering the
critical situation however first the plane had to reduce the amount
of fuel that was carrying that would make the aircraft lighter and minimize
the risk of a fire during the crash landing
so at approximately 11 a.m. the plane began to circle the city at an altitude
of fourteen hundred eighty feet with each circle taking about 15 minutes to
complete following the captain's order the cabin crew tried to distract the
passengers with funny stories and air tales to prevent a panic from ensuing
meanwhile the crew repeatedly tried to push the nose gear with a pole they
found in a closet to make it lock in the fully extended position unfortunately
all of their attempts failed but that wasn't the worst news that fate had in
store for the unfortunate plane at about 12:00 p.m. the pilots were performing
the eighth and last circuit over the city and were already less than 12 miles
away from the airport the fuel gauge clearly showed that there was still
almost a ton of fuel on board the plane which was more than enough to reach the
airport that's why you can imagine how shocked the pilots were when engine one
suddenly went out because of fuel starvation
apparently the pilots had burned more fuel than they'd initially planned
however there was another theory later that the plane was carrying enough fuel
but for some unclear reasons it wasn't getting to the engines something had to
be done and immediately that's when air traffic control made a
grave mistake they allowed the plane to take a shortcut and fly to the airport
through the city center but as soon as the pilots had changed course and turned
toward downtown dead silence fell over the flight deck
the second and last engine shut down as well the 40-ton plane was careening
toward the famous st. Isaac's Cathedral in the city center at a blistering speed
at the same time air traffic controllers couldn't see the plane on their radars
anymore because its altitude was too low to be registered that's why at the
airport they were sure that the plane had already crashed but as it turned out
the pilots were still hanging on the only chance of survival was to ditch
in the neva river the captain passed control over to the co-pilot
because Chechen eff had served in Naval Aviation and had some experience in
landing on water the plane glided over the bullshit in ski bridge steel
structures with a mere 100 feet of clearance and barely missed the
Alexander Nevsky bridge which was under construction at that time luckily
Chechen eff managed to ditch the plane perfectly and neither dived into the
water nor hit the fuselage tail section against the river surface the crash
landing took place just fourteen seconds after the second engine had flamed out
that's how incredibly quickly the cockpit had reacted but even the
copilot's unsurpassed skills couldn't make the landing completely smooth as
soon as the hanging nose landing gear touched the surface of the water it got
torn away then the plane started to drift slowly toward the supports of the
Finland railway bridge miraculously all of the passengers and crew members not
only stayed alive but they were completely unharmed I'm sure everyone on
board let out a sigh of relief at that moment but little did they know that the
danger was far from over the planes ripped fuselage started to
gulp down the river water the neva is 1,300 feet wide in more than 40 feet
deep in that particular spot so there was a very real risk that the aircraft
would sink bringing all the people down with it
luckily there was a steam tug boat moving on the river not far from the
place of the emergency landing only thanks to the boat captain's fast react
the plane didn't flood too fast for the people trapped inside to leave it the
tugboat darted to the plane propped up one of its wings and started to push the
aircraft toward the riverbank the tugboat captain had to break the plane's
windshield to fasten the tow rope to the cockpits control wheel while the boat
was towing the aircraft all the people remained on board and then evacuated
through an access hatch in the roof when the passengers and crew stepped on land
all of them were safe without a scratch or bruise inside unfortunately despite
all the efforts to keep the plane afloat the water from the holes in the fuselage
was flooding the aircraft too fast and by morning its sank the next day the
plane was raised from the bottom of the neva and taken to a military base it was
written off and would never fly again but after being restored the TU 124 did
become a training simulator for flight academy students but how on earth did
the pilots managed to land the plane safely on the water with no losses or
even injuries experts are sure that there were several lucky factors that
helped them at high speeds water feels as hard as concrete but unlike the
airport runway its surface isn't smooth because of the waves that's why if a
plane is an amphibious its frame simply can't stand such pressure that's where
the TU 124 got lucky the first time there were no waves on the neva that day
secondly Chechen s water landing experience played a huge role in the
lucky outcome besides it took the cockpit crew mere seconds to come to the
only correct decision to ditch the plane in the river otherwise the aircraft
would have fallen on the city and you can imagine the loss of life that would
have caused and finally without the tugboat that happened to be passing by
and came to the rescue the plane wouldn't have got to the shore so fast
people would have still escaped the aircraft but they probably wouldn't have
known what to do there would have been a panic
and who knows how many casualties that could have caused on top of that there
was one woman who did a lot to prevent panic on board 41 year old Alexandra
mikhailova didn't lose her bearings in an emergency situation with a cool head
and plenty of experience she encouraged the passengers and the cabin crew thanks
to her efforts the people stayed calm and there was no hysteria in the cabin
interestingly enough most eye witnesses of the accident didn't even realize what
was happening some of them later admitted that they thought someone was
making a movie well and what would you think if you saw a plane quietly rocking
on the water and crowds of people swarming the riverbanks hopefully if you
do ever see such a thing it really is just a movie have you heard about other
cases of successful crash landings on water let me know down in the comments
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