According to Russian aviation channels on Telegram, the Ural Airlines Airbus A320, which made an emergency landing in a wheat field last year, will most likely be dismantled. But a spokesperson for the airline told Russian media that no final decision will be made until the investigation is completed.

Earlier, Ural Airlines came up with the plan to have the aircraft take off from the wheat field again during the winter, on frozen ground. The aviation sector already responded with skepticism at the time, because of the safety risk, and it now seems increasingly unlikely that this will ever happen again. Winter is already halfway over and the plane still hasn't taken off.

Ural Airlines recently paid the farmer on whose land the aircraft is located the equivalent of 10,000 euros, so that his field can be used until next autumn. According to unconfirmed reports, the plan now is to strip the Airbus of its most valuable parts so that they can be reused, and dispose of the rest of the aircraft.

The A320 landed in the wheat field last September because there was a problem with the hydraulics and there was not enough kerosene left to reach the intended alternate airport (with a longer runway). All passengers were able to leave the plane safely. The pilots received a lot of praise for this and, together with the cabin crew, were portrayed as heroes.

But the narrative has now changed. The investigation allegedly showed that the pilots made major mistakes, were not honest and were also very poorly trained. They were even asked to resign, but they refused. However, everything that is currently happening in Russia is very difficult to verify.

--- DB4 - 20230201
* Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)