On March 23, 1994, Aeroflot Flight 593, en route from Moscow to Hong Kong, crashed into the Kuznetsk Alatau mountain range in southern Russia, killing everyone on board.
The tragedy began when a father tried to create a fun memory with his kids by letting them pretend to fly the plane. Instead, 75 lives were lost.
The plane had a highly experienced crew: Captain Andrew Viktorovich Danilov, First Officer Igor Vasilyevich Piskaryov, and Relief Captain Yaroslav Vladimirovich Kudrinsky.
It was the first international flight for Relief Captain Kudrinsky’s children, 13-year-old Yana and 15-year-old Eldar. Because it was a special flight, he let them into the cockpit and, against airline regulations, allowed them to sit at the controls.
The plane was on autopilot, and by 12:43 a.m., Yana sat down in her father’s seat, pretending to “fly” the plane. Moments later, disaster struck.
”Daddy, can I turn this?” Yana asked as she sat at the controls, according to VT.
Aeroflot Flight 593
A few minutes later, Eldar took over. His father thought he was playing around: ”Turn it! Watch the ground as you turn. Let’s go left. Turn left! Is the plane turning?”
After more than 30 seconds of Eldar’s inputs to the control stick, the aircraft shifted out of autopilot and into manual control.
