Five Of Eight People On Board Fatally Injured, Crash Caught On Car Video

A person driving along a highway adjacent to Moscow's Vnukovo Airport happened to catch the impact of a Russian Tu-204 airliner into an embankment on Saturday. The airplane, which belonged to charter airline Red Wings, had only crew on board at the time of the accident. Five of the eight people on the plane were fatally injured, including the pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer. Two flight attendants were also killed.

The airplane was landing at Vnukovo Airport, according to multiple media sources including The Voice of Russia. The plane was reportedly manufactured in 2008, and had passed its most recent safety inspection on December 14.

The plane reportedly broke into three pieces and caught fire after skidding off the runway. The video, captured by a dashboard camera that many Russians reportedly use to prove their cases in traffic court, shows debris from the impact flying across the roadway, hitting one car.

There was light snowfall reported at the airport at the time of the accident. Officials are looking into possible mechanical and fuel problems as well as pilot error, and the airplane's cockpit voice and flight data recorders have been recovered for analysis.

The French news service AFP reports that Russian investigators were focusing on the Tu-204's brakes. In a televised news conference, Russian Federal Air Transport Agency chief Alexander Neradko said that the pilots had reportedly applied full brakes when the airplane landed, but "for some reason, the airplane failed to stop. Most likely, the cause was defective reverse engines or brakes."

The eight crew members on board were reportedly deadheading back from a charter flight from the Czech Republic.

(Image of impact captured from YouTube video)

FMI: www.ruaviation.com/dir/info/6/