Pilots of "Dagestani Airlines" reject the version of crew error

The pilots of the company deny that the reason for the emergency landing of the Tu-154 aircraft in the Domodedovo Airport on December 4 was the fault of the crew.

"All the pilots, who state in the media that our pilots had allegedly forgotten to switch on the pumps, do not know that this aircraft has automatic blocking. If the supply and transfer pumps are not switched on, the engines won't start; they are blocked," Zalimkhan Akhmedov, deputy commander of the air squadron, has explained.

Mr Akhmedov believes that his colleagues have done the impossible. "This is a unique case in our practice. The aircraft had all his three engines failed, as well as generators and navigation equipment. On that day, the weather at the Moscow aviation node was bad. The bottom edge of the clouds was 100 meters. The aircraft was landed blindly with its full take-off weight. This was possible due to the super-skills and courage of the pilots," said Zalimkhan Akhmedov.

Mustafa Bilalov, commander of the Tu-154 squadron, believes the version of poor-quality fuel to be the most probable. According to his story, pilot Zakarzhi Zakarzhaev has 18,000 hours of flights: "He's spent half of his life in the air. He's the best pilot in the region."

Let us remind you that the incident killed Rosa Gadjieva, 80, mother of a member of the Constitutional Court, and Gadjimurad Magomedov, 49, a brother of the President of Dagestan. About 80 persons received traumas.