Russian Pilots Will Get Awards After 'Miracle' Landing in Cornfield
Capt. Sully, of Miracle on the Hudson fame, may soon be joined in the hall of aviation heroes by Russian pilots who performed a remarkably similar feat on Thursday.
The Russian pilots safely landed a Ural Airlines A321 in a nearby cornfield after both of its engines were disabled in a bird strike moments after the jet took off from Moscow's Zhukovsky Airport for Simferopol, Crimea. All 226 passengers and seven crew members aboard the flight survived the incident, and only one passenger remains hospitalized with injuries, The Associated Press reported.
Russian state TV had begun calling the incident the “miracle over Ramensk,” according to Reuters.
According to Russian media reports cited by several English-language sources, the captain was Damir Yusupov, 41, with first officer Grigory Murzin.
“We congratulate the hero pilots who saved people’s lives,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said to Reuters before adding that they would be given state honors. “There’s no doubt about this. They will be given awards.”
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has asked the Russian Transport Minister to explain the incident to the Cabinet.
