Russia, there’s snow everywhere and you better believe it. It’s the land of isolation and maybe this Russian pilot thought no one would notice it when he allegedly gave his unqualified girlfriend the controls with 44 passengers on board.
The aircraft, an Antonov 24 was allegedly (the airline denied it) performing a flight from Yakutsk, Russia to Batagay, Russia in August last year when the pilot offered his unqualified girlfriend the opportunity to do some manual flying during the 1hr 45min flight, the girlfriend accepted the offer and she then posted photos and a video to Instagram. After a while, some journalists saw the photos and video and screen recorded it before the original photos and the video was deleted from the social media platform.
In the video, you can hear the pilot giving her instructions on where the girlfriend should turn the joystick. When asked by his girlfriend “why can’t I get there?” Pointing at the navigation screen he replies saying “Well, I have no idea why you can’t get there.”.
IrAero, the Russian airline operating the flight, denied the claims however seemingly not dismissing them as they are apparently “checking” the allegations. IrAero operates a variety of aircraft includes Boeing’s 777-200LR and the Sukhoi Superjet 100. It operates domestic flights throughout Russia as well as to China, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Kazastahan and Azerbaijan.
No one has harmed the aircraft landed safely in the Northern Russian city. It is unknown who performed the landing nor why the pilot decided to give an unqualified person a go at the controls
One of IrArero’s AN 24’s at Irkutsk full image credit