Final words before shocking plane crash revealed.
On March 23, 1994, Aeroflot Flight 593 from Moscow to Hong Kong became the site of one of aviation’s most devastating and avoidable tragedies.
Pilot’s fateful decision exposed.
Among the passengers were three key figures: Captain Andrew Viktorovich Danilov, First Officer Igor Vasilyevich Piskaryov, and Relief Captain Yaroslav Vladimirovich Kudrinsky, along with his two young children.
Just before 1 a.m., Kudrinsky made a decision that would have catastrophic consequences. He invited his children, Yana, 13, and Eldar, 15, into the cockpit to witness their father at work.
This innocent gesture, however, violated aviation regulations that restricted non-crew members in the cockpit. But with the plane in autopilot mode, Kudrinsky felt it would be harmless.
For the first time, the children had a view of the cockpit’s complex instruments. Eldar was even allowed to touch the controls, unaware that this would soon lead to disaster.
The kids were told it was safe—autopilot was engaged. But within minutes, things spiraled out of control. Eldar, eager to try, began manipulating the control stick.
For over 30 seconds, Eldar applied 10 kilograms of force on the control stick, unknowingly switching the plane from autopilot to manual.
His actions contradicted the autopilot’s instructions, setting the plane into a dangerously unstable trajectory.
The three pilots, unfamiliar with the non-Soviet aircraft, failed to notice the change at first. They continued with their routine, oblivious to the threat growing in the cockpit.
It wasn’t until the aircraft began veering off course that panic ensued. The pilots scrambled to regain control as the plane drifted.
Desperate attempt at control highlighted.
The pilots tried to correct the aircraft’s dangerous course, but their overcorrection proved disastrous.
The plane was now flying dangerously low, below the minimum safe altitude, making recovery almost impossible.
At around 1:20 a.m., the aircraft crashed into the Kuznetsk Alatau Mountain range in southern Russia.
The plane hit the mountainside at an astounding 160mph, shattering on impact.
Tragically, none of the 63 passengers and 12 crew members survived. The entire flight, from family fun to fatal crash, had lasted barely 30 minutes.
Cause of fatal crash debated.
The pilots’ unfamiliarity with the specific aircraft model played a significant role in their failure to recognize the situation.
Had the children not been allowed in the cockpit, it’s possible that the situation could have been recognized sooner.
The gravity of Eldar’s mistake is even more tragic when considering his age and the fact that he had no way of knowing the full scope of his actions.
Aeroflot, at first, claimed that the crash was caused by mechanical failure and not by human error.
However, the release of the cockpit voice recordings painted a grimly different picture, confirming the disaster was the result of human error.
Pilot’s final words confirmed.
Kudrinsky’s panic was palpable as he ordered his children to leave the cockpit immediately. His fatherly instinct kicked in as the danger became evident.
In the heat of the moment, Kudrinsky shouted to Eldar: “Go to the back! You see the danger, don’t you? Go away, go away!”
The cockpit voice recording, later released to the public, revealed Kudrinsky’s desperate attempt to save his son. Tragically, these were his final words.
The final moments of the flight revealed a shocking series of mistakes, culminating in a heartbreaking mistake from a father who had no idea his innocent gesture would lead to such destruction.
As the voice recordings leaked, media outlets worldwide scrambled to report the harrowing details. It became clear that this tragedy was both avoidable and incomprehensibly devastating.
Aftermath of tragic crash chronicled.
The incident sparked debates about cockpit safety, child access, and the responsibilities of pilots and airlines.
The aftermath of this crash led to stricter cockpit regulations to prevent a similar situation from ever occurring again.
For the Kudrinsky family, this was an unimaginable nightmare. Yaroslav Kudrinsky’s decision to bring his children to work cost him his life, as well as theirs.
Aeroflot, too, would forever be marked by the tragedy, with the crash becoming a stark reminder of the cost of human error.
This devastating incident continues to resonate as one of the deadliest crashes of the 1990s, despite its preventability.
Kudrinsky’s last words to his son were not just an attempt to protect him—they were the desperate plea of a father trying to save everyone onboard.
In the end, Aeroflot’s flight would not be remembered for the plane, or the technology, but for the human decisions that led to one of the most preventable disasters in aviation history.