Russia has had its share of grief in recent years over plane crashes involving Russian citizens, or that happened in Russia. RT recalls some of them.
The latest accident with dozens of fatalities is the crash of a Russian Air Force Tu-154 transport plane over the Black Sea, which happened on Sunday. The rescue operation is in its early stages, but there are indications that all 92 people aboard died.
In March, a FlyDubai flight carrying Russian tourists from the UAE to Rostov-on-Don crashed while trying to land in difficult weather conditions, killing 62 people. Media reports at the time of the crash indicated that the cabin crew's flight fatigue may have been a factor.
In October 2015, a Metrojet flight returning from Egypt to St. Petersburg was blown up by a bomb allegedly planted by a sympathizer of an Egyptian terrorist organization. The debris from the plane was scattered over 20 square kilometers in the Sinai Peninsula. The attack claimed 224 lives.
In November 2013, a passenger plane carrying 50 people crashed while trying to land in Kazan. Investigators reported that the incident was caused by pilot error. The flight captain lacked experience and was reportedly given his position in violation of safety regulations.
In April 2012, a UTair plane crashed 42 seconds after take-off from Tyumen, resulting in 33 deaths, and 10 people injured. The airfield services failed to properly defrost the aircraft, compromising its flight performance. Two officials were sentenced to prison for negligence.
In September 2011, a charter flight booked for the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv hockey team ran off the runway and crashed into a radio mast mere seconds after taking off. Of the 45 people on board, only one flight engineer survived. The crash was caused by one of the pilots hitting the brakes by mistake, preventing the aircraft from gaining enough speed to take off.
In June 2011, a RusAir Tu-134 plane crashed while attempting to land in Petrozavodsk at midnight in bad weather. The crew chose not to make a go-round maneuver and flew too low, hitting a tall tree. The crash killed 47 people, and only five survived.
In April 2010, a Polish Air Force transport plane carrying a governmental delegation headed by Polish President Lech Kaczynski to Russia crashed while trying to land in Smolensk. All 96 people on board, many of whom were top Polish officials, were killed. The incident remains a subject of controversy in Poland. Some people, including the current defense minister, believe that the joint Russian-Polish investigation, which concluded that pilot error caused the crash, was a cover-up for a nefarious conspiracy.