Russian Navy submarine launches missiles in Sea of Japan drills, TASS agency reports
"During a scheduled exercise, the diesel-electric submarine Ufa of the Pacific Fleet launched Kalibr cruise missiles at sea and coastal targets from the waters of the Sea of Japan," TASS cited a statement from the Russian defence ministry.
The ministry said all mock targets were hit during the exercises and that the firing range was more than 1,000 km (620 miles).
Ufa, considered to be among the world's most silent submarines, was put into service with the Russian Navy in November 2022, TASS reported in earlier stories.
The submarine is 74 metres (243 ft) long, with a maximum displacement of more than 3,900 tons. It can dive to a working depth of 240 metres and a maximum depth of 300 metres.
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Reuters
8 hours ago
- Reuters
Serious safety violations found at Russian airline a month before fatal crash, Izvestia says
MOSCOW, July 25 (Reuters) - A spot check on Angara Airlines, which operated the Antonov An-24 plane which crashed in Russia's far east on Thursday killing all 48 on board, had uncovered serious safety violations a month beforehand, the Izvestia news outlet reported on Friday. The plane, which was 49 years old, crashed as it prepared to land, in an incident that highlighted the use of old, Soviet-era aircraft and raised questions about their viability, with Western sanctions limiting access to investment and spare parts. Russia's transport ministry said on Friday that aviation and transport regulators would investigate the privately-owned Angara's activities to check if it is complying with federal aviation rules before taking a decision about its future. Vasily Orlov, the governor of the Amur region where the plane came down, said on Friday that investigators were working on the crash site and that there were two main theories about what had caused it: technical failure and pilot error. The plane's black boxes had been recovered and were being sent to Moscow to be studied, he said. Citing documents it had seen from Russia's airline and transport regulators, Izvestia said that transport safety inspectors had carried out a spot check on Angara in June which had uncovered concerns related to the servicing of its planes. Eight of Angara's planes had been temporarily grounded due to the inspection, it said, and four of its technical staff temporarily banned from carrying out technical inspections. Angara and Rostransnadzor, the transport regulator, did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and Reuters could not independently verify the details of the inspection. Izvestia said that inspectors had drawn attention to the fact that the company's documents had shown that planes had sometimes purportedly been serviced by staff who other documents showed were not working on the relevant days. The standard rules and methods of servicing were also not being followed by staff, some of whom did not have the necessary qualifications for such work, Izvestia said. In one instance, documents showed that a special piece of testing equipment needed to check a plane's control panel had not been physically issued even though other documents showed someone had signed off that the test had been done. "I ask you to present a plan to fix the violations identified, a report about the reasons for them, and measures being taken to ensure they do not occur," a letter from Rostransnadzor, the transport regulator, to Angara sent after the inspection said, according to Izvestia.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
Passengers on doomed Russian plane film 'fumes' in the cabin and mock the 50-year-old aircraft for being 'so old' - before it plunged into a forest killing all 49 on board
Passengers on a doomed Russian plane filmed fumes filling the cabin before it plunged in to a forest, killing all 49 passengers on board. The An-24 twin-turboprop aircraft operated by Angara Airlines dropped off radar as it came into land at Tynda airport in the mountainous Amur region at 1:00pm local time (0400 GMT). Before its flight there were reports of technical problems on the aircraft that needed repair before its final takeoff. The plane, almost 50 years old, had flown from Khabarovsk with a stopover in Blagoveshchensk but crashed en route to its final destination of Tynda. Passengers who disembarked in Blagoveshchensk - where repairs were carried out - showed footage of 'steam' or 'smoke' or 'fumes' in the cabin. In the video clips, the travellers could be heard mocking the antiquated planes flying in Vladimir Putin 's skies. One woman's voice said: 'This time we're flying on an even worse one… 'I'm flying. It's so old, it's just f***ed.' The An-24 twin-turboprop aircraft operated by Angara Airlines dropped off radar as it came into land at Tynda airport in the mountainous Amur region at 1:00pm local time (0400 GMT) Footage also shows a leak into the cabin on the first leg of its final flight. It is unclear if this was harmless water vapour on the twin turboprop An-24, but it appeared to concern the passengers who labelled it 'steam' or 'smoke' or 'fumes'. There was an unscheduled delay of two hours before the plane flew on to Tynda on its final journey from Blagoveshchensk. Aircraft maintenance engineer Alexey Lysenko, 29, killed in the crash, reportedly told colleagues during the stopover 'that the aircraft had arrived with some kind of technical fault'. He reported this to his colleagues. His brother said that there were attempts to fix the issue but other difficulties incuding with the weather also delayed its flight. He said: 'They were trying to resolve it. Then there were issues with the weather — they weren't given clearance to take off right away, so there was a delay. 'After about two hours, they departed.' It is unclear if the fumes were harmless water vapour on the twin turboprop An-24, but it appeared to concern the passengers who labelled it 'steam' or 'smoke' It is unclear what these technical problems were but a crash investigation is underway. The plane was confirmed to have gone down after helicopters dispatched by Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations spotted remnants of the plane's fuselage on a mountainside some 16 kilometres from Tynda. All 49 people on board were reported killed, according to the ministry. Footage shared to Russia's Telegram messaging app by onlookers on the forest floor showed the plane soaring dangerously low over the tree line as it made its final approach. Weather conditions were poor with low cloud and rain, but the pilots did not report any problems to air traffic control before losing contact. Videos shared on Telegram by emergency workers riding in rescue helicopters showed the smouldering ruins of the plane scattered amid the trees. The fuselage looked to have completely broken apart and caught fire upon impact. 'During the search operations, the Mi-8 helicopter of the Federal Air Transport Agency discovered the fuselage of the plane, which is on fire. Rescuers continue to proceed to the scene of the incident,' a statement from the Ministry read. Subsequent images from the scene showed the plane had effectively disintegrated, with debris strewn over a large area. Of the 49 people on board, six were crew members and five passengers were listed as children. Search and rescue parties were dispatched after air traffic controllers lost all communication with the pilots, who were named as Captain Vyacheslav Logvinov and co-pilot Kirill Plaksin. Among the passengers was well-known thoracic surgeon Dr Leonid Maizel, 71, from Khabarovsk Regional Clinical Hospital. He was joined by Dr Galina Naidyonova, an obstetrician-gynaecologist, and her husband Dr Alexey Naidyonov, a functional diagnostics doctor. Their 14-year-old grandson was also flying with them and is believed to have been killed. Other passengers feared dead include primary school teacher Elena Velikanova and chemical and biological technologist Natalia Shiyan. The town of Tynda, home to roughly 30,000 people, is extremely remote and is surrounded by dense forest and mountainous terrain. It is located some 5,170 kilometres (3,213 miles) east of Moscow and just 273 kilometres (169 miles) from the Chinese border. The doomed plane had taken off earlier today from the eastern city of Khabarovsk and landed for a brief layover in Blagoveshchensk before continuing on to Tynda. It underwent a technical inspection while on the runway at Blagoveshchensk's Ignatyevo airport and was found to be technically sound, according to emergency services. However, Vadim Bazykin, a distinguished Russian test pilot, said the An-24's airframe and avionics had not been modified for many years. 'I think it would be better to ban flights on such old equipment if we are unable to bring it up to standard,' he said. 'We are simply putting passengers at risk all the time.' The An-24 is an ageing propeller aircraft developed in the Soviet Union during the late 1950s as a transport plane and was subsequently converted for use by passenger airlines. The doomed aircraft's tail number - RA-47315 - showed it was built in 1976 and was operated by Soviet flag carrier Aeroflot before the 1991 collapse of the USSR. It was subsequently bought by the Siberia-based private airline Angara, which operates 10 An-24s built between 1972 and 1976, according to the RussianPlanes web portal. Angara was one of two Siberian airlines that last year asked the Russian government to extend the service life of the Antonov aircraft as Russian planemakers scramble to plug the gap left by an exodus of foreign manufacturers. The Amur regional government declared that air ambulances had been dispatched along with search parties to administer medical treatment in the case that anyone had survived. Vasily Orlov, Governor of Amur, wrote in a statement: 'All necessary forces and means are involved in searching for the plane. I kindly ask you not to trust unverified information.' A hotline for relatives of passengers has been set up by the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Orlov added. At least one Chinese national was on the flight, state media in China reported. Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message of condolence to Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. 'I would like to express my deep condolences to the victims and sincere sympathy to the families of the victims,' Xi said, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. Authorities have launched a probe on the charge of flight safety violations that resulted in multiple deaths, a standard procedure in aviation accidents. Nicknamed 'flying tractors', An-24s are regarded as reliable workhorses by the Russian aviation industry and are well-suited to the harsh conditions in Siberia as they are able to operate in sub-zero conditions and don't have to land on runways. But airline executives, pilots and industry experts say the cost of maintaining the aircraft - which make up a fraction of Russia's fleet of over 1,000 passenger planes - has increased after Western sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine hit investment and access to parts. Many of the planes were due to be retired from service in the coming years, but regional airlines are trying to keep them flying until a replacement enters into service as they say there is no alternative until then. Mass production of the new Ladoga aircraft, the same class as the An-24, is not due to begin until 2027 at the earliest.
Reuters
a day ago
- Reuters
FAA sees no mechanical issue with 787 Boeing fuel control unit after Air India crash
OSHKOSH, Wisconsin, July 24 (Reuters) - The head of the Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday the fatal crash of an Air India Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab 787 does not appear to be caused by a mechanical issue or inadvertent movement of the fuel control unit. "We can say with a high level of confidence is it doesn't appear to be a mechanical issue with the Boeing fuel control unit," Bedford told reporters on the sidelines of an air show, adding FAA employees have taken the units out, tested them and had inspectors get on aircraft and review them. "We feel very comfortable that this isn't an issue with inadvertent manipulation of fuel control."
