Incident with the Uzbekistan Airways plane at Pulkovo airport: what do the eyewitnesses say?

A briefing was held with participation of journalists and representatives of Uzbekistan Airways regarding the incident with the NAC plane of flight HY631 Tashkent – St. Petersburg. Earlier it was reported that while landing, the plane Boeing 767-33P/ER under the number UK 67008 rolled out of the runway.

The briefing was attended by representatives of Uzbekistan airways Denis Solodovnikov and Zumrad Shojalilova.

D. Solodovnikov, in particular, said: “On March 2, at 21 : 59 by Moscow time (at 23 : 59 by Tashkent time), the NAC flight HY631 Tashkent – St. Petersburg after landing, during taxiing, as a result of slip when turning, rolled out of the runway on the ground”. According to him, allegedly, adverse weather conditions and state of the runway were the cause of the incident.

At that time, there were 241 passengers (including 5 children) and 15 crew members on board. On the fact of the incident, the Investigative Committee of the RF and the Federal Air Transport Agency held an inquiry.

After the incident, flight HY632 St. Petersburg – Tashkent was postponed, passengers were accommodated in a hotel.

During the briefing, the commander of the airliner Alisher Karimov contacted the participants by telephone from St. Petersburg. He spoke about the incident and answered some questions of journalists.

“During the voyage, there were no abnormal situations, the weather condition was also fine. After landing, during taxiing to clear the runway, despite the use of braking system due to slip, the aircraft continued to move. I informed the brigadier about impossibility to drive up to the platform, and she notified the passengers in the prescribed manner. The evacuation of passengers from the aircraft was carried out in the normal mode, by means of a ladder. There was no panic among the passengers. I must say that it was snowing at the airport and a strong wind was blowing,” A. Karimov said.

It should be noted that A. Karimov is an experienced pilot. His flight time is about 15,900 hours, including 6,400 hours on Boeing aircraft.

Crew leader of the 631-flight Yulia Juravleva also commented on the situation. “After the plane stopped, the commander informed me that it was impossible to drive up to the platform. Then I, as provided by the rules, notified the passengers about this. Passengers were landed by using a mobile ladder. No panic and emergency situations were observed. The passengers behaved very decently, no one was afraid and nobody was in a hurry. All were in their seats until we invited them to the exit. The exit was arranged with assistance of the airport services”.

The representative of Uzbekistan airways in St. Petersburg Zafar Sayidazimov said that all passengers landed safely and received their luggage.

One of the passengers of the 631-flight Alexander Gordyev also shared his impressions. “The plane took off and landed on schedule, the flight went well. Before landing, we realized from the monitors in the cabin that he was circling, waiting for permission to land. Finally he began to go down. After landing, we felt that the plane had moved a little off the runway, since there was only a white field around us and the airport was not visible. When we landed, we did not feel any problems, on the contrary, everyone applauded the pilots' skill as usual”.