The horrifying tragedy unfolded mid-flight as a routine journey from Russia to Hong Kong turned into an unimaginable disaster.
These are the chilling last words of a pilot who made the fatal mistake of letting his children sit in the cockpit and pretend to control the aircraft—ultimately leading to one of the deadliest aviation accidents in history.
On March 23, 1994, Aeroflot Flight 593 suffered a catastrophic crash, killing all 75 passengers and crew on board. The incident remains one of the most devastating and preventable crashes in aviation history.
The flight, operating during the late hours of the night, was en route from Moscow to Hong Kong. Among the experienced crew members was Captain Andrey Viktorovich Danilov, a highly skilled pilot with 9,500 flight hours. He was accompanied by First Officer Igor Vasilyevich Piskaryov and Relief Captain Yaroslav Vladimirovich Kudrinsky, both seasoned aviators.
Despite their expertise, none of the pilots could have foreseen how a seemingly innocent act—allowing children to handle the controls—would lead to a series of fatal errors that doomed the flight.
This flight was a significant milestone for Kudrinsky’s children, Yana, 13, and Eldar, 15, as it marked their first international trip. Wanting to make the experience memorable, Kudrinsky invited them into the cockpit—a choice that would have devastating consequences.
Despite strict regulations prohibiting such actions, the crew trusted the autopilot system to maintain control. They assumed that allowing the children to interact with the controls would be harmless, believing the plane would not react to their inputs.
The tragedy occurred on an Aeroflot flightJoanValls/Urbanandsport /NurPhoto via Getty Images
First, Kudrinsky’s daughter Yana was allowed to sit in the pilot’s seat around 12:43 a.m. She playfully pretended to fly the plane while it remained on autopilot.
A few minutes later, at approximately 12:51 a.m., Kudrinsky’s son Eldar took his turn in the pilot’s seat. He was permitted to handle the controls, again under the assumption that the autopilot would keep the aircraft stable.
However, just under four minutes later, a series of errors began to unfold, leading to devastating consequences.
At 12:54 a.m., Eldar continued to manipulate the control stick for more than 30 seconds. The force he applied, reaching up to 10 kilograms, disrupted the autopilot’s ability to maintain balance. This caused the system to switch from autopilot to manual mode without the crew’s knowledge.
A small indicator light flashed to alert the crew that Eldar had partial control of the plane. Tragically, due to their lack of familiarity with the non-Soviet aircraft, the crew failed to notice this crucial warning.
The plane began to tilt, and with the autopilot disengaged, it could no longer maintain its altitude, leaving it dangerously unstable and vulnerable to disaster.
Sensing the imminent danger, Captain Kudrinsky swiftly ordered the co-pilot to regain control while pulling Eldar away from the controls to take command of the aircraft himself.
He was heard urgently saying: “Eldar, move away. Go to the back, go to the back, Eldar! You see the danger, don’t you?”
His voice grew increasingly frantic as he repeated: “Go away, go away, Eldar! Step back, step back. I’m telling you to go away!”
The pilots struggled desperately to stabilize the aircraft and nearly managed to regain control. However, their corrective maneuver resulted in an overcorrection, sending the plane into a steep, near-vertical ascent.
The abrupt climb caused the aircraft to stall, leading to a catastrophic spin. It began plummeting rapidly, descending below the minimum safe altitude as it passed over mountainous terrain.
At 12:59 a.m., air traffic control in Novokuznetsk awaited the flight’s scheduled position report. But no update came, and shortly after, the aircraft vanished from radar.
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At 12:58 a.m., just over two minutes after the crisis began, Flight 593 crashed into the Kuznetsk Alatau Mountain range in southern Russia’s Kemerovo Oblast. The aircraft struck the terrain at a steep descent and an estimated speed of 160 mph, resulting in total destruction upon impact.
All 75 passengers and crew onboard perished instantly.
Initially, Aeroflot denied that the crew was at fault, but subsequent investigations, backed by cockpit voice recordings, confirmed that human error was the primary cause of the disaster.
