A Boeing 737 (registration RA-73091) aircraft of the UTair airline with 173 people on board made an emergency landing in Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, local media reported on Tuesday.

The plane was performing flight UT881, covering the St. Petersburg-Samarkand route, had a stabilizer malfunction, Ria Novosti said, citing emergency services.

“The plane made an emergency landing at Vnukovo airport due to a stabilizer malfunction. The landing was normal,” the sources added.

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Moscow’s Domodedovo, Zhukovsky and Vnukovo airports resumed normal operations after flights were suspended on Tuesday to ensure safety after drone attacks, Russia’s aviation authority Rosaviatsia said on the Telegram messaging app.

Russian air defenses shot down 144 Ukrainian drones overnight, the defense ministry said Tuesday, including 20 over the capital Moscow.

In a statement, the ministry said it had intercepted “72 UAVs over Bryansk region, 20 over Moscow region, 14 over Kursk region, 13 over Tula region”, and 25 more over five other parts of the country.

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The restrictions have been in effect since 01:49 Moscow time, “to ensure the safety of civil aircraft flights,” media reported with reference to Rosaviatsia.

Local residents previously reported that after the attack, the Marinovka military airfield was burning and detonating. Residents of the military town were evacuated.

According to open data, the airfield is home to Su-24MR frontline reconnaissance aircraft of the 2nd separate reconnaissance aviation squadron (military unit 77978) of the 4th Air Force and Air Defense Command, formed on January 1, 2014 from the aviation squadron of the 6970th air base, part of the 7th Air Defense Brigade.

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The aircraft, manufactured in 2014, belonging to Gazpromavia, a subsidiary of Russian gas giant Gazprom, had undergone scheduled maintenance at the Lukhovitsy aviation plant. The maintenance was done at a facility located approximately 110 kilometers southeast of the Russian capital.

Following the maintenance, the aircraft departed for a test flight to Vnukovo Airport in the capital but went down in a forested area near Kolomensky District roughly eight minutes after takeoff.

Emergency services, including firefighters and ambulances, were swiftly dispatched to the scene. While the cause of the crash remains unknown as of now, Russian media reports speculate about potential engine failure, possibly due to bird ingestion during takeoff. 

The Investigative Committee, Russia’s top state criminal investigative agency, has launched a full-scale probe to determine the exact circumstances of the accident.

The Sukhoi Superjet 100, hailed as a major achievement for the Russian aviation industry upon its entry into service in 2011, has been involved in several fatal accidents since its introduction in 2011, including a fiery runway landing in Moscow in 2019 and a collision with a volcano in Indonesia in 2012.

Officials are expected to release more details regarding the investigation in the coming days. The aviation community awaits further information with bated breath, as understanding the cause of this tragedy is crucial for improving air safety protocols and preventing similar occurrences in the future.

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