Miraculous things happened for 233 passengers and crew of ural airlines Flight U1678. Birds got sucked into the engines and the pilot landed the plane successfully in a cornfield. The incident happened soon after takeoff from Zhukovsky International Airport in Moscow. The flight was headed for Simferopol in Crimea. It was nothing short of a miracle because the engines were dead and the landing gear did not come down. The pilot in his 40s had to use his skill and judgment to ensure a safe landing. After the evacuation of passengers, he called up his wife.

Daily Mail UK reports that the Ural Airlines flight suffered a double bird strike. As a result, one engine burst into flames and the other seized and stopped working. The pilot contacted the airport and sought permission for an emergency landing but realized he could not make it. He had to take an immediate decision on an alternative line of action and he chose to land in the nearby cornfield. He became an instant hero. A handful of passengers suffered minor injuries.

The flight was going to Simferopol

Simferopol is the main city in Russian-annexed Crimea and is a popular summer Travel destination.

Ural Airlines Flight U1678 was going to that city and the bird strike applied brakes on their journey. The pilot and crew knew the drill for handling such emergencies and rose to the challenge. The pilot, Captain Yusupov explained that the crew was mentally and professionally prepared. They receive training in a simulator in Yekaterinburg, and that helped.

Flight attendant Nadezhda Vershinina said, “We work out such situations on simulators, there were no surprises.” The plane was loaded to capacity with jet fuel.

Daily Mail UK provides details of the pilot who engineered the miracle.

He was Damir Yusupov, the son of a helicopter pilot and was a lawyer before joining a flight school. He was 32-years-old at the time. Today, he has four children and is associated with Ural Airlines since his graduation in 2013. He became a captain last year, is an experienced pilot, and has over 3,000 flight hours to his credit. Russian media compared this with the 'Miracle on the Hudson.' That was in 2009 when the pilot of a US Airways Airbus A320 landed the plane on New York's Hudson River after it hit a flock of geese. There were 155 people on board and all were safe.

It revived memories of the 'Miracle on the Hudson'

According to News AU, a Russian Airbus-321 of Ural Airlines packed with tourists met with an accident.

It happened soon after takeoff when birds got ingested into the engines rendering both of them unserviceable. One engine caught fire, the other stopped working. The 41-year-old pilot carried out a safe landing in a cornfield near Ramenskoye settlement. There were 226 passengers and 7 crew and all were evacuated. Many felt the incident was the Moscow version of ‘Miracle on the Hudson.’
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