First, Yana took the pilot's left front seat. With the autopilot active, Kudrinsky, against regulations, let the children sit at the controls. Five people were thus on the flight deck: Kudrinsky, co-pilot Piskaryov, Kudrinsky's son Eldar (age 16) and daughter Yana (age 12), and another pilot, Vladimir Makarov, who was flying as a passenger. Relief pilot Kudrinsky was taking his two children on their first international flight, and they were brought to the cockpit while he was on duty. In the early hours of 23 March 1994, the aircraft was en route from Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow to Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong, with 75 occupants aboard, of whom 63 were passengers. Nine flight attendants were on board the plane. Kudrinsky also had experience in the Yakovlev Yak-40, Antonov An-12, and Ilyushin Il-76. The relief captain was Yaroslav Vladimirovich Kudrinsky, 39, who was hired by Aeroflot in November 1992 he had over 8,940 flying hours, including 907 hours in the A310. The first officer was Igor Vasilyevich Piskaryov, 33, hired by Aeroflot in October 1993, who had 5,885 hours of flight time, including 440 hours in the A310.
He had accrued over 9,500 hours of flight time, including 950 hours in the A310, of which 895 hours were as captain. The captain of Flight 593 was Andrey Viktorovich Danilov, 40, who was hired by Aeroflot in November 1992. The remaining 23 foreigners were mostly businessmen from Hong Kong and Taiwan, who were looking for economic opportunities in Russia. Of the 63 passengers on board, 40 were Russian nationals, including about 30 airline employees and family members. On average, the crew of three operating the aircraft had logged 900 hours on the type. Powered by two General Electric CF6-80C2A2 engines, the airframe had its maiden flight as F-WWCS on 11 September 1991, and was one of five operating for Russian International Airlines, an autonomous division of Aeroflot that was set up for serving routes to the Russian Far East and Southeast Asia.
The aircraft involved in the accident was a leased Airbus A310-304, registration F-OGQS, serial number 596, that was delivered new to Aeroflot on 11 December 1992. Despite managing to level the aircraft, the first officer over-corrected when pulling up, causing the plane to stall and enter into a spin the pilots managed to level the aircraft off once more, but the plane had descended beyond a safe altitude to initiate a recovery and subsequently crashed into the mountain range.
The autopilot then disengaged completely, causing the aircraft to roll into a steep bank and a near-vertical dive. While seated at the controls, the pilot's son had unknowingly partially disengaged the A310's autopilot control of the aircraft's ailerons.
Cockpit voice and flight data recorders revealed the presence of the relief captain's 12-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son in the cockpit. No evidence of a technical malfunction was found. On 23 March 1994, the aircraft operating the route, an Airbus A310-304 flown by Aeroflot, crashed into the Kuznetsk Alatau mountain range in Kemerovo Oblast, killing all 63 passengers and 12 crew members on board. Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow, RussiaĪeroflot Flight 593 was a regular passenger flight from Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow, Russia, to Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong. F-OGQS, the aircraft involved in the accident, seen in 1993