A Ural Airlines Airbus A320 landed in a field just outside of Novosibirsk, a city in southern Siberia, Russia.
The aircraft was operating Ural Airlines domestic flight U61383 from Sochi International Airport (AER) to Omsk Tsentralny Airport (OMS). Just as the aircraft was about to begin to line up with the runway at OMS, the aircraft turned away from the airport at an altitude of 2,150 feet (665.3 meters), continuing its journey towards Novosibirsk, overflying Omsk.
Novosibirsk also has an airport, namely Tolmachevo Airport (OVB).
After it overflew Omsk, Russia, the Ural Airlines Airbus A320, registered as RA-73805 (previous registration VP-BMW), climbed to an altitude of 18,000 ft (5,500 m). The flight crew began squawking 7700, the transponder code for an emergency, 17 minutes before landing in the field, according to flightradar24.com data.
Eventually, at 9:43 am local time (UTC +7), the aircraft stopped feeding data to the radar at an altitude of 7,225 ft (2,200 meters).
According to the Russian news agency TASS, the Airbus A320 experienced hydraulic problems and the flight crew feared that brakes would fail upon landing, which is why they decided to land the aircraft on a field.
There were 159 passengers and six crew members onboard the aircraft, none of whom suffered major injuries. TASS noted that some travelers needed medical attention and that there was no fire.
In a statement on Telegram, the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) said that it has established contact with the crew, with passengers being accommodated to the nearest village.
“The landing took place on a site selected from the air near the village of Kamenka (about 180 km from Novosibirsk),” Rosaviatsiya commented. “In order to provide assistance, an Operational Headquarters was organized in the Novosibirsk region; an An-26 rescue plane with rescuers from the Federal Air Transport Agency flew from Omsk to organize assistance.”
The agency formed a commission to “investigate the causes and circumstances of a serious aviation incident involving a Ural Airlines plane.” Rosaviatsiya said its investigators were already sent to the scene.
According to ch-aviation.com data, Ural Airlines has operated the Airbus A320 since May 2013. Airbus originally delivered the aircraft to Air Arabia in 2004, which later transferred it to its subsidiary Air Arabia Maroc in March 2011.
The aircraft is powered by two CFM International CFM56 engines.
In August 2019, another Ural Airlines Airbus A321, then registered as VQ-BQZ, landed in a field while operating a domestic flight from Moscow Zhukovsky International Airport (ZIA) to Simferopol International Airport (SIP), in the Russian-occupied Crimea.