Russian authorities have sentenced the captain of an Aeroflot Sukhoi Superjet 100 to six years in an open penitentiary over the fatal landing accident at Moscow Sheremetyevo four years ago. The aircraft departed Moscow for Murmansk on 5 May 2019, and had just been cleared to climb to 11,000ft when it suffered a lightning strike, prompting the crew’s decision to return to the airport. But it landed hard, causing structural damage to its fuel tanks. Leaking fuel ignited and the twinjet slid to a halt, its aft fuselage consumed by fire. Although an evacuation was initiated, 41 of the 78 occupants, including a crew member, did not survive. Russia’s federal Investigative Committee disclosed in October 2019 that the captain, Denis Evdokimov, had been charged with violations of procedures, leading to the fatalities and the aircraft’s destruction. The Investigative Committee says a court has found Evdokimov guilty of the charges. Flight and forensic data gathered during the inquiry made restoration of the circumstances possible, it states. “Investigators and specialists studied the flight-recorder data of the crashed aircraft, according to which the aircraft adequately responded to the pilot’s control actions,” it points out. “This information refutes the defendant’s version of a possible aircraft malfunction.” Air traffic control and Sheremetyevo’s rescue services were unable to prevent the accident, the Investigative Committee adds. The court sentenced Evdokimov to a six-year term in the penitentiary. It has also issued a fine of Rb2.5m ($28,400) and imposed a ban on holding the position of pilot for three years.<br/>
unaligned
Rossiya Airlines, part of Russia's Aeroflot group, on Saturday resumed scheduled flights to Cuba, which had been suspended since Western countries shut Russia out of their airspace in response to its invasion of Ukraine. The first flight of what will begin as a twice-weekly service took off for the Cuban resort of Varadero from Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Saturday, Aeroflot said. Russian airlines suspended flights to Cuba, Mexico and the Dominican Republic on Feb. 28 last year, four days after the invasion, which Russia calls a "special military operation". The deputy prime minister for tourism, sport, culture and communications, Dmitry Chernyshenko, announced in May that regular flights to Cuba skirting the airspace of "unfriendly" countries would resume by July.<br/>