Some plane crashes are more chilling than others, and what happened on March 23, 1994, is one of the most unsettling stories I’ve ever encountered.
In one of the most tragic and preventable aviation disasters, a deadly mistake occurred when a pilot allowed his children to sit in the cockpit, leading to a crash that would claim the lives of 75 people.
Since I was a child, I’ve been fascinated by aviation, and that curiosity naturally led me to explore the causes behind plane crashes. I’ve watched nearly every episode of Air Crash Investigation, a show that delves into the truth behind infamous aviation disasters. But one episode still haunts me to this day, and it takes us into the cockpit of RIA Flight 593, where the pilots battled both a malfunctioning plane and, tragically, a child at the controls.
The audio recording from that flight is something I’ll never forget.
A routine flight – until this happened On March 23, 1994, Aeroflot Flight 593, en route from Moscow to Hong Kong, crashed into the Kuznetsk Alatau Mountain range in southern Russia, killing all 75 people on board.
Up until the moment the captain’s children were allowed to sit at the controls, the flight had been relatively routine. Captain Yaroslav Kudrinsky, an experienced pilot with over 8,900 flight hours, had invited his children, Yana, 13, and Eldar, 15, into the cockpit during their first international flight. In 1994, as post-Soviet Russia entered a new era, the fleet of Airbus A-310s was part of an ambitious effort to modernize aviation.
At that time, it wasn’t uncommon for family members to visit the cockpit, but Captain Kudrinsky made a fateful mistake—one that was strictly prohibited.
Quickly took a frightening turn While the plane was on autopilot, Kudrinsky thought it was safe for his children to play with the controls. At 12:43 a.m., Yana took the seat, pretending to fly the plane.
“Daddy, can I turn this?” she asked, sitting at the controls.
“Daddy, raise me up,” she added, seemingly trying to get a better view.
Her father pointed out stars and city lights but cautioned her not to push any buttons.
The situation quickly took a terrifying turn when Eldar took control of the plane. His father, thinking it was just another playful moment, encouraged him: “Turn it! Watch the ground as you turn. Let’s go left. Turn left! Is the plane turning?”
“Great!” Eldar replied.
But as Eldar manipulated the control stick, he accidentally switched the plane from autopilot to manual mode. A small warning light flashed, but the crew, unfamiliar with the aircraft’s systems, failed to notice the signal. Eldar was the first to realize something was wrong when the plane began to bank to the right.
As the plane lost altitude, a desperate struggle to regain control began.
A desperate struggle Eldar had been at the controls for just four minutes when the plane tilted into a 45-degree bank, forcing everyone to the seats with intense G-forces. The crew and passengers struggled to move under the pressure. Eldar couldn’t free himself from the seat, and his frantic father shouted orders while trying to regain control with one hand.
Captain Kudrinsky’s desperate attempts to stabilize the plane were futile. His final words were a panicked plea to his son: “Eldar, get away. Go to the back!”
For a brief moment, the G-forces returned to normal, allowing the pilot to sit up again. He and the first officer tried to wrestle control, but it was too late—they quickly ran out of airspace.
75 passengers and crew perished The damage was done, and the plane spiraled uncontrollably, stalling before plummeting to the ground at over 160 mph.
When the plane finally crashed, all 75 passengers and crew members perished instantly. The A-310 crashed with its landing gear retracted, and all passengers were seated, expecting an emergency landing. No distress signals were sent out prior to the crash.
Initially, Aeroflot denied any wrongdoing and refuted claims that children were in the cockpit. However, this was later disproven when the Moscow-based magazine Obozrevatel published a transcript of the cockpit voice recording on September 28, 1994, confirming the children’s presence.
A preventable tragedy An investigation later confirmed that human error, specifically the decision to let the children touch the controls, was the primary cause of the crash. Despite regulations prohibiting this, Captain Kudrinsky had allowed his children to manipulate the aircraft’s systems.
The tragedy remains one of the deadliest and most preventable accidents in aviation history—a stark reminder of the catastrophic consequences of ignoring safety protocols. Rest in peace to all the victims, as this tragedy didn’t have to happen.