On March 23, 1994, Aeroflot Flight 593, traveling from Moscow to Hong Kong, experienced a tragic crash that killed all 75 people onboard. The disaster occurred when Captain Yaroslav Kudrinsky allowed his children, aged 13 and 15, to sit in the cockpit and interact with the plane’s controls, assuming the autopilot system would maintain safety. While his daughter Yana playfully pretended to fly the plane, and his son Eldar took a turn at the controls, the pressure he applied to the control stick interfered with the autopilot, unknowingly causing it to disengage. Despite the critical warning lights indicating this issue, the crew, unfamiliar with the aircraft’s system, failed to respond in time. Within minutes, the plane began to bank and lose stability, leading to a desperate attempt by the crew to regain control.
In a frantic recording, Captain Kudrinsky is heard shouting at his son to move away from the controls as the situation grew dire. Unfortunately, the crew’s efforts to correct the plane’s trajectory led to an overcorrection, causing the aircraft to stall and spiral uncontrollably toward the ground. At 12:58 a.m., just minutes after the series of errors began, the plane crashed into the Kuznetsk Alatau Mountain range, killing everyone instantly. The subsequent investigation revealed human error as the primary cause of the crash, with the cockpit recordings revealing the tragic sequence of events. This remains one of the deadliest and most preventable aviation accidents in history, highlighting the risks of disregarding safety regulations.