The flight was on its way from Moscow to Hong Kong during the late hours of the night. Among the crew was Captain Andrew Viktorovich Danilov, who had an impressive 9,500 flight hours under his belt. He was joined by First Officer Igor Vasilyevich Piskaryov and Relief Captain Yaroslav Vladimirovich Kudrinsky, both of whom were also seasoned pilots.
Although regulations strictly forbid such actions, the crew believed the autopilot system would ensure safety. They assumed the children’s interaction with the controls would be harmless since the plane was not meant to respond to their inputs.
Just under four minutes later, however, a sequence of errors began to unfold that would result in catastrophic consequences.
The aircraft began to bank, and with the autopilot disengaged, it could no longer maintain altitude, leaving it vulnerable to the dangers of its unstable position.
His voice became increasingly desperate as he continued: “Go away, go away Eldar! Go away, go away. I tell you to go away!”
At 12:59 a.m., air traffic control at Novokuznetsk waited for the flight’s routine position update. However, no message came, and the flight disappeared from radar shortly after.