Some extraordinary flying!

I'm a bit mind-boggled by these three video clips of a Russian Tupolev Tu-154 airliner. It took off last Friday, April 29th, from Chkalovsky Airport near Moscow, where it had apparently been held in long-term storage. This was its maiden flight after being prepared for re-entry into service.

In this first clip, the aircraft is shown taking off. Almost immediately, it begins to show serious deviations from its flight path, indicating major problems with its lateral and longitudinal controls. It enters an oscillating, 'porpoising' motion.

In this second clip, the aircraft has turned to head back to the base. It flies overhead, its oscillating motion clearly visible, then turns towards the runway.

In this third clip, the aircraft disappears behind the trees, and after several seconds reappears, safely on the runway.

I honestly don't know how the pilots managed to maintain sufficient control to set it down safely. That was a "high pucker factor" flight, all right! I daresay that flight crew will not be volunteering to take it up again once the maintenance people have tried to fix it!

(I note that the NATO reporting name for the Tu-154 is 'Careless'. Perhaps they intended to refer to the maintenance crews, instead of the aircraft?)





Peter