A tragic air disaster from the 1990s is drawing renewed attention because of the pilot’s haunting final moments with his children.
On March 23, 1994, Aeroflot Flight 593 left Moscow for Hong Kong with 75 people on board. Among the crew was relief pilot Yaroslav Kudrinsky, who made a decision he could never undo. While the Airbus A310 cruised on autopilot, he invited his 12-year-old daughter, Yana, and 16-year-old son, Eldar, into the cockpit so they could “try” flying the aircraft.
At first, nothing seemed amiss. The autopilot should have handled light touches on the controls. However, Eldar unknowingly pushed harder and held the control column to one side. This force partially disengaged the autopilot. The aircraft began a sharp roll, tilting to an angle it was never designed to sustain.
By the time the pilots realized the danger, the plane was banking steeply and losing lift. Recordings later revealed rising panic as they struggled to regain control. Kudrinsky urged his children to leave the cockpit and move to the back, trying to shield them from what he clearly understood.
The crew briefly pulled the jet out of its first dive. Yet they overcorrected, causing a second stall. Moments later, the aircraft struck a remote Siberian mountainside, killing everyone on board.
Investigators later concluded the jet had no technical fault. Human error and a well-meant but catastrophic lapse in judgment caused the crash, prompting stricter cockpit rules across the airline.
