{"id":3299233,"date":"2026-07-01T10:37:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T08:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/s7s-boeing-737-slides-into-siberian-mud-days-after-banning-co-pilots-from-landing\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T10:38:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T08:38:43","slug":"s7s-boeing-737-slides-into-siberian-mud-days-after-banning-co-pilots-from-landing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/fr\/s7s-boeing-737-slides-into-siberian-mud-days-after-banning-co-pilots-from-landing\/","title":{"rendered":"S7’s Boeing 737 Slides Into Siberian Mud \u2014 Days After Banning Co-Pilots From Landing"},"content":{"rendered":"

An S7 Airlines Boeing 737-800 slid off the end of the runway at Mirny Airport in Russia's Sakha Republic on June 30, coming to rest in mud beyond the paved surface. All 173 passengers and six crew members walked away without injury. But the incident \u2014 classified as \"serious\" by Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsiya \u2014 lands in the middle of a much larger story about Russian aviation safety under sanctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aircraft, registered RA-73359, was operating domestic flight S7-5241 from Novosibirsk's Tolmachevo Airport. After touching down on Runway 25, the 737-800 overran the available pavement in rain conditions. Meteorological data from the time of the incident recorded rain showers and cumulonimbus cloud activity in the vicinity of the airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Remote Airport in Diamond Country<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mirny is not a place most passengers visit by choice. The small city in eastern Yakutia exists because of diamonds \u2014 it sits beside one of the largest open-pit mines on Earth, operated by the Russian diamond conglomerate Alrosa, which produces more than a quarter of the world's rough diamonds. The airport is the only practical way in or out. There are no railway connections, and road access across the Yakutian wilderness is limited to seasonal ice roads. When the runway closes, the town is effectively cut off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"S7
The flight deck of an S7 Airlines Boeing 737-800. The airline has temporarily banned most first officers from performing landings. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Landing Ban That Nobody Saw Coming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What made the Mirny overrun immediately newsworthy was its timing. Just days earlier, reports had emerged that S7 Airlines had quietly imposed one of the most unusual operational restrictions in modern commercial aviation: a temporary ban on most first officers performing landings at the majority of the airline's destinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The restriction, which took effect on June 1 and runs until October 1, 2026, limits first officers to landing only at four of S7's largest stations \u2014 Moscow Domodedovo, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, and Vladivostok. At every other airport in the network, the captain must handle the landing. Training and qualification flights are exempt, but the rule effectively removes months of landing practice for junior pilots across dozens of airports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stated reason was a surge in hard landings \u2014 touchdowns with vertical loads high enough to trigger mandatory structural inspections, pulling aircraft out of service for maintenance that S7 can increasingly ill afford. In the airline industry, first officers typically perform roughly half of all takeoffs and landings to build the experience they need for eventual promotion to captain. Restricting that opportunity for four months is the kind of measure that raises eyebrows at every airline safety department in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n