OREANDA-NEWS. March 05, 2011. Today about 10.40AM Moscow time an An-148-100E aircraft side number 61708 crashed during a training mission. The crash site is located in the Garbuzovo village, Alxeevsky region of the Belgorod oblast. A crew of six people was on board of the aircraft – Yuri Zubritsky, First Class Test Pilot, Captain; First Class Test Flight Navigator Vladimir Yasko; Test Engineer Alexander Korolyov; Lead Flight Test Engineer Anatoly Samoshkin and two Republic of the Union of Myanmar pilots Htein-Lin-Aung and Zaw-Htun-Aung.

Republic of the Union of Myanmar pilots underwent training in accordance with the flight personnel training program on the An-148-100E aircraft which was approved 15.02.2011. The aircraft has before that successfully completed the factory testing program.

None of the An-148 crew members survived. The JSC United Aircraft Corporation’s management and employees express their sincere condolences to the families and relatives of the crew.

The An-148-100E (#61708) was designated for the delivery to Myanmar in accordance with the contract of 2010 between JSC United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) and the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. The contractor was JSC Voronezh Aircraft Manufacturing Company (VASO). In February 2011 the aircraft completed flight tests at JSC VASO. At the time of the crash the aircraft was on the plant’s balance sheet.

Until today the An-148-100E (#61708) performed 31 flights. The aircraft did not have any flight safety related malfunctions during these flights.

An official commission of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation will be created to investigate the causes of the aircraft crash.