Russia’s flagship Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional airliner crashed outside Moscow, killing all three pilots on board, state news agencies reported Friday.
The Gazpromavia SSJ 100 crashed in the Moscow region’s Kolomensky district during a test flight after “planned repairs,” TASS quoted anonymous emergency services as saying.
The Russian-made jet was flying from its base at the Lukhovitsy Aviation Plant to Vnukovo Airport when it disappeared from radars, the RBC news website cited a source close to the Emergency Situations Ministry as saying.
Kolomna, Lukhovitsy and Vnukovo are all located southeast of Moscow.
There were three pilots of the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft company and no passengers on board, they added. Interfax specified that two pilots and one flight engineer were killed.
Another anonymous emergency source told RIA Novosti that the aircraft exploded as soon as it crash-landed in the woods.
Eyewitness video claimed to show the immediate aftermath of the crash, with black smoke rising from the ground.
SSJ 100 entered service in 2011 and was the first passenger jet built in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.
SSJ 100 has had a troubled history despite the state pouring billions of dollars into its development, with a 2019 crash-landing in Moscow that killed 41.
Gazpromavia was known to have signed contracts to buy at least 10 SuperJets from Sukhoi in 2010.
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