During the flight, a Tupolev Tu-214 of the Russian airline Red Wings Airlines unexpectedly climbs twice. The pilots are unable to explain the situation.
The Tupolev, registration RA-64518, took off from the Georgian coastal town of Batumi on the morning of Saturday, March 29, around 10:40 AM. After nearly three hours of flying, flight WZ-554, with 126 passengers and eight crew members, landed at Moscow Domodedovo Airport. The aircraft was delayed by more than two and a half hours. The authorities then launched an investigation.
The investigation was not due to the delay, but because of strange deviations in the charts. Telemetry data showed that the Tupolev flew at a different altitude than agreed upon, twice. No further incidents were reported, and no one was injured.
The first occurrence took place about an hour after takeoff, above the autonomous Russian republic of Kalmykia. There, air traffic control noticed a change in altitude of 270 meters. Half an hour later, above the Volgograd region, the Tupolev climbed again by more than 100 meters. The pilots were unable to respond to air traffic control’s questions and descended back to the agreed altitude of 36,975 feet.
Inspection
After landing, ground staff and technicians at Moscow Airport inspected the aircraft for any defects. They found nothing, and the plane was subsequently returned to service. According to reports from aerotelegraph.com, the airline will inspect the Tupolev again after ten flights.
On the Ground
The Tupolev entered service with the Russian airline Transaero in 2009. After the charter airline went bankrupt, Red Wings Airlines acquired the aircraft in August 2016. However, after less than a year of flying, the airline returned the aircraft to a depot at the factory in Kazan. It remained stored there until 2023 with little positive outlook.
Until Putin’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia had relatively little trouble operating in the international arena. Suddenly, Russia was faced with severe sanctions from Western Europe and the United States. These sanctions hit the economy hard, and the aviation sector has also been facing major challenges since then. As a result, the fifteen-year-old aircraft received a refurbishment, and since early 2024, the Tupolev has returned to scheduled service.