The Moscow Regional Court has affirmed the sentence against Captain Denis Evdokimov, the commander of the Superjet 100 RA-89098 that was destroyed by fire after a heavy landing involving a series of three bounces at Sheremetyevo Airport. He is to serve the next six years in a correctional settlement. This information comes from court documents shared by RIA Novosti.
The pilot’s defence team attempted to appeal the decision, citing possible design flaws in the aircraft, but the court found no grounds to overturn the verdict. Appeals by the victims seeking a harsher sentence were also rejected, leaving the original sentence unchanged.
“According to the case files, the pilot’s defence argued for the sentence to be quashed, the criminal case to be referred for a new trial, or the case to be sent back to the prosecutor. The Moscow City Court partially granted Evdokimov’s lawyers’ appeals, but upheld the six-year sentence as lawful. At the same time, the court dismissed a claim by two victims seeking a more severe penalty for the pilot: an increase in the term to seven years in a general regime prison, as well as compensation of 5 million roubles each. However, the court directed that the documents be reviewed in civil proceedings,” the news agency reported.
The disaster occurred on 5 May 2019. The aircraft, operating a flight from Moscow to Murmansk, made an emergency return to the airport after being struck by lightning and experiencing a reversion from automatic to manual flight control. During the hard landing, which involved a series of three bounces, the undercarriage exceeded its design and certification limits and failed, rupturing the fuel tanks and causing a fire. Of the 78 people on board, 41 perished.
The final report by the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) identified the key cause as Evdokimov’s incorrect actions during the approach to landing. The pilot made abrupt control inputs, resulting in a series of heavy impacts with the runway. The force of these impacts exceeded design limitations, leading to structural failure. Experts noted that the autopilot disengaged due to the lightning strike, but the aircraft remained fully controllable.
The defence maintained that the investigation was biased. Lawyers pointed to the inexperience of the experts, the manufacturer’s vested interest, and shortcomings in the response by emergency services. However, the court deemed the evidence of the pilot’s guilt to be sufficient. The theory of design flaws, including vulnerability to lightning and weak undercarriage protection, was not substantiated.
The court’s decision has drawn a line under the lengthy legal proceedings. Evdokimov will be sent to a correctional settlement and will also be banned from piloting aircraft for three years. Compensation payments to the victims will be considered separately in civil court.
The SSJ100 disaster at Sheremetyevo Airport has become one of the most high-profile incidents in Russian civil aviation. Its consequences have led airlines to review procedures for preparing crews for abnormal situations, particularly in the event of autopilot failure.
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