Smartavia Boeing 737 Skids Off Runway in Russia

A Smartavia Boeing 737 overran the runway in Perm, Russia, on October 24. That morning, the flight, operated by a Boeing 737-800 as flight 5N583, was en route from Saint Petersburg to Perm, a busy domestic flight in Russia. The aircraft had 180 passengers onboard, in addition to six crewmembers. No injuries were reported.

Upon initial descent, the pilots received the weather reports from Perm Airport (PEE). These reports showed heavy snow, reduced visibility, and slush, with very cold temperatures. However, the crew elected to continue the approach and landing as none of the reports called for a holding pattern or diversion.

Upon landing, the slushy deposits on the runway resulted in less-than-ideal braking action, which led to a long landing. Ultimately, the aircraft did not stop in time to exit the airport's sole runway and wound up in the grassy fields beyond the runway, approximately 50 meters or 160 feet, from the threshold on the opposite side from where the touchdown occurred.

As previously stated, this incident was lucky as none of the 186 onboard were injured. Once the aircraft was safely evacuated, it was towed to a parking stand to allow the airport to resume operations, as for several hours, the airport was closed due to one runway being unusable from the incident.

Russian aviation authorities were, within several hours, able to determine the cause of this incident and pronounced a statement soon after the findings. "Unfavorable weather conditions" was the official cause of the overrun.

Several other flights into Perm that morning were delayed, although FlightRadar24 data shows no cancellations due to the incident or the weather. The aircraft was not damaged during the overrun and will return to service with the airline shortly.