Flight 9605

On 20 June 2011 about 23:40 local time a Rusair airline Tupolev Tu-134A-3 (registry RA-65691) crashed onto the highway Petrozavodsk-Suojärvi about 700 metres short of the runway at Petrozavodsk Airport.

On board of flight 9605 from Moscow to Petrozavodsk were 43 passengers and 9 crew-members. 44 people were killed in the crash, four of them children. Three people died later in hospital, one of them was a child. Except for citizens of Russia, died four USA citizen (two of them children), two Ukraina citizens, one Netherlands citizen, one Swedish citizen and one Belarus citizen (crew-member – flight engineer). The only crew-member to survive the crash was an air hostess.

An aircraft attempted to land in bad weather and poor visibility. This was the first flight to Petrozavodsk for all crew members.

Interstate Aviation Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States report found the cause of the accident was crew error, also one of the crew member (navigator) was drunk.

On June 20, 2012 the monument of the Petrozavodsk sculptor Alexander Kim was unveiled at the crash site.