Ural Airlines may have dodged a potential catastrophe in deciding against trying to take off one of their A320s from a farmer’s field as planned. The aircraft made an emergency landing in September of 2023 after running out of fuel and the initial plan was to fly it out of the field. The airline ditched that plan as too expensive and elected to salvage what they could. According to Spotter Magazine, crews discovered the fuselage, wing boxes and tail were overstressed in the rough landing and will be scrapped rather than being reused.
The airline has taken just about everything else, including seats and cabin components plus the engines, avionics and landing gear. All the recovered items are being inspected to make sure they can be safely reused. The operation is expected to be complete by the end of February.
