Unijet Flight 074P
Dassault Falcon 50 · Runway incursion by ground vehicle; collision on take-off
From Vnukovo International Airport (VKO) to Paris, France
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 4 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 4
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 1 · all on the ground
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Dassault Falcon 50
- Aircraft type
- Dassault Falcon 50
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- F-GLSA
- Operator
- Unijet
- Onboard fatalities
- 4
- Route
- From Vnukovo International Airport (VKO)To Paris, France
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 20 October 2014, Unijet Flight 074, a Dassault Falcon 50 business jet taking off from Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, crashed into a snow plow that had strayed onto the runway, killing all four people on board. Among the victims was Total's Chairman and CEO Christophe de Margerie, who was returning to Paris, France.
The driver of the snow removal vehicle, who was injured in the collision, was found to have alcohol in his blood and subsequently pleaded guilty to causing de Margerie's death.
Accident
The accident occurred in darkness at 23:57 Moscow Time (MSK). While executing Flight 074P's take-off run, the Falcon 50 struck with its right wing and landing gear a snow clearing vehicle that was occupying the runway. The jet rolled inverted and crashed on the grass next to the runway. A post-impact fire broke out, but was quickly extinguished by the airport's fire crew. There were no survivors among the four people on board the jet: two pilots, a flight attendant and Margerie, the only passenger.
Investigation and cause
Investigation and trial
Five people were eventually charged with a crime: airport aerodrome service lead engineer Vladimir Ledenev, snowplow driver Vladimir Martynenko, air traffic controller Aleksandr Kruglov, trainee controller Svetlana Krivsun and Vnukovo flight director Roman Dunayev. Martynenko, Ledenev and Krivsun were charged with violating the article 263.3 of the Criminal Code of Russia (violating safety rules of transportation and air travel, which led by neglect to death of two or more people). As of 2016, the investigation was continuing on the matter of three more potential accused, Vnukovo Airport shift director Sergei Kosik, branch director of Moscow Air Traffic Control Center Vladimir Uzhakov and Uzhakov's deputy Aleksandr Povaliy. The final version of the indictment was issued on 18 January 2016.
In March 2016, 5 insurance companies (Berkshire Hathaway International Insurance, Tokio Marine Kiln, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group, Great Lakes Reinsurance and Mapfre) sued the airport for 10 million euros to recover the payments made to their clients in connection with the incident. The lawsuit was suspended in August 2016 until the resolution of the criminal case.
On 7 July 2017, Martynenko and Ledenev were sentenced to 4 and 3.5 years of imprisonment respectively following a guilty plea, and immediately amnestied. The charges against Dunayev, Kruglov and air traffic controller Nadezhda Arkhipova were moved into a separate case. Charges against Krivsun were dismissed in early 2016 due to "absence of criminal actions". On 24 July 2017, the court accepted an appeal on Martynenko's and Lebedev's sentences from Patrick Vervelle, whose wife, stewardess Ruslana, died in the crash. According to Russian law, Vervelle is considered a victim of this crime. Vervelle's civil suit against the airport was not accepted by the court earlier.
In January 2018, Moscow's Arbitration Court accepted a lawsuit by Unijet, the company that was operating the aircraft, against Vnukovo International Airport and FGUP "Goskorporatsiya po OrVD" (the air traffic control entity), for 6,700,000 euros in damages.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Unijet Flight 074P” (revision 1339306543, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Unijet Flight 074P
- Article
- Unijet Flight 074P
- Revision
- 1339306543 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q8929770
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Unijet Flight 074P" (page 46304741, revision 1339306543)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- flight number in the article title
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.