A Russian military plane performed an emergency landing early on Wednesday at the Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky airport after one of its four engines stopped.
A-50 (NATO reporting name 'Mainstay'), a Russian airborne warning and control system aircraft based on the Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane, landed after emptying its fuel tanks. None of the 23 people onboard were injured.
"A failure of one of four engines on this type of aircraft is not an emergency situation... The plane can land safely with three working engines," a military spokesman said.
In many aspects, the A-50 is comparable to the E-3 Sentry of the U.S. Air Force. It is fitted with an aerial refueling system and electronic warfare equipment, and can detect targets up to 400 km (250 miles) away.
