Former Moscow Aviation Institute head falls to his death in accident at the uni

Another high-level Russian aviation expert has been involved in a mysterious accident.

Anatoly Gerashchenko, former head of the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI), died “as a result of an accident”, the university announced in a press release on September 21, 2022.

MAI did not provide further details of the circumstances in its release. Local media outlet Izvestia cited a source as saying that Gerashchenko fell “from a great height” in an MAI building, passing “several flights of stairs” at the institute. He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the report.

“This is a colossal loss for the Moscow Aviation Institute and the scientific and pedagogical community,” MAI said in its statement. It said that a commission was being formed to investigate the death.

Gerashchenko worked for 45 years for MAI, serving as rector from 2007 until 2015. More recently, he had been working as adviser to the current rector.

The untimely death comes two months after reports that Alexander Neradko, the head of the Federal Air Transport Agency of Russia (Rosaviatsiya), had been hospitalized after falling off a bike. Rosaviatsiya denied that an accident had taken place but said that Neradko was on sick leave and undergoing rehabilitation.