Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team crash - charges laid . . .

[bizjets101]

Aviation Safety report on crash of Yak-42 RA-42434.

The former deputy director of Yak Service Airlines, Vadim Timofeev, has been charged in connection with the plane crash which killed the entire Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey squad last September.

­Investigative Committee’s spokesman, Vladimir Markin, told RIA-Novosti that Timofeev is accused of violating the rules of air traffic safety and air transport operation.

According to the investigators, the official was in charge of flight operations at Yak Service, with control of the pilots’ qualification being his direct responsibility.

"By putting the crew in the air Timofeev broke the rules of air transport operations. At the moment of the disaster, that crew wasn’t entitled to fly,” Markin stressed. “Timofeev had allowed the captain to fly based on falsified documents, and the co-pilot hadn’t finished his training on the Yak-42 plane and had no right to be in air.”

The Yak-42 aircraft carrying the KHL side Lokomotiv crashed a few minutes after taking off from Yaroslavl airport on September 7, 2011.

44 people died in the accident, with engineer Aleksandr Sizov being the only survivor.

Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee has held pilots Andrey Solomentsev and Igor Zhevelov responsible for the crash as they weren’t qualified to fly the plane.

Yak Service’s license was revoked two weeks after the tragedy, leading to the airline going out of business.

RT News

[bizjets101]

Kathryn Report more info here.

[TheNewKid]

Now to investigate every airline in Russia. Seriously!

[Meatservo]

Wow, it's like a real-life episode of "Arctic Air": "You! You got a pilots license, dont'cha? Get in that plane and drive!!!"

[North Shore]

Seems to me, more like the scene from "Enemy at the Gates" where the Russians are sending their troops into battle and handing out guns and ammunition alternately. They know people are going to die, but have so many in reserve that they don't care...

ETA: Thinking this over, it could seem like I'm being totally heartless here. I'm not. I can only imagine the thoughts/feelings that the families and friends of the victims are having/have had about this accident. But, it does seem to me that the russians have a pretty cavalier attitude towards safety...