Poor-quality fuel blamed for Lokomotiv hockey team plane crash
The Yak-42 Russian jetliner that crashed Wednesday, killing 43 people, was relatively new, it didn’t appear to be overloaded and the plane’s captain had nearly 7,000 hours of flying experience.
Poor-quality fuel is now emerging as a possible reason the crew’s attempt to take off was undermined. Investigators will look at factors such as human error and engine failure as they probe the cause of the crash that wiped out most of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team, deputy transport minister Valery Okulov told reporters Thursday.
However, one witness, a pilot, told Komsomolskaya Pravda he heard all the plane engines go silent moments before the crash.
This suggested a problem with the fuel rather than a mechanical problem striking all three rear-mounted jet engines at the same time, the pilot said.
That speculation was echoed in other Russia media outlets.
“Refuelling the plane with low-quality fuel is seen as a priority reason for the engine malfunction,” a source in the aviation industry told the state news agency RIA Novosti.
Mr. Okulov denied earlier reports that it took the plane too long to take off and gain altitude.
However, Arius Novick, the manager of Yaroslavl’s Tunoshna airport, told Russian news channel Life News that the plane struggled to gain the necessary speed for takeoff before it rolled to the left and crashed into the river nearby.
Some experts initially wondered if the plane’s failure to take off was caused by the plane being overloaded, but a Yak-42 can seat up to 120 passengers – nearly three times the number of people the charter flight carried when it crashed.
The victims included former NHL players such as Canadian head coach Brad McCrimmon, coach Alexander Karpovtsev and former players Pavol Demitra, Ruslan Salei, Karel Rachunek, Josef Vasicek and Karlis Skrastins.
The team’s goalie coach, Jorma Valtonen, was supposed to board the flight but was saved by a decision to leave him home to mentor the second-team netminders, Mr. Valtonen told Finnish newspaper Ilta Sanomat.
The jetliner was relatively new, having been built in 1993, according to the AeroTransport Databank. The charter operator that flew the team has been grounded by civil aviation regulators until Saturday, while an investigation is to begin. The Russian charter airline has been cited before for safety deficiencies.
In Minsk, where the plane was headed, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko pulled on a hockey uniform Thursday as he led thousands of mourning fans. More than 10,000 hockey fans filed into the capital’s stadium clutching tickets to what should have been the season’s opening match between local Dinamo and the central Russian Lokomotiv team.
“The most frightening thing of all is that they were flying here, to us – to this wonderful arena, flying as our best friends,” Mr. Lukashenko said in a speech he delivered on ice skates from inside the rink. “These are our blood brothers.”
Mr. Lukashenko – once dubbed Europe’s last dictator by the United States – has attempted to repair his relations with Russia in recent times of economic crisis and often uses grand occasions to make political statements.
Russian hockey officials meanwhile announced plans to put together a new Lokomotiv team within days by assigning players from other top sides in the league.
“Everyone knows that this is the most important sport [in Yaroslavl],” said Russian hockey boss Vyacheslav Fetisov. “Lokomotiv simply must play again to commemorate the dead.”
The team’s arena had turned into shrine a day after the accident as thousands stacked up roses and team scarves in mourning.
“In Yaroslavl, a man has two things. A man has his children, and he has Lokomotiv,” said a man outside the arena, a team scarf wrapped around his neck.
With a report from Agence-France Presse
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