Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Drugs, braking: Pilot error, banned drug blamed for crash that killed Russian hockey team. Yakovlev 42, YAK Service. RA-42434. Yaroslavl-Tunoshna Airport, Russia. Accident occurred September 7, 2011.






MOSCOW — Russian air experts on Wednesday blamed pilot error and barbiturate use for the September crash that killed Russia's Lokomotiv hockey team — including Canadian coach Brad McCrimmon and several ex-NHLers.

As the plane took off from the central Russian city of Yaroslavl two months ago, one of the pilots accidentally pressed down the brakes, the Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) said in a report published on its website.

"The direct cause of the crash of the Yak-42 plane . . . were the mistaken actions of the crew in pressing the brake pedals," said MAK, an expert body that investigates air disasters in former Soviet republics.

"The braking could have been carried out by the commander who was carrying out active piloting, or the second pilot," chairman of the technical commission of MAK, Alexei Morozov, said in a televised presentation.

The Russian-made Yak-42 crashed on Sept. 7 shortly after takeoff, killing 44 people, including players and support staff from Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team, prompting an international outpouring of grief.

Among those who died were Pavol Demitra, who played for Vancouver and Ottawa; Karel Rachunek, who played for Ottawa, New Jersey and the New York Rangers; Karlis Skrastins, who played for Dallas; Ruslan Salei, who played for Detroit; Josef Vasicek, who played for the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders; Alexander Vasyunov, who played for New Jersey; and Alexander Karpovtsev, who was the team's assistant coach.

Saskatchewan native McCrimmon had just taken the head coaching job with Yaroslavl this spring. He played in the NHL from 1979 until 1997 with Boston, Philadelphia, Hartford, Detroit and Phoenix, and was a member of the 1989 Stanley Cup-winning team in Calgary.

Players were from Russia, Germany, Latvia, Belarus, Slovakia, Sweden and the Czech Republic.

One player, Russian Alexander Galimov, survived the crash, but died days later in hospital from horrific burns.

The report was the latest in a series to blame air crashes on human error rather than aging Soviet-designed aircraft.

It said the pilots could have committed the error of putting their feet on the brake pedals during takeoff because they were more used to flying another plane with that foot position.

The aircraft, built in 1993 and operated by the small Yak-Servis airline, overran the airstrip, wheeled for a further 450 metres (about 1,500 feet) before finally taking off.

The aircrew could have aborted the takeoff and stopped safely within the runway, the report said.

After reaching a height of only five to six metres, the plane crashed, falling partly into a river, and burst into flames.

The post-mortem also found that the second pilot had taken phenobarbital, a barbiturate medication banned for use by pilots that would have slowed down his reactions, the committee said.

"In the body of the second pilot was discovered phenobarbital, a medication that slows down the central nervous system and is banned for use by pilots," Morozov said.

In addition the second pilot had been diagnosed with nerve problems in his arms and legs that meant he would have difficulty in sensing how his feet were placed, Morozov said, adding that the condition should have barred him from flying.

The report slammed the airline for failing to ensure flight safety or to monitor its staff.

The crash prompted Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev to order his government to shut down unreliable airlines and raise penalties for air safety violations.

MAK earlier found that a plane crashed on a highway in northwestern Russia in June while attempting to land because of poor judgment by the crew, including a navigator with alcohol in his blood.

It also said that the errors of the Polish crew were the main reason that Polish President Lech Kaczynski's jet crashed in Russia last year, killing all onboard, a view only partially supported by Warsaw.

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