2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl air disaster
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev lays flowers near the remains of the rear stabilizer and some landing gear of the Yak-42D that carried the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey squad.
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| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 7 September 2011 |
| Summary | Runway overrun and stall during takeoff due to braking; Pilot error |
| Site |
Volga River bank, near Yaroslavl, Russia Coordinates: 57°33′07″N 40°07′16″E / 57.5518528°N 40.121212°E |
| Passengers | 37 |
| Crew | 8 |
| Fatalities | 44 |
| Survivors | 1 (2 initially) |
| Aircraft type | Yakovlev Yak-42D |
| Operator | Yak-Service |
| Registration | RA-42434 |
| Flight origin | Tunoshna Airport, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia |
| Destination | Minsk National Airport, Minsk, Belarus |
On 7 September 2011, Yak-Service Flight 9633, a Yakovlev Yak-42 carrying the players and coaching staff of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl professional ice hockey team, crashed near the Russian city of Yaroslavl. The aircraft ran off the runway before lifting off, struck a tower mast, caught fire and crashed 2 km (1.2 mi) from Tunoshna Airport on the Volga River bank. Of the 45 on board, 43 died at the crash site. One of the two rescued from the wreck, Alexander Galimov, died five days later in hospital. A crew member was the sole survivor.
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, a member of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), Russia's top ice hockey league, was on its way to Minsk, Belarus, to start the 2011–12 season. All players from the main roster and four from the youth team were on board the aircraft. Because of the tragedy, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl chose to cancel its participation in the 2011–12 KHL season. The club instead participated in the 2011–12 season of the Russian Major League (VHL), the second-ranked ice hockey league in Russia after the KHL, starting in December 2011, and were eligible for the VHL playoffs. The KHL temporarily suspended its season-opening game already in progress and postponed the start of the season by five days.
Investigation of the crash focused on pilot error and technical failures. An investigative committee was set up which examined Yak-Service's records; conditions at the airport; the aircraft's wreckage; and flight recorder data. Simulations of the aircraft's takeoff were conducted to compare with recovered flight recorder data. Testing determined that pilot error was the cause as a braking force was found to have been applied by the chief pilot during the takeoff. The investigating committee released its report at a press conference on 2 November 2011. According to Alexei Morozov, chief of the investigative commission, "the immediate cause of the...crash was the...crew's erroneous actions, namely the pilot stepping on the brake pedals before raising the nose wheel because of the wrong position of [his] feet on the [pedals] during takeoff." It was later revealed that the pilots had used falsified documents to obtain permission to fly the aircraft, and that they lacked the training necessary to fly the Yak-42. In addition, the co-pilot had undergone treatment for a nerve disease and was forbidden to fly. Investigators say he did not feel his foot on the brake, leading to the crash.
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