Crash of Tatarstan Airlines flight puts Russian civil aviation under spotlight
Disaster involving 23-year-old plane is latest to hit poorly regulated airlines
Russia yesterday sought reasons for its latest deadly plane crash, which has raised alarm about the safety of its civil aviation.
Investigators are focusing on a fault with the 23-year-old plane or pilot error as the probable cause for the disaster which killed 50 people.
The Tatarstan Airlines Boeing 737-500 crashed on landing at the airport in the Volga city of Kazan after a flight from Moscow's Domodedovo airport on Sunday night, killing all 44 passengers and six crew on board, the emergencies ministry said.
He confirmed that the crash occurred while the aircraft was making a second attempt at landing and said the investigation would have to consider why the pilot had not managed to land the first time in reasonable weather conditions.
The disaster claimed the lives of the son of the leader of the Tatarstan region, Irek Minnikhanov, and the head of Russia's FSB security service in Tatarstan, Alexander Antonov.
Among the dead was a Briton, Donna Carolina Bull, 53, and a Ukrainian national, the emergencies ministry said. The rest of the victims are all believed to be Russian citizens.
The plane landed around 150 metres away from the main runway at Kazan airport and then exploded, strewing debris over hundreds of metres.
State television quoted an air traffic controller at the airport, Kirill Kornishin, as saying he had spoken to one of the pilots after the first aborted landing and was told that the plane was not in a state to allow it to land.
Video: Passenger jet crashes in Russia, killing 50
The plane had seven owners during its life, Russian media and specialised websites said.
It went into service in 1990 and was used first by now- defunct French airline Euralair Horizons and then by Air France.
Before being acquired by Tatarstan Airlines it was operated by Uganda Airlines, Brazil's Rio Sul, Romania's Blue Air and Bulgaria Air.
While being operated by Rio Sul in 2001, it had major repairs after a landing accident. Last November, the plane had made an emergency landing in Kazan.
