2011 aviation accident
On 7 September 2011, a Yakovlev Yak-42 charter flight operated by YAK-Service, carrying players and coaching staff of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl professional ice hockey team, crashed during take-off near Yaroslavl, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia. All but one of the 45 people on board were killed. The aircraft overran the runway at Tunoshna Airport before briefly lifting off, striking an antenna mast, catching fire, and crashing on the bank of the Volga river. The tragedy is commonly known as the Lokomotiv hockey team disaster.
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, a member of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), was on its way to Minsk, Belarus, to start the 2011–12 season. All players from the main roster (with the exception of Maxim Zyuzyakin) and four from the youth team were on board and died in the accident. The only survivor was the aircraft's mechanic; one player also survived the crash, but died in the following days from injuries.
The subsequent investigation determined that several factors contributed to the accident, including poor training; the incorrect calculation of the take-off speed by the flight crew; and the inadvertent application of wheel braking by one of the pilots, who had improperly placed his feet on the pedals. It was later revealed that the pilot had used falsified documents to obtain permission to fly the aircraft, and that both crew members lacked the training necessary to fly the Yak-42.
Background.
At the time of the crash, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, established in 1959, was one of the top ice hockey teams in Russia. The team won the Russian Open Championship in 1997, 2002 and 2003, and were finalists in 2008 and 2009, making it to the third round of the playoffs in four straight seasons. Lokomotiv lost in the 2010 KHL Western Conference finals 4–3 to HC MVD, and lost in the 2011 KHL Western Conference Finals 4–2 to Atlant Moscow Oblast. Several players were about to make their debut with the team, including former National Hockey League (NHL) players Ruslan Salei and Kārlis Skrastiņš. Also set to make their coaching debuts were former NHL players Igor Korolev and Brad McCrimmon.
The accident was the second plane crash in Russia involving a hockey team. In 1950, the entire VVS Moscow team died in a plane crash near Sverdlovsk (now known as Yekaterinburg) in Sverdlovsk Oblast.
YAK-Service.
In 2009, YAK-Service, the airline operating the accident aircraft, had been investigated by the European Commission over airworthiness and air safety concerns. Russian authorities imposed restrictions on the carrier, and made YAK-Service subject to ramp inspections to international standards. In May 2010, the Russian Ministry of Transport prohibited YAK-Service from flying into European Civil Aviation Conference airspace, a restriction that was lifted the following August. The European Commission, however, was not satisfied that mandatory equipment was present on all YAK-Service aircraft, and banned two of the company's Yakovlev Yak-40s from operating in European airspace.
Accident.
On the day of the accident, the weather at Tunoshna Airport was good, with light winds, good visibility and a temperature of . The Yak-42, registered as RA-42434, entered Runway 05/23 at taxiway 5, located from the runway threshold. Runway 05/23 was long, leaving for the take-off run. After the aircraft was cleared for take-off, it accelerated to an estimated but failed to lift off. The Yak-42 ran off past the end of the runway for before lifting off. The main fuselage then struck an antenna mast located about from the end of the runway, without climbing more than an estimated from the ground.
After the damage caused by the wingtip’s impact with the mast, the aircraft veered left and crashed on the riverbank of the Tunoshonka River, from where it joins the Volga, losing its tail assembly on impact while the front part of the jet disintegrated. The tail section came to rest in the water, while the rest of the fuselage ended up on dry land. The location of the wreckage was approximately from the end of the runway.
Witness reports described the aircraft as "bursting into flames" after hitting the mast. Another witness report described the engines as going silent moments before the crash. Yet another report indicated that the aircraft hit trees before it crashed. A security surveillance camera mounted on the mast recorded the approach of the Yak-42 at high speed, running off the end of the runway, only metres above the ground, with the nose pulling up moments before impacting the mast. Debris from the aircraft was found just past the mast site, continuing from that point to the crash site. The crew did not report any technical problems to air traffic control.
Aircraft.
The aircraft involved, a Yakovlev Yak-42D with registration RA-42434 and serial number 4520424305017, was manufactured in 1993. After serving with several airlines, it joined the Yak-Service fleet.
The Yak-42, a three-engine medium-range passenger jet, was designed with a 36-year service life, and RA-42434 still had an estimated 60% of its service life remaining. According to Deputy Transport Minister Valery Okulov, one of the three engines on the aircraft had been replaced a month prior to the crash. The aircraft was due to be taken out of service at the end of 2011 for a scheduled major overhaul.
Passengers and crew.
The aircraft manifest listed eight crew members and 37 passengers. The flight crew was composed of Captain Andrei Anatolievich Solomentsev,(Russian: Андлеи Анатолиевич Соломентсев) who had 6,900 hours of flight experience of which 1,500 were on Yak-42s; First Officer Igor Konstantinovich Zhevelov(Russian: Ивор Хонстантинович Жевелов), with 13,500 hours' experience of which only 614 were on Yak-42s; and Flight Engineer Sergei Valerievich Zhuravlev. (Russian: Сергеи Валериевич Журавлев) The flight's mechanic, Alexander Sizov, who travelled in the passenger cabin, was the only survivor of the crash. Alexander Galimov, one of the team players on board, was found alive and hospitalized, but died five days later. The bodies of the victims were all recovered from the scene.
According to eyewitnesses, both Galimov and Sizov were severely burned, but were conscious while being rescued. Both men were transported to Moscow for treatment. The two were placed in medically induced comas to relieve stress; however, Galimov died on 12 September at the Vishnevsky Institute of Surgery. Sizov was moved from intensive care to a ward on 12 September, and his life was considered to be out of danger. He was discharged from the hospital on 28 October.
Hockey players killed.
Twenty-six players of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ice hockey team were killed:
Team staff killed.
Among the team staff on board were:
Goalkeeper coach Jorma Valtonen was not on the aircraft as he stayed behind to work with the junior team.
Reactions.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who had been on his way to Yaroslavl for the Yaroslavl Global Policy Forum, sent his condolences to the families of those killed in the crash and visited the crash site along with governor of Yaroslavl Oblast, Sergey Vakhrukov. René Fasel, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation, called the crash "the darkest day in the history of our sport." Early into New York Islanders training camp, goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, having played the previous season in the KHL, expressed shock and sadness at the news.
Upon hearing the news of the accident, KHL officials stopped the Salavat Yulaev Ufa–Atlant Moscow Oblast game that was being played. The game was suspended in the second period, and KHL president Alexander Medvedev addressed the audience at the game, informing them of the details of the tragedy. A minute of silence was held and the audience exited the arena. Russian Ice Hockey Federation president Vladislav Tretiak promised: "We will do our best to ensure that hockey in Yaroslavl does not die, and that it continues to live for the people that were on that plane." The following day in Minsk, at the arena where Yaroslavl was to play its first game of the season, a special "hockey funeral" was held. The KHL resumed its 2011–12 season on 12 September 2011, with seven games. All games were preceded with a minute of silence.
City officials in Yaroslavl announced a three-day period of mourning from Friday 9 September 2011 to Sunday 11 September 2011. On 10 September, memorial services for the players were held in their mother countries. The biggest services were held in Arena 2000, the home arena of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, with thousands of mourners as well as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in attendance. Local police determined the crowd number at Lokomotiv's home arena to be roughly 100,000.
Lokomotiv executives met to discuss the team's future. In the discussion, team president Yuri Yakovlev announced that Lokomotiv would not participate in the 2011–12 KHL season. On 12 September 2011, Lokomotiv marketing manager Ivjiny Chuev said that another memorial, this time specifically for Galimov, would be held on 13 September.
In the United States, the Dallas Stars, the team which Kārlis Skrastiņš played for the previous two seasons, honored their former teammate by placing a decal with Skrastiņš's number (37) on the helmets of their players. Josef Vašíček's former NHL team, the Carolina Hurricanes, wore a commemorative patch on their jerseys during the season. The Detroit Red Wings wore a patch on their 2011–2012 uniforms with the initials of Ruslan Salei, who had played for Detroit during the previous season. The patch the Red Wings wore also honored Brad McCrimmon, who had played for the team and been an assistant coach, and Stefan Liv, who was drafted by Detroit and played for their minor-league team. Furthermore, the Anaheim Ducks embroidered Salei's number (#24) on their jerseys for the season. The New Jersey Devils wore a commemorative patch on their jerseys honoring former Devils players Karel Rachůnek and Alexander Vasyunov. The St. Louis Blues also held a memorial ceremony for former players Pavol Demitra and Igor Korolev before their 8 November game against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blues players also wore a special '38' sticker on their helmets, as both players wore that number with the Blues. Blues goaltender Jaroslav Halák also had his 2011–12 goaltending mask made with a tribute to his fellow Slovak Demitra on the backplate. In Sweden, over 10,000 relatives and fans of HV71 attended Kinnarps Arena, the team's home arena, to mourn Liv, Lokomotiv's Swedish goaltender.
The Slovak Ice Hockey Federation announced that the jersey number 38 would be retired from the national team in memory of Pavol Demitra, who recently retired from the national team in May on home ice, at the World Championship Slovakia hosted for the first time and who would be the in memoriam inductee of the 2012 Class of Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame. Furthermore, it was announced that Team Slovakia would have a minor number 38 sewn into the jerseys up until 2012 World Championship. Demitra was further honoured by a public ceremony at a hockey stadium in Trenčín, which bears his name since late 2011 (Pavol Demitra Ice Stadium) along with an elementary school attended in Dubnica nad Váhom. Thanks to Demitra's popularity spontaneous gatherings also took place across Slovakia, by hockey stadiums, in his memory.
The German Ice Hockey Federation announced that it would retire the No. 20 jersey of Robert Dietrich in Team Germany. The 13 October 2011 game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals, which featured Russian ice hockey players Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin, was dedicated to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. The teams wore commemorative Lokomotiv patches. All jerseys were autographed by the players and auctioned to raise funds for the families of those who died in the crash.
On 12 March 2012, the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation announced that it would retire the number 7 jersey of Kārlis Skrastiņš from Team Latvia. On 24 March 2012, the Dallas Stars (for whom Skrastiņš had played prior to signing with Lokomotiv) held a pre-game ceremony with Skrastiņš' family and announced a trust fund for Skrastiņš' children. Similarly, the Czech Ice Hockey Association decided to retire Czech Republic men's national ice hockey team jersey numbers in honor of its three late players. The numbers 4 of Karel Rachunek, 15 of Jan Marek, and 63 of Josef Vasicek have since been taken out of circulation.
On 16 December 2011, the jersey of Stefan Liv was raised to the roof of Husqvarna Garden. His number one was retired and would never be used again by a HV71 player.
Aftermath.
Following the tragedy, Lokomotiv chose to cancel their participation in the 2011–12 KHL season. The club instead participated in the 2011–12 season of the Russian Major League (VHL), the second-highest