A little over 40 days have passed since the tragic plane crash in Yaroslavl that took lives of Lokomotiv's players and the plane crew. Forty days is a significant date for the Russians for religious reasons. A special memorial service was held in Yaroslavl to mark the 40 days.
On Wednesday, the news emerged that the investigators are working on the final report on the causes of the crash. The report is set to list pilot error as the cause of the crash.
Based on the data recovered from the flight recorders, investigators were able to imitate the conditions the plane was in when it overshot the runway and didn't take off as it should have. Scientists concluded that the doomed plane crashed not due to technical difficulties, and not due to the quality of fuel, but due to the braking applied to the landing gear. This braking momentum was not created by technical difficulties with the plane, but by the pilot who put his feet on the brake pedals, according to Russian newspaper "Kommersant."
Russia Today has the following details of the preliminary report:
"A special device - dynamometer - was attached to the plane column during the tests to measure the efforts of the pilots' hands. As it followed from the flight data recorder, the plane's elevating rudder was inclined at first to 10 degrees during the acceleration, and then up to 13 degrees during the take-off.
The testers claim that, when they tried to reproduce such deviation, they were required to take a strain of tens of kilograms in their hands according to the dynamometer. They could allow for it only by pushing their feet into the brake pedal. The pilot managed to keep the same elevating rudder in position at 13 degrees to within a few seconds. In order to provide the required force of 64 kg, the tester had to apply the brakes with full force.
After speeding and installing the elevating rudder in to the regular position of five degrees, the testers simply removed their arms and legs from the machine controls, and the Yak-42 rose into the air with ease.
This fact suggests that if the pilot of the crashed plane had removed himself from the management in general, the take-off would have been effected normally. The results of flight tests will form the basis of the report of the technical committee on the causes of the Yak-42 disaster."
The official online KHL store has released commemorative Lokomotiv gear, stating that all the money raised from the sale of these goods will go to the families of those who lost their lives.
A commemorative T-shirt listing all of the names of those who perished printed on the back is selling for under $30. A commemorative hoodie is going for a little over $30. And a commemorative scarf that reads "Loving. Remembering. Grieving." is selling for under $10.
The store is offering shipping orders overseas, but it is difficult for fans in North America to purchase these items at this time because there is no English language version of the online store. Our requests to the KHL for comments regarding the availability of the items to North American consumers have not yet been returned. Although some of hockey fans in North America figured out a way around it by calling the phone number listed on the store's page and ordering over the phone.
The lone survivor of the crash, a crew member Alexander Sizov, is recovering from his injuries in one of Moscow's hospitals.