MOSCOW, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Criminal charges were filed against the former deputy flights director of a Russian air service for the 2011 plane crash in which an ice hockey team died.
The Russian Investigation Committee said Thursday Yak Service official Vadim Timofeyev was accused of violating flight safety rules, among other things, in the criminal case related to the air crash outside Yaroslavl in which 44 people died, including the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey squad, ITAR-Tass reported.
"The detectives found that Timofeyev permitted the crew to make a flight illegally in violation of the flight safety rules," Russian Investigation Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said.
One pilot had false documents and the other was not trained adequately to fly the Yak-42 aircraft, Markin said.
An official report issued after the October 2011 crash said the pilots inadvertently applied the brake during take-off. It also said neither pilot was fit for flying, indicating one pilot's blood tests indicated the presence of a sedative while the other pilot had been diagnosed with a debilitating disease that affects motor skills.
