Pilot error blamed over crash that killed 50

Pilot error caused the latest Russian airliner crash which killed 50 people in Kazan, investigators say.

The country’s aviation safety watchdog said the pilots of the Boeing 737 somehow let the plane become too slow at a low altitude, resulting in a diving crash that killed all on board.

The Interstate Aviation Committee said the plane’s engines and other systems were working fine until the moment it hit the ground. It said the crew had failed to make a proper landing approach on their first attempt and then began a second run.

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They put the plane’s engines on maximum power, raising the nose up at a sharp angle, causing a quick loss of speed. The crew then tried to gain speed by taking the plane into a dive but hit the ground at a near-vertical angle.

The report drew its conclusions from one of the plane’s black box recorders. It said the climb and the subsequent plunge lasted only about a minute.

The plane struck the ground at about 280 mph, the report said.

The plane, belonging to Tatarstan Airlines, was arriving from Moscow into the central city of Kazan, capital of the republic of Tatarstan.

A brief video taken by an airport security camera showed 
the plane going down at high speed at a nearly vertical angle and then hitting the ground and exploding.

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