According to RT, the pilot involved in the November 17th crash that sparked the probe sent his plane into a nosedive in the Russian city of Kazan. The botched landing killed 44 passengers and six crewmembers.
The plane itself did not appear to have any technical problems that would have caused the crash. Rather, the pilot of the Boeing 737 plane, Rustem Salikhov, may have only been qualified to serve as a navigator, reports BBC.
A spokesperson for the Investigative Committee said that investigators are trying to ascertain whether Salikhov or any other pilots may have been given fraudulent commercial licenses from centers certified by the federal aviation agency, reports RT.
RT further reports that the CEO of Tatarstan Airlines was fired because of the crash. The federal aviation agency has recommended that the regional carrier for the plane that Salikhov crashed has its license revoked because of overworked or inadequately trained staff members. No criminal charges have been filed.
According to the Moscow Times, Russia has been experiencing a shortage of flight personnel and an increase in airplane passengers in recent years. In an attempt to solve the shortage, new training centers were set up for navigators and engineers. However, critics have said these centers “often sought to cut corners on training in the run for profits.”
On average, one out of every 4.7 million people that board a commercial airliner die. In Russia, the ratio is one out of every 1.2 million, reports the Globe and Mail. This makes boarding a commercial flight in Russia almost four times as dangerous as the world average.
