Crash investigators steered a Yak-42 jet down the runway at the Zhukovsky airfield near Moscow on Tuesday in a re-
enactment of last month's crash that killed 44 people, including most of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team, at the Yaroslavl airport.
The simulation, which "copied the actions of the crew," was ordered after crash investigators failed to find clues about the cause of the crash on the flight recorders of the ill-fated plane, the Interstate Aviation Committee said in a statement.
Now investigators will compare the data from both flights, the statement said.
The chartered Yak-42 lifted off the ground a few meters and struck a navigation beacon, falling back to the earth and breaking apart. Earlier media reports suggested that the pilot forgot to turn off the emergency brake. One person survived the accident.
(MT)
