Crash Probe Confirms Pilot ‘Lesson’
A Russian pilot was giving a flying lesson to his two children when an Aeroflot passenger jet crashed in Siberia last month, killing all 75 aboard, a preliminary investigation has found.
The Transportation Ministry said a cockpit voice recorder showed the pilot was demonstrating “the principles of flying” to his son and daughter when the Airbus A-310 jet crashed March 22 on a flight from Moscow to Hong Kong.
The ministry’s statement was the first official confirmation of earlier press reports of gross violations of flight safety by the Aeroflot crew.
One version reportedly under investigation is that the pilot’s 15-year-old son sent the jet into a dive by falling on the controls.
But investigator Yuri Alexeyev said Wednesday that it is also possible the automatic pilot or other equipment failed.
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