Gazeta.ru
Izhevsk official denies offering veterans funding in exchange for votes
Denis Agashin, the local administration head in Izhevsk, tried to downplay his funding-for-votes statement as a “personal opinion” expressed “outside his working hours.”
A video posted on a popular blog on October 27 showed Agashin, a prominent United Russia member, telling an audience of seniors that future funding for veterans organizations will depend on how many votes the ruling party wins in December's parliamentary elections. His audience erupted in protest, telling Agashin that his request to “help the city by voting for United Russia” is a violation of the Constitution and the law.
“I request that my statement should be taken as being my personal opinion expressed outside my working hours. I was only proposing a scheme to increase financing for war veterans’ organizations. I will continue lobbying for a pensioners support program in Izhevsk in any case, regardless of the outcome in the elections. But I am certain that, if United Russia wins, I will have a stronger position as head of the city administration to insist on increased financing for public organizations including veterans’ groups,” an Izhevsk administration spokesman quoted Agashin for RIA Novosti.
Another city hall representative explained that the video showed footage of Agashin’s private meeting with pensioners in one of the city districts.
Sergei Zheleznyak, first deputy secretary of the United Russia presidium, described Agashin’s statement as his “individual initiative” in a comment on the party website.
“Agashin is not on United Russia’s election ticket and meeting with representatives of the city veterans’ groups was his personal initiative. Linking funding for veterans groups to United Russia’s election results was his personal idea. The party leadership has never issued any instructions to this effect. Nor has any such decision ever been taken by the party’s regional branch. We have always supported veterans’ groups as well as other leading public organizations and will continue to do so regardless of how the party performs in the December 4 election in any region,” Zheleznyak said.
Kommersant
Human error killed Lokomotiv hockey team
The investigation into the Yak-42D crash near Yaroslavl, which killed the local hockey team, has concluded that it was Captain Andrei Solomentsev’s error that caused the fatal accident that left only one survivor. He unwittingly hit the brakes while attempting take off.
Braking during takeoff is not all that rare among crews who have previously flown Yak-40 planes. The twin acceleration footplates are similar in both models. The pilots push down on the lower part to adjust the plane’s direction during takeoff and on the upper part to brake. But the Yak-40 footplates have special heel depressions while those in the Yak-42 do not – the pilots are supposed to keep their heels on the floor. However, used to the comfortable depressions in the Yak-40’s footplates, pilots often put their whole feet on the footplates: unintentionally braking the plane during takeoff.
Pilots corrected this error by “revving up the engines more energetically to lift off,” said a source in the investigation team. “The airline management and supervisory agencies were unaware of the problem because it is not registered by flight data recorders.”
When the post-Soviet states’ Interstate Aviation Committee was informed, all airlines using Yak-42 planes were instructed to “train the crews in the correct foot placement on these footplates.”
Captain Solomentsev, who had flown over 5,000 hours on Yak-40s, and First Pilot Igor Zhevelov, who was retrained only recently, both had their feet fully on the footplates. Experts say that a minor braking effect created by one of them could have been corrected, were it not for a series of other tragic errors.
When Zhevelov asked his captain about the speed for lift off, Solomentsev replied: “190.”
But the plane weighed 54 tons and needed to reach a speed of 210 kilometers an hour to take off safely.
When they started accelerating, one of the pilots moved the flight stick slightly away from himself, an error that could have been corrected by increasing the speed. But the front wheels started vibrating on the uneven concrete and the captain tried to lift off at a speed of 185 km/h.
They should have braked, but they knew that managing to bring the plane to a halt on the runway, would mean delaying the game in Minsk, causing fines for the Yak Service airline and problems for the pilots. That was if they were successful – the consequences of a runway overrun at that speed would have been truly tragic.
So Solomentsev continued with the takeoff. Trying to pitch the nose up, he pulled the control stick too energetically and asked Zhevelov to push to full thrust.
It soon became even more difficult for the captain to handle the stick. The plane lifted off too abruptly, so the pilot pushed on the footplates as hard as he could. Experts say that by that time the plane was doomed, it surged upwards, lost speed, veered to the left, and crashed.
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