Navigator in Russian plane crash 'was drunk'

The navigator of a Russian plane that crashed onto a highway in the northwestern region of Karelia in June, killing 47 people, was drunk, an official report said Monday. The navigator "was in a light state of alcoholic intoxication" with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.81, as the crew attempted to land the plane in bad weather, the Interstate Aviation Committee said in a report posted on its website. The RusAir Tu-134 was trying to land at its destination of Petrozavodsk in the Karelia region near Finland in bad weather close to midnight on June 20, but failed to make the runway and instead hurtled onto a highway and caught fire. The report said the experienced navigator, 50, was "excessively active", with data recorders showing he had told the chief pilot several times to speed up the landing. At one point, he told the pilot: "Sasha, turn quicker, come on!" the report said. The navigator's body was found to have 0.81 grams of alcohol per litre of blood, which would have caused a "light" level of drunkenness, likely to make a person less self-critical, the report said. It said the navigator's behaviour was a contributing factor in the crash, but found that the main cause was the incorrect decision not to abort the landing as the plane descended into thick fog with no sight of the runway. It blamed a "lack of discipline and excessive self-assurance of the crew members." The question remained why the navigator had been permitted to fly. A pre-flight medical examination of the crew appeared to have been done "as a formality," the report said in a shocking finding, with all of the crew recorded as having exactly the same pulse rate. Forty-four people died on the scene of the crash and three died later in hospital. Among the dead were a citizen of the Netherlands, a Swede and two Ukrainians. Five people, including a stewardess, survived the crash with serious injuries. The report's findings come as an investigation continues into the crash of a plane carrying a top ice hockey team earlier this month, the latest in a string of air disasters in Russia, where many smaller airlines use outdated Soviet-era planes. The interstate aviation committee said on Saturday that initial findings showed the plane, a Yak-42, had too much braking power as it took off but said it was still determining the cause. The latest crash prompted Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev to order his governmet to shut down unreliable airlines and raise penalties for air safety violations.