Russian Plane Crash Pilot Had A Fake License? Investigators Still Piecing Together Clues

The near-vertical plane crash of a Boeing 737, which killed all 50 people on board, was possibly flown by a Russian pilot who had a fake license, Russian investigators said Friday.

Pilots working for small regional airlines in Russia might have managed to get fake licenses in centers certified by the country's aviation agency even though they hadn't been properly trained, said Vladimir Markin, Investigative Committee spokesman.

According to the Associated Press, Markin said the pilot who sent the Boeing 737 into a dive after an aborted first landing attempt in the city of Kazan received his license from a small training center that has since been shut down.

Markin's team of investigators conducted searches at various aviation centers, but couldn't conclude on a specific number of agencies the team considered questionable. But at least two have been shut down, including the one where the captain and co-pilot of the crashed plane trained.

Criminal charges have not yet been filed in the Nov. 17 crash of the Tatarstan Airlines jet in Kazan. Industry experts say, however, that early results of the crash probe pointed at a pilot error possibly resulting from the crew's insufficient skills in handling the plane, the AP reported.

Captain of the crashed jet, Rustem Salikhov, had allegedly been trained to fly Boeing planes, Markin told the AP.

"(But) investigators have certain doubts about whether the captain of the crashed Boeing had indeed received training there," Markin said.

The Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee, which investigates plane crashes across the former Soviet Union, concluded that the crew failed to land on their first attempt, brought the plane into a steep climb that caused it to stall, then fatally overcompensated, AP reported.

Data retrieved from the plane's flight data recorder showed its engines and other systems were working fine until the plane slammed into the ground, the report stated.

Data from the cockpit conversation recorder is yet to be released by the investigators.