The aircraft overran the runway at Tunoshna Airport before briefly lifting off, striking an antenna mast, catching fire, and crashing on the bank of the Volga river.

[2][3][4] Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, a member of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), was on its way to Minsk, Belarus, to start the 2011–12 season.

[citation needed] All players from the main roster (with the exception of Maxim Zyuzyakin) and four from the youth team were on board and died in the accident.

The subsequent investigation determined that several factors contributed to the accident, including poor training; the incorrect calculation of the take-off speed by the flight crew; and the inadvertent application of wheel braking by one of the pilots, who had improperly placed his feet on the pedals.

The team won the Russian Open Championship in 1997, 2002 and 2003,[7] and were finalists in 2008 and 2009, making it to the third round of the playoffs in four straight seasons.

[11] In 2009, YAK-Service, the airline operating the accident aircraft, had been investigated by the European Commission over airworthiness and air safety concerns.

Russian authorities imposed restrictions on the carrier, and made YAK-Service subject to ramp inspections to international standards.

[12] In May 2010, the Russian Ministry of Transport prohibited YAK-Service from flying into European Civil Aviation Conference airspace, a restriction that was lifted the following August.

[26] According to Deputy Transport Minister Valery Okulov, one of the three engines on the aircraft had been replaced a month prior to the crash.

(Russian: Сергеи Валериевич Журавлев) The flight's mechanic, Alexander Sizov, who travelled in the passenger cabin, was the only survivor of the crash.

[31] The two were placed in medically induced comas to relieve stress; however, Galimov died on 12 September at the Vishnevsky Institute of Surgery.

[citation needed] René Fasel, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation, called the crash "the darkest day in the history of our sport.

"[44] Early into New York Islanders training camp, goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, having played the previous season in the KHL, expressed shock and sadness at the news.

[45] Upon hearing the news of the accident, KHL officials stopped the Salavat Yulaev Ufa–Atlant Moscow Oblast game that was being played.

"[48] The following day in Minsk, at the arena where Yaroslavl was to play its first game of the season, a special "hockey funeral" was held.

[54] Josef Vašíček's former NHL team, the Carolina Hurricanes, wore a commemorative patch on their jerseys during the season.

The St. Louis Blues also held a memorial ceremony for former players Pavol Demitra and Igor Korolev before their 8 November game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

[56] The Slovak Ice Hockey Federation announced that the jersey number 38 would be retired from the national team in memory of Pavol Demitra, who recently retired from the national team in May on home ice, at the World Championship Slovakia hosted for the first time and who would be the in memoriam inductee of the 2012 Class of Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame.

[58] The 13 October 2011 game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals, which featured Russian ice hockey players Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin, was dedicated to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.

[59] On 12 March 2012, the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation announced that it would retire the number 7 jersey of Kārlis Skrastiņš from Team Latvia.

A deadline of 15 November 2011 was set to put into place "measures be developed to stop Russian air carriers' activities if they are not able to provide safe flights".

[citation needed] Russian aviation authorities suspended all flights with the Yak-42 pending checks of other existing aircraft of the same type.

[70] The Technical Commission of the MAK released further findings on 12 September 2011: The committee referred the study of the flight recorders and operational data to other research centers.

The Technical Commission established contacts with the investigation authorities of the countries whose citizens were on board: Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, Sweden, Latvia and Canada.

[70] On 14 September 2011, a report in the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, quoting a source in the aviation industry, claimed that the parking brake of the aircraft was on during take-off, which significantly slowed it down and prevented it from accelerating properly.

[72] The theory was also discounted by Konstantin Malinin, a former test pilot of the Yak-42, who noted that an engaged parking brake would have left skid marks and pieces of rubber on the runway, and there were none found.

[75] On 19 September 2011, news channel Rossiya 24 published the last minute of dialog between the flight crew, from the voice recorder:[76][77] According to test pilot Anatoly Knishov, in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, top speed 190 represents a decision point where, if failures occur before that speed, the aircraft is able to stop on the runway.

Tolboev also considered the Yak-42 not as advanced in its build and materials as contemporary Western models, heavier and less fuel-efficient, but still a "reliable vehicle" with "best rigidity".

[6] According to the documentary television program Mayday!, the investigators also found that the first officer, who was in charge of this flight, had a neurological condition in his feet, and should not have been medically cleared to fly.

However, this was a mistake as the plane needed maximum thrust at that time and it struck the tower, damaging the left side wing, pitching it out of control.