Russia says it will not ground Sukhoi plane despite fatal crash-landing
More than 4,000 sign petition demanding jet be banned after deaths of 41 people
Moscow — Russia sees no reason to ground its domestically produced Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft despite one of the planes bursting into flames during a crash-landing and killing 41 people, the country’s transport minister said on Monday. The crash-landing on Sunday is the latest serious setback for the plane, the first new passenger jet developed in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union and an airliner held up by Moscow as proof it can produce its own high-quality civil passenger aircraft. Investigators have started trying to piece together why the Aeroflot jet, which had been flying from Moscow to the northern Russian city of Murmansk, was forced to make an emergency landing and why that landing went so badly wrong. Various versions are being looked into, including technical failure, human error and bad weather conditions. Asked by reporters at a news conference if the Sukhoi planes should now be grounded pending the outcome of the investigation, Yevgeny Ditrikh, Russia’s trans...
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