It’s a tragic, recurring event. Elite athletic teams traveling together, to or from an athletic competition, when the pilots make errors, the plane malfunctions, mother nature takes over–ultimately, the plane goes down.
Today, the Russian professional hockey team, Lokomotiv, from the KHL (Kontinental Hockey League), was involved in a plane crash that claimed the lives of 37 passengers and 7 crew. Two have survived, one crew member and a hockey player–they are listed in critical condition.
The plane crashed into the banks of the Volga River just after take-off. A witness stated that a bang was heard, followed by a sharp tilt of the YAK-42 aircraft and a subsequent wobble indicating that the aircraft was in trouble.
An incomplete history of similar accidents:
February of 1961, the US Figure Skating Team, en route to the 1961 World Championships in Prague. As the plane approached the Brussels airport, the aircraft when down, killing all on board, including 16 U.S. team members.
October 1970, two planes carrying the Wichita State Shockers football team stopped at Denver’s Stapleton Airport to refuel. The planes were dubbed “Black” and “Gold” based on team colors. The “Gold” plane deviated from the initial flight plan, the pilots wanting to offer the players, coaching staff and other passengers on board a “scenic route.” They ultimately crashed into a mountainside, being overloaded and unable to climb beyond the summit after finding themselves in a box canyon. 11 people survived the initial crash, two succumbing to their injuries later.
November of 1970, 75 people were killed, including 37 members of Marshall University’s Thundering Herd football team, in a crash that left them less than a mile short of the runway.
October of 1972, a plane carrying a Uruguayan Rugby Team, as well as others, crashed in the Argentinian Andes. 16 people survived after two months of battling the elements and resorting to cannibalism to survive. The story has been recreated through literature, as well as several narrative and documentary features.
January of 2001, 10 people were killed, including members of the Oklahoma State University men’s basketball team, after the plane crashed during a snowstorm.
Comments
Steve Crane
September 7th, 2011 - 1:08:24 PM
One rather well known such accident was the 1958 Munich crash involving the Manchester United football team. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_air_disaster Another in 1994 took the lives of the entire Zambian national football team. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zambia_national_football_team#Gabon_air_disaster
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