Chief test pilot among crew lost on crashed Il-112V

Russian investigators have confirmed that three test crew members were lost in the crash of a prototype Ilyushin Il-112V military transport as it was conducting a flight between two airfields in Moscow. The twin-turboprop was operating a test flight from Kubinka to Zhukovsky, according to the federal Investigative Committee, which has opened a routine criminal probe into the 17 August accident. It came down in a forest belt near Zhukovsky, apparently after an in-flight fire affecting its starboard engine. At least two test pilots and a test-flight engineer were on board. Eyewitnesses and witnesses of the incident are being sought, while closed-circuit TV camera footage is being gathered, says the committee. “Detailed examination of the crash site is being carried out, as well as other investigative actions aimed at clarifying the causes and circumstances of the accident,” it adds. United Aircraft’s Voronezh-based airframer VASO, which produced the Il-112V, says the chief pilot of the Ilyushin division, Nikolai Kuimov, was among those lost.<br/>