A preliminary report by Russian investigators on the Sunday plane crash that left 50 passengers dead has revealed the flight crew performed faulty maneuvers.

The report issued by the Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee said that the plane’s engines and other systems were working correctly until the plane hit the ground. It said the two pilots of the Boeing 737 Tatarstan Airlines plane had failed to make a proper landing approach on the first attempt. And then they began a second run by putting the plane’s engines on maximum power.

The move raised the plane’s nose up at a sharp angle, causing a quick loss of speed. At the height of about 700 meters, pilots tried to gain speed by taking the plane into a dive. But they hit the ground at a near-vertical angle, causing the fatal crash.

The report drew its conclusions from data retrieved from one of the plane’s onboard recorders. It said the climb and the subsequent plunge lasted only about one minute. The plane struck the ground at about 450 kilometers per hour.

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