Reports: Brake failure may have led to fiery plane crash

Pilots say landing on the Irkutsk runway was difficult.
MOSCOW (AP) -- The brakes on a Russian plane may have failed as it landed and careered into garages in a fiery crash that killed at least 122 people in the country's second major commercial airline disaster in two months, Russian news agencies reported Sunday.
Early information gathered by investigators indicated that the braking system on the Airbus A-310 operated by Russian airline S7 had malfunctioned, the news agencies reported, citing unnamed sources.
The plane was carrying at least 201 people on the 2,600-mile flight east from Moscow to the Siberian city of Irkutsk. Fifty-eight people were injured.
An air stewardess, Viktoria Zilberstein, opened the emergency hatch in the rear of the burning plane, according to the Emergency Ministry. Ten passengers escaped this way, and others -- including a pilot -- were saved by rescuers including firefighters, ITAR-Tass reported.
Relatives streamed to a crisis center near Moscow's Domodedovo airport, where the flight originated. Some stumbled out in silent shock. One woman ecstatically exclaimed into her cell phone that a family friend had survived.
After veering off the runway about 7:50 a.m., the plane tore through a 6-foot-high concrete barrier, crashed into a compound of one-story garages and stopped a short distance from some small houses.
A risky approach
Pilots regard the Irkutsk airport as difficult because its runway slopes and its concrete is especially slippery when wet, Vladimir Biryukov, an expert at the Gromov Aviation Institute, said on NTV.
Transport Minister Igor Levitin said the pilot had radioed ground control to say the aircraft had landed safely and then communication cut off.
"There was rain, the landing strip was wet. So we'll have to check the clutch and the technical condition of the aircraft," he told Russian state television. He said the aircraft's two recorders had been recovered and were being analyzed.
He provided no further details.
Airline spokesman Konstantin Koshman said there were 193 passengers -- including 14 children ages 12 and under -- and a crew of eight aboard. He said the plane, constructed in 1987, had been regularly maintained and met all certifications.
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