The federal Investigative Committee said the An-22 plane was on a flight Tuesday from the southwestern region of Voronezh region when it crashed in the Tula region, about 120 miles (190 kilometers) south of Moscow.[break]
It said that along with the crew piloting the Antonov, the giant four-engined turboprop aircraft was also was carrying another crew to the Migalovo military air base in the Tver region. The cause of the crash was not immediately determined.
The An-22, which was designed in the 1960s, has a payload of 60 metric tons and is capable of airlifting about 300 troops. Only a handful are still in service with the Russian air force. The plane that went down Tuesday was built in 1974.
The air force said Wednesday it has grounded the remanining An-22s and also its fleet of Tu-95 strategic bombers, which have the same type of engine, pending a probe into the crash.
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