The jet crash that killed an entire Russian professional hockey team was caused by pilot error, investigators said today.

President Dmitry Medvedev has called for rapid changes in Russia’s troubled air transport industry as the country mourned a crash that killed 43 people, among them most of a leading hockey team.

Investigators were today searching for flight recorders in the shattered remains of an airliner that crashed on the banks of the Volga River, killing 43 people including most of one of Russia's premier hockey teams.

An airliner carrying a top ice hockey team has crashed on take off in Russia, killing at least 43 people.