Passanger plane crashes in Russia killing all 62 passengers...

[BillyB]

The only way the investigators could tell if it was kicked off by turbulence or deselected intentionally would be if one of them verbalized it.

The article didn't mention both pilots every word spoken but said they turned off the autopilot and it may very well be that they verbalized their actions at that time. This was also reported by the Seattle Times which won't allow people here to read their site without a paid subscription so I had to dig deep in Google for the NYtimes article. Boeing is located in Seattle and I don't think the newspaper here would publish something that isn't right since they have access to a lot of experts. This report is just the tip of the iceberg. More detailed info on the conversation between the pilots and their actions will surface. If it's true, one of the pilots said "Don't do that!" to the other, then pilot error is definitely involved in the crash.

[BC]

Knowing the way the Russians handle accident investigation, I'd be suspect of any of their reports and that has nothing to do with my unfavorable view of their political moves in the last couple of years.

On the day of the crash, a commission was established by the Interstate Aviation Committee to investigate the circumstances and reasons of the crash.[8] While being led by Russian air accident investigators, the commission included representatives of the aviation authorities of the United Arab Emirates (the state of the aircraft's registration and the aircraft operator), of the United States (where the aircraft was designed and produced), and of France (where the aircraft's engines were designed).[8] The U.S. team in the commission consists of air accident investigators from the NTSB, experts from Boeing, and representatives from the FAA.[34]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flydubai_Flight_981

Don't see any reason to be suspect.

[GuppyCaptain]

Oh I don't know BC. How about the way they've handle the MH17 crash recently and the way they tried to hide the Kursk sub disaster from the rest of the world. Sorry. If Russian accident investigation was a woman, I wouldn't date her due to lack of trust.

Fortunately, other nation's teams are part of the investigation as well. The part of the Wiki link that you're probably referring to states that the information came from a Russian TV leak and that it was "unverified" . 

[Anotherkiwi]

What would their alternate airports have been?  Before the Russian invasion of Donbas, the obvious one would have been Donetsk.  Now it seems the choices would be Krasnodar, Anapa, Gelendzhik, Stavropol and even Volgograd at a pinch.  Does anyone know what the weather was like at those airports at the time of the crash?

[BC]

What would their alternate airports have been? 

Krasnodar.

http://russia.liveuamap.com/en/2016/19-march-en-route-from-moscow-to-rostov-flight-su1166-aeroflot/comments

[msmobyone]

What would their alternate airports have been?  Before the Russian invasion of Donbas, the obvious one would have been Donetsk.  Now it seems the choices would be Krasnodar, Anapa, Gelendzhik, Stavropol and even Volgograd at a pinch.  Does anyone know what the weather was like at those airports at the time of the crash?

Firstly, I think that any alternate would have been an RF airport..not sure Gelendzhik could handle the Boeing - but I've landed at Anapa in a  medium sized passenger airliner.

Sochi is a another 250km the south of Krasnodar - but tends to be more sheltered in rough weather as the airport is in a wide valley. KRR is on a high plateau... Sochi is at sea level