Investigators inspect the tail section of the crashed Yak-42 aircraft as a IL-76 plane lands at Tunishna airport outside Yaroslavl September 9, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

MOSCOW - An expert responsible for investigation of the cause for last Wednesday's air crash leading to killings of 44 people aboard confirmed on Monday that all the systems of the ill-fated Yak-42 plane had been working well before it crashed.

"No technical failures have been detected in accordance with findings from the plane's black boxes," Head of the Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) Tatyana Anodina told a meeting on aviation safety.

She said MAK had been planning to redo the plane's take-off in an environment similar to that of the airport in Yaroslavl, a city in central Russia.

Also on Monday, Minister of Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy Vitaly Mutko told local reporters that his ministry would not ban sports organizations to use Yak-42 airplanes for air travel.

He said that the cause of the air crash in Yaroslavl was not the plane itself but its maintenance.

"Those who control the maintenance and transportation (are responsible for the crash)," Mutko said.

A Yak-42 passenger plane carrying 45 people crashed shortly after taking off in Yaroslavl last Wednesday, killing 44 people aboard, many of whom, were Lokomotiv hockey players, coaches and team administrators, shocking the international hockey community. The team was heading to Minsk, Belarus, to play in the opening game of the KLH season. KLH is an international professional ice hockey league.

The last person who was injured in the air crash remains hospitalized.