Aviation

Citation

(2001), "Aviation", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 10 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2001.07310aac.006

Aviation

Aviation

29 February 2000 – Paris, France

A French investigation board said today a British Air Force air traffic controller apparently forgot about an aid plane that crashed into a mountain in Yugoslavia, killing all 24 people aboard. It said the controller was concentrating on landing another aircraft at Pristina airport in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo last November 12. The report by the French Air Accident Investigation Bureau did not name the controller, a non-commissioned officer. It was investigating the crash of ATR-42 (F-OHFV) into a remote mountain ridge in northern Kosovo on route from Rome to Pristina. A summary of the report said: "It appears that the controller, who was little used to the mountainous environment of the airport and the prevention of collisions with natural obstacles, forgot flight KSV 3275 on its trajectory." The report said the controller had asked the ATR crew to momentarily continue flying northwards to allow another aircraft to land first. He was occupied with the second plane when the ATR ploughed into the mountain which was shrouded in clouds. An official at the Air Investigation Bureau said the probe panel was unable to interview the controller, having been told by authorities he was ill at the time he was due to testify. The report also criticised the ATR crew. "The lack of attention and of vigilance of the crew, did not allow it to take stock of the situation" said the report. It added that the crew was also tired and ill-informed of conditions at Pristina airport. The investigators said at the time that procedures and terminology used by military air traffic controllers from the UN peace-keeping force KFOR operating the airport could be misunderstood by pilots more familiar with civilian procedures and terms. An accident board spokesman said the conclusions of the probe were independent of any judicial action that might be taken. He believed legal action had already been initiated in Italy. Britain's Ministry of Defence in London declined to comment on the French accident report. A spokesman said the British board of inquiry was still in the process of finalising its report on the crash.

16 March 2000 – Ventura County, USA

Having pulled about three-quarters of the wreckage of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 from the Pacific, investigators are close to wrapping up recovery operations. "We've been shooting for recovering 65 percent of the wreckage, and we've exceeded that significantly," said Richard Rodriguez, lead investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. "It has been catalogued and identified." He said investigators plan to complete recovery operations off the Ventura County coast this week. About 20 NTSB investigators are inspecting salvaged wreckage being stored at the Navy Construction Battalion Centre. A final report on the crash is not expected for up to nine months, Rodriguez said. The Ventura County coroner has identified the remains of 58 victims. Officials say DNA analysis may be required to identify the rest of the victims.

30 March 2000 – USA

M supply vessel Carolyn Chouest headed out to sea yesterday on a mission to recover the second engine from EgyptAir Flight 990 (Boeing 767-366ER SU-GAP), which crashed into the ocean last October. The recovery work, expected to take ten days, was to have started on March 18 but was delayed by mechanical problems. About 70 percent of the aircraft, including the other engine, has already been raised from the ocean floor about 60 miles south of the Massachusetts island of Nantucket. The National Transportation Safety Board has said it has not determined the cause of the October 31 crash which killed all 217 people on board. In addition to the remaining engine, investigators will search for more flight control components, NTSB spokesman Kethe Holloway said. The vessel sailed from the Navy base at Groton, Connecticut. Debris will be taken to a former Navy base in North Kingstown, where the other wreckage has been examined and stored.

4 April 2000 – A robot from m supply vessel Carolyn Chouest raised the second engine of EgyptAir Flight 990 (Boeing 767-366ER SU-GAP), and the wreckage was returned to shore yesterday. The debris was found in an area 60 miles south of the Massachusetts island of Nantucket where the aircraft crashed on October 31. The robot also raised parts of the first engine which had been left behind in previous salvage missions. FBI and National Transportation Safety Board investigators will study the aircraft parts, which then will be stored at the former Navy base at Quonset Point along with the rest of the recovered debris, NTSB spokesman Kethe Holloway said. An estimated 70 percent of the aircraft had been recovered in previous missions. Holloway did not know how much was raised in this latest trip or how much remained on the ocean floor. Investigators have not decided whether more salvage work is needed, he said. All 217 people on board were killed when the aircraft plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean. The NTSB said it has not determined a cause.

30 March 2000 – Colombo, Sri Lanka

A Russian-built Antonov An-32 (Cline) aircraft carrying about 36 people crashed in north-central Sri Lanka today, air force officials said. They said there were no immediate details of casualties, but troops were being sent to the crash site nine kilometres north of the ancient city of Anuradhapura. Unconfirmed reports said the pilot of the Antonov aircraft had reported engine trouble minutes before the crash. It was not immediately known whether the plane was carrying troops, who are fighting Tamil Tiger rebels near the key northern Elephant Pass military base.

Later reported that the Air Force Antonov An32 (Cline), leased from a Ukrainian company, crashed during an attempted landing today, killing the four Russian crew members and all 36 military personnel on board, air force officials said. The aircraft, bringing troops home on leave from battling guerrillas, was flying from Palaly air base, 190 miles north of Colombo, when it developed engine trouble, the air force said. Air force officials said all on board the aircraft were killed. Instead of flying on to Colombo, the pilot tried to land at Thalawa, 90 miles north of the capital, but just before he crashed, he reported one of his two engines was on fire, said Wing Commander A. Wijesundera, an air force spokesman. The air force leases several aircraft from a Ukrainian company which provides Russian crews, said an air force spokesman.

19 April 2000 – The Philippinnes

A Philippine airliner packed with Easter holidaymakers crashed and burst into flames on a resort island near the southern city of Davao today, killing all 131 passengers and crew, officials said. It is the country's worst air disaster. Air Philippines flight GAP 541 was preparing to land at Davao airport at the end of an early morning flight from Manila when it slammed into a coconut plantation in the hills of nearby Samal island, the officials said. The cause of the crash was not known. The Boeing 737-200 was packed to capacity with people leaving the capital for the long Easter break, which begins tomorrow. Airline officials said there were 124 passengers, including four infants, and seven crew on board. The Australian Embassy in Manila said the victims included a 35-year-old Australian man, his two year-old daughter and Filipina wife. It was not immediately known if there were any other foreigners aboard the aircraft. "It is confirmed that there are no survivors, unfortunately," Air Philippines spokeswoman Leah Sison said. Transport Secretary Vicente Rivera also told reporters in Davao that all aboard were killed. "All are dead. Some bodies are in pieces." Defence Secretary Orlando Mercado said the aircraft circled over Davao airport preparing to land and then crashed into hills on Samal. "There was a low cloud ceiling over the runway, but we have no information what caused the crash," Mercado said. "The retrieval of the bodies is still going on." Five hours after the crash, at least 45 bodies, or parts of them, have been recovered, local television reports said. "The wreckage is still on fire," the Air Transport Office (ATO) said in a statement more than four hours after the crash. The airplane disintegrated on impact, leaving only its tail section protruding from the ground. Parts of the wreckage were burning and body parts were strewn around the site, local reporters said from the crash scene. "We cannot identify the bodies because they are broken into pieces … Not one whole body has been found," a reporter for DZMM radio said. ATO official Jacinto Ortega said the weather and visibility were fair and there was no immediate explanation of what caused the crash. Other officials said the aircraft was to have landed at Davao at 06.52 hrs (22.52, UTC, April 18) but had to circle over the airport and wait for the runway to be cleared because another aircraft had landed earlier. The pilot made last contact with the Davao control tower at about 07.00 hrs (23.00, UTC) when he said he was seven miles away and was on the final approach. "One minute after that when the controller called, there was no answer," said an official at Manila's Rescue Co-ordinating Centre, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The air force and rescue officials were alerted and the wreckage of the aircraft, which carried the registration number RP-C3010 and was powered by Pratt & Whitney engines, was sighted about 07.25 hrs, the official said.

20 April 2000 – Rescue workers today recovered the "black box" of crashed Philippine airliner (RP-C3010) and the bodies of most of the 131 people who died in the country's worst air disaster. But the bodies, retrieved in a coconut plantation on southern Samal island where the aircraft went down yesterday were so badly dismembered and charred only 31 of them have been identified, aircraft owners Air Philippines said. Air Transport Office officials in Davao said the flight data recorder of the Air Philippines Boeing 737-200 was found in the wreckage. The cockpit voice recorder was found yesterday evening and is being sent to the US National Transportation Safety Board in Washington for analysis. The data recorder may also be sent to Washington. Flight GAP 541, flying from Manila to Davao, circled Davao airport awaiting clearance to land and crashed on the final approach. Air Philippines president Jose Antonio Garcia told reporters the airline expected the recovery operation to finish by Saturday (April 22). "Recovery operations at the crash site reached 95 percent as of 11.30 today, 03.30, UTC," Air Philippines said in a statement. Rescue work had been hampered by heavy rain over Samal but the weather had cleared, officials said. The airline said four foreign and ten local forensic experts were expected to arrive in Davao later on Thursday to help identify the badly burnt and mutilated bodies. Garcia said that the aircraft had been checked before it set off on yesterday's flight and that it was in good condition.

21 April 2000 – Searchers in the Philippines have finished recovering the bodies of the passengers and crew of an Air Philippines flight which crashed on Wednesday (April 19) on the southern resort island of Samal. Forensic experts from Britain are helping with identification of their bodies. Yesterday searchers found the aircraft's black boxes, and they have been sent for analysis. Transport officials say it could take up to two weeks to decode them.

25 April 2000 – An Air Philippines jet that crashed into the top of a hill last week was flying about 1,000 feet lower than the required height, an air transport official said today. Despite the report of Air Transport Office executive director Rolando Luna, officials with the government and the airline say they still do not know what caused the Boeing 737-200 jet to crash Wednesday (April 19), and they do not know why the aircraft was flying so low. The aircraft should have been flying at an altitude of 1,500 feet by the time it was five miles outside the airport, preparing to land, Luna said. Air transport investigators were still considering all possible causes, including sabotage, he said. According to a transcript obtained by The Associated Press, the pilot reported low visibility minutes before the aircraft rammed into the hill on Samal, about 610 miles south-east of Manila. But he reported nothing unusual in his final transmission to air controllers, according to the transcript. Air Philippines says the aircraft passed a normal maintenance check before take-off in Manila. The aircraft's two "black boxes" – the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder – have been sent to the US National Transportation Safety Board for analysis.