Pilots partly at fault, says report
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Anatolia News Agency
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 30, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - The pilots of the ill-fated Turkish Airlines, or THY, flight 1951 from Istanbul to Amsterdam were partly responsible for the crash, an interim report released by Dutch authorities has said.
THY flight 1951 crashed near Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on March 25, killing nine people, including the pilots, with a further 100 people sustaining injuries. The initial report suggested the aircraft’s altimeter was faulty. The Dutch Safety Research Board, which is carrying out the investigations into the cause of the crash, said in its interim report released yesterday that the pilots realized the altimeter was malfunctioning but failed to take proper and sufficient action.
The report said the pilots noticed a sudden loss of altitude and speed while flying over Flevoland. At that point the plane was at an altitude of 275 meters and its groundspeed was 266 kilometers per hour, with the wing flaps set to landing position. The aircraft’s instruments emitted warning signals several times. The pilots increased the aircraft’s speed as soon as the warnings sounded. According to the report, the pilots released the throttle after the first burst of acceleration and the plane switched to autopilot, thus reverting to the faulty readings from the altimeter and decreasing speed and altitude based on that. The report said the pilots should have maintained the throttle thrust.
The report said the pilots noticed a sudden loss of altitude and speed while flying over Flevoland. At that point the plane was at an altitude of 275 meters and its groundspeed was 266 kilometers per hour, with the wing flaps set to landing position. The aircraft’s instruments emitted warning signals several times. The pilots increased the aircraft’s speed as soon as the warnings sounded. According to the report, the pilots released the throttle after the first burst of acceleration and the plane switched to autopilot, thus reverting to the faulty readings from the altimeter and decreasing speed and altitude based on that. The report said the pilots should have maintained the throttle thrust.