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Dutch Official Claims Faulty Altimeter Likely Cause of Amsterdam Plane Accident |
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Thursday, 5 March 2009The head of the Dutch Safety Authority, Pieter van Vollenhoven, announced yesterday that the crash of a Turkish Airlines (THY) airplane near Amsterdam last week was most likely caused by a faulty altimeter.
The Dutch authority accused almost anybody but did not mention the control tower and the airport responsibilities. It is in Turkish media argued that 'Dutch authorities gloss over their defects in plane accident'.
Turkey's Civil Aviation Authority has demanded a copy of the initial report from the Netherlands, the transportation minister said. "The incident has many aspects. It would be very wrong for us to make assumptions and blame anybody. We can't do that. The incident will be enlightened from all angles," Binali Yildirim was quoted as telling reporters by the Dogan News Agency.
Turkish aviation experts have said a recent explanation by Dutch authorities, who announced that the crash of a Turkish Airlines (THY) passenger jet near Amsterdam last week was most likely caused by a faulty altimeter, is based on a preliminary investigation and is far from satisfactory to dissipate the shroud of mist hanging over the tragic accident.
The head of the Dutch Safety Authority, Pieter van Vollenhoven, announced on Wednesday that the plane was on automatic pilot and that its systems believed the plane was already touching down. The automatic throttle controlling the two engines was closed and they powered down, leading to the plane losing speed and stalling.
Five Turks and four Americans were killed when the Boeing 737-800 plunged into a muddy field short of the runway at Schiphol Airport last Wednesday. Among the dead were three pilots and a flight attendant.
Releasing the initial results of an investigation launched into the incident at a news conference in The Hague, Vollenhoven said the plane had been at an attitude of 595 meters when making its landing approach to Schiphol airport, although the altimeter recorded an altitude of around ground level.
The plane was on autopilot and its systems believed the plane was already touching down, he said. The automatic throttle controlling the two engines was closed and they powered down. This led to the plane losing speed, and stalling.
He said the pilots realized the failure in the altitude indicator but did not give much heed to it adding that information about the plane's former eight flights could not be reached after the examination of the black box.
The plane started to land with a speed of 170km/h but its speed was supposed to be 260km/h and it went down in muddy land. Vollenhoven said Boeing had been instructed to warn its clients about possible problems with altimeters on similar aircraft. The Boeing 737-800, was severely damaged as it quickly descended. The impact split the fuselage near the front of the wing, while the tail and a rear section of the body were sheared off. Vollenhoven said Dutch Safety Authority has been conducting two separate investigations into the accident in line with its principals.
"Experts will continue to investigate the crash. All factors that may have led to the accident, including air traffic control, pilot error, failure of technical equipment and weather conditions at the time of the crash, will continue to be investigated. A report that will give us the exact cause of the accident will be prepared afterwards," stated Turkish Airline Pilots Association (TALPA) Vice Chairman Savas yesterday.
The pilots realized the failure in the altitude indicator but did not give much heed to it, Vollenhoven said, adding that the Dutch Safety Authority has been conducting two separate investigations into the accident. The Boeing 737-800's flight recorders showed false readings from the same altimeter on two flights before the crash.
The explanation, however, was not found satisfactory by Turkish aviation experts, who said it was still too early to point to any factor as the exact cause of the crash, based on the initial findings of the investigation into the accident.
TALPA's Ten went on to say that it would be unjust to blame the pilots for not recognizing the failure in the altitude indicator.
"The altimeter is not in an immediately accessible place in the pilot's cockpit. Comments such as the pilots did not see the failure in the altimeter or that they only realized the problem several minutes later are wrong. The altimeter just shows numbers; it doesn't give a color or sound signal. We shouldn't be unfair to the pilots," Ten stated.
Ten added it is too early to point to a factor as the exact cause of the crash. "I don't rule out the possibility of pilot error as the cause of the accident. But, it is too early to blame the pilots for the crash. The conversations between the pilots before the accident have not yet been deciphered. Thus, it wouldn't be right to say that the pilots were late to show a reaction to the altimeter failure," he noted.
The explanation of Dutch authorities as to the most likely cause of the crash was far from revealing the exact cause of the crash, read a statement from Turkey's Civilian Aviation Authority.
"The explanation by the Dutch authorities seems to be an interpretation of a number of factors that may have played a role in the crash, including air traffic services, the airport, weather conditions, the pilots and technical equipment of the airplane," read the statement of Turkey's Civilian Aviation Authority.
THY executive board director Candan Karlitekin said the THY administration would not make a statement as to the cause of the crash before the investigation reaches a conclusion.
"Experts are investigating the issue. We will do what is necessary after the investigation is completed," he noted.
In the meantime, Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim said his ministry would issue a comprehensive statement on the crash in the coming days. The minister said it would not be right to comment on the explanations made by aviation experts, adding that people should not seek to put the blame on others as the crash seems to have numerous causes. Yildirim added that the group of experts investigating the crash sent a written notice to Boeing officials to warn them to take additional measures in their jets against any failure in altitude indicators.
"Boeing is a company that is sensitive to the security of people. We are contributing to efforts to investigate the exact cause of the crash. Boeing warns its 737 pilots to carefully monitor primary flight instruments during critical phases of flight," read the statement.
The statement also said wrong data in the altitude indicator was sent to the automatic pilot, which led the airplane to stop its engines long before it was supposed to. "The plane glided for around 100 seconds with its engines off and the altitude of the plane was lower than it should have been," continued the statement.
Dutch newspapers place the blame of the crash on the pilots, saying the technical problem in the plane led to a tragedy because it was accompanied by pilot error.
"Human error," read the upper headline of the De Telegraaf daily, which said the pilots were late to realize the failure in the altitude indicator. A news report appearing on De Volkskrant daily repeated the information that the flight recorders of the plane showed false readings from the same altimeter on two flights before the crash.
Het Parool daily said "Pilots responded to failure late," and Algemeen Dagblad daily said "Pilots were late to realize the failure."
* THE REASON IS THE CONTROL TOWER MISTAKES?
The Dutch authorities yesterday did not mention the control tower yet the Turkish media writes that the Schiphol control tower should issue full information about planes landing on the runway, the landing intervals, and what communication took place. Turkish pilots also urged the Netherlands authorities to release all found information about the crash by saying "we want Dutch Aviation Authorities to be neutral and release all information, including any which might relate to them."
Some of the Turkish newspapers and TV chanels further claimed that the Dutch authorities try to gloss over their defects in Turkish Airlines accident in an Amsterdam airport.
Ugur Cebeci, Turkish expert and journalist on airway business, told Turkish media "it was not a fall, but forced landing. The Dutch try to hide the evidence against themselves". Cebeci further says that the Dutch authorities did not declare the tower conversations, they erased all details of plane departures and arrivals from the system, and they have made all efforts to conceal the mistakes made by their airport; the airport is in an attempt to gloss over its defects".
A Turkish pilots' group last week claimed turbulence from a large plane landing at Amsterdam airport may have caused the crash of a Turkish Airlines flight in which nine people died. Turkey Airline Pilots' Association Secretary-General Savas Sen said late Friday that a large Boeing 757 had landed at Schiphol Airport two minutes earlier. Sen said that plane most likely created "wake turbulence" that hampered the Turkish aircraft's landing. Wake turbulence forms behind an aircraft as it passes through the air. Turkish pilots say the Airport Tower should have informed the pilot if there was a large plane before the THY plane on the way.
TALPA (Turkish Airlines Pilots Association) made a press release last week and said that there is some information that a Boeing 757 type plane that landed Schripol Airport just two minutes before THY aircraft started landing. Due to wake turbulence caused by previous landing of a bigger plane the landing was problematic.
Chairman of the TALPA, Ali Ziya Yilmaz said that "If this is the case, then air traffic controllers and Dutch aviation officials are the ones that should be accused. There are international limitations on such cases."
A Boeing 757 heavy aircraft appeared to have landed on the same runway just two minutes before the Turkish Airlines (THY) plane, the Turkish pilots' association (TALPA) told a news conference.
"Wake turbulence", an air turbulence created by a pair of vortices trailing in the wake of an aircraft's wing tips, could have hit the descending Turkish plane, preventing it from continuing to fly, the group said.
TALPA Vice Chairman Mete Dane demonstrated flight TK 1951's approach to Schiphol and said the reason why it had suddenly lost altitude pointed to wake turbulence.
WAKE TURBULENCE?
For some experts wake turbulence possibility as cause of Amsterdam plane crash is gaining credence. A boeing 757 jet belonging to Northwest airlines landed shortly before Turkish Airlines (THY) Jet. Northwest Airlines confirmed that their aircraft landed at 10:24 a.m . According to control tower records, THY jet was four miles behind. The control tower made a mistake and did not allow five miles between the two aircrafts. It gave permission for THY jet to land. THY jet crashed at 10:26 am.
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Thursday, 5 March 2009
By Hilal Baran, JTW
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