Report blames Air Blue pilot for plane-crash

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) made public findings of the investigation regarding Air Blue plane that crashed into Margala Hills, putting all the blame on the Captain of the fateful flight who reportedly ignored Air Traffic Controller’s suggestions.

The authority released the inquiry report of the Air Blue flight ABQ-202 that crashed into Margala Hills on July 28, 2010, killing all 152 onboard passengers.

At 8:26 AM the Captain asked the First Officer (FO) to activate secondary flight plan, which was activated in the FMS, according to the findings of the authority.

At 8:27 AM the captain of the fateful plane completely ignoring the instructions coming from an officer at control tower told the First Officer in the cockpit ‘let him say whatever he wants to say’.

The probe report said, “After break-off from ILS approach, the Captain ignored the tower controller’s suggestion (at 0437:54) to fly a bad weather circuit by saying ‘let him say whatever he wants to say’. The CVR recording and flight simulation show that the Captain probably decided to fly a managed approach on pre-selected PBDS unbeknown to the ATS”.

The First Officer at 8:28 AM asked the Captain ‘sir, but are you visual’ and captain replied in the affirmative.

At 8:30 AM when the aircraft was 3.5 NM (nautical miles) from the runway, it took a left turn ‘through autopilot’. The FO at 8:33 AM told the captain ‘sir higher ground has reached, sir there is a terrain ahead, sir turn left’.

The captain at 8:34 AM had become ‘very jittery in his verbal communication and displayed frustration, confusion and anxiety resulting in further deterioration in his behavior’.

At 8:36 AM the FO told the captain ‘sir terrain ahead is coming’. The captain replied ‘Han ji (yes), we are turning left’. But the aircraft did not turn left.

The report said at 8:37 AM, “The pilots were unsure of their geographical position and did not seek Radar help. The consequent loss of situation awareness caused the aircraft to go astray.”

The report released soon after the Bhoja Airline plane crashed near the Islamabad airport, killing all 127 on-board people.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Apr 25 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.