Aviation

Citation

(2001), "Aviation", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 10 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2001.07310cac.007

Aviation

Aviation

19 May 2000 – Taipei, Taiwan

A series of pilot errors caused the 1998 China Airlines aircraft crash which killed 203 people in Taiwan's worst air disaster, officials said yesterday. After trying to land in rain and fog, the Airbus A300-600R climbed at an unusually sharp angle before losing speed and plunging to the ground, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said in its final investigation report. "Such operational errors could happen only very rarely," said Chang Kuo-cheng, deputy director of the administration. The aircraft went down at Taipei Airport on a return flight from the resort island of Bali, Indonesia, in February, 1998, killing 182 passengers, 14 crew and seven others on the ground. While making what seemed to be a routine landing, the veteran pilots approached the runway at well above the recommended altitude in their first attempt to land, the report said. During the second approach, the pilots mistakenly retracted the landing gear before closing the aircraft's wing flaps, causing the aircraft to climb at too sharp an angle, it added. Without realising the problem as they flew in the cloudy evening dusk, one of the pilots used full power to pull the aircraft up until the nose rose up so high that the aircraft lost power and crashed, it added. The aircraft touched ground off the runway and hit a utility pole and a traffic median in the road. It skidded into several houses in an area of fish farms and factories before exploding, scattering human remains and wreckage over houses and destroying several homes. The government advised China Airlines to retrain its crew to prevent any irregular flight conditions and to learn how to react properly when such conditions occur. China Airlines said the crash was complicated and should not be blamed on one single factor. The airline established a task force to improve flight safety following the crash. With help from Lufthansa technicians, the airline also re-evaluated and retrained all of its 670 pilots.

21 May 2000 – Pennsylvania, USA

A twin-engine commuter aircraft crashed today while trying to land in poor weather at an airport in eastern Pennsylvania, killing all 19 passengers and crew, authorities said. The Federal Aviation Administration said the turboprop BA-31 Jetstream, on a flight from Atlantic City, NJ, crashed in a wooded area after it failed to land on its first approach to the runway at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre International Airport. The crash occurred about nine miles from Wilkes-Barre at about 11.40 hrs, officials said. Light rain and fog had been reported in the area at about the time of the crash. Ron Rome, intra-governmental co-ordinator with Luzerne County 911, said authorities were notified that an aircraft was experiencing mechanical difficulties and would not be able to land. Rome said he received word later that the aircraft wreckage had been found and "there were no survivors". He confirmed that 19 people were on board. Earlier information said 21 people had been killed. The crash was in Bear Creek Township, about a half mile from 1-476, the north-east extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The aircraft was built in 1988 and was registered to Millennium Jet-stream Holdings Inc. of Farmingdale, New York, as of February 10, according to aviation records.

22 May 2000 – Federal aviation investigators probing the cause of a weekend (May 20-21) aircraft crash that killed 19 people in a mountainous section of Pennsylvania turned their attention today to the twin-engine turbo-prop's fuel system, officials said. Just before the chartered BA-31 Jetstream plummeted into a wooded area nine miles south-east of Wilkes-Barre on the return leg of a gambling excursion to Atlantic City, the aircraft's crew radioed air traffic controllers with the chilling news that both engines had cut out. "We've lost both engines," one of the pilots said on a recording of the commuter aircraft's final radio transmission. The aircraft failed to make an instrument-controlled landing at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport and was coming around for a second try when engine problems developed, NTSB officials said. Initial reports attributed the mishap to mechanical trouble. But NTSB spokesman George Black said a simultaneous failure of both engines could indicate a problem with the fuel system, possibly contaminants such as water that might have caused both engines to stall. "The systems are separate. The whole reason for that is to avoid this," Black told reporters. By yesterday afternoon, investigators had recovered the aircraft's cockpit voice-data recorder from among the charred and mangled wreckage. A full team of investigators from the NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration arrived later in the day and began removing bodies from the aircraft, registered to Executive Airlines of Long Island, New York. Federal investigators said it would be months before there could be a definitive conclusion about the cause of the crash.

23 May 2000 – Investigators yesterday questioned whether contaminated fuel caused both engines to fail on board a charter aircraft before the aircraft crashed, killing all 19 people on board. The probe was hampered because the cockpit voice recorder was not working at the time. National Transportation Safety Board investigators searched for clues in the wreckage after Sunday's (May 21) crash of the Executive Airlines BAe Jetstream 31, which was carrying 17 passengers home from a gambling trip to Atlantic City, NJ. The two pilots, who were also killed, had reported to air traffic controllers that they lost both engines as they made their second approach to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Airport in the rain. Aviation analysts said dual-engine failures are rare and can indicate a problem with the fuel supply. NTSB member George Black said investigators were "looking at fuel and fuel systems", including whether the fuel was contaminated. However, Black said later that no evidence of contamination was found in a preliminary test of the fuel from a truck in Farmingdale, NY, which had refuelled the aircraft. The tests were continuing and would include a ground sample from the crash site. Black also said the voice recorder had an improper power supply and did not record any sounds in the cockpit. In addition, the aircraft did not have a flight data recorder, because it was not required for an aircraft of this type. The aircraft left Farmingdale on Sunday morning, picked up the passengers at about 10.30 hrs in Atlantic City and then headed to Wilkes-Barre for the one-hour, 150-mile flight. Peter Hartt, spokesman for the South Jersey Transportation Authority, which operates Atlantic City Airport, said the aircraft received no fuel or repairs there. Michael Peragine, chief executive of the Farmingdale-based Executive Airlines, said the company had never had problems with the 12-year-old aircraft. He said the pilot had 8,500 hours of flight time, "a relatively high amount of time", and the co-pilot was about to be upgraded to captain. The aircraft went down about nine miles from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Airport at 11.48 on Sunday. Black said the aircraft might have missed its first approach because of bad weather. It was raining, and visibility was poor. As investigators looked for clues, nearby communities mourned the victims, who had gone to Atlantic City on Saturday afternoon on the flight chartered by Caesars Atlantic City Hotel Casino.

24 May 2000 – Crash investigators yesterday retrieved the engines and propeller assemblies from a BAe Jetstream 31 (N16EJ) which crashed on a remote mountainside over the weekend (May 20-21) while carrying gamblers home from a trip to Atlantic City, NJ. A team of forensic investigators also arrived from across the country to help identify the remains of the 19 people killed in Sunday's crash. National Transportation Safety Board officials hired construction workers to lay thousands of pounds of gravel atop a rain-soaked dirt road which snakes near the site of the crash. The recovery vehicles made their way up the winding roads, through miles of thick forests of north-eastern Pennsylvania late yesterday. "The study of the engines is something we want to do at the manufacturers' assembly plant. They have the tools," NTSB investigator Frank Hilldrup said last night. The engines were bound for a Honeywell plant in Phoenix, Hilldrup said. The cockpit voice recorder box, which officials said did not record any sound, was to be sent to a Fairchild Inc. plant in Florida. Hilldrup did not know where the propellers would be sent. He also did not know how long it would take for the last of the wreckage to be removed from the crash site. The investigation will enter a phase which could take several months and will include a sound analysis of the air traffic control tower's tape, which could reveal background noises on the aircraft that could provide more clues. The Executive Airlines aircraft crashed in the rain nine miles south of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport Sunday morning. Pilots declared an emergency situation soon after missing their first approach of an airport runway. Just before the second approach, the pilots said they had lost both engines and the aircraft crashed a short time later. Authorities have yet to release the names of the victims. Officials said the names would be released as each is positively identified.

24 May 2000 – Swissair crash off Canada's east coast

Lloyd's of London yesterday cancelled its plans to search the site of the 1998 Swissair crash off Canada for $200 million worth of diamonds and jewels, saying it was sorry "for any distress" it caused crash victims' families by initially pursuing a search. Hours earlier, Lloyd's spokesman Adrian Beeby denied that the insurance company was being insensitive by seeking to retrieve the valuables from the wreckage of the crash, which killed 229 people. He said the site had already been dredged by Canadian authorities immediately after the aircraft went down. However, Lloyd's later said in a statement that the licence it applied for to search the site, if issued, would be used solely to deter treasure hunters. "The reputation of Lloyd's has always been founded on its integrity," the statement said. "Consequently, Lloyd's will not dive or explore the site, respecting the wishes of the families. Lloyd's would like to apologise to all of the families of the victims of the Swissair crash for any distress caused by its application for a license." Investigators still have not discovered what caused Swissair Flight 111 (McDonnell Douglas MD-11 HH-IWF) to crash into the ocean just off Nova Scotia on September 2, 1998. Through a Canadian insurance company, Lloyd's had asked the Nova Scotia government for permission to hunt for 4.25 pounds of diamonds and 11 pounds of jewellery listed on the flight manifest. The diamonds were reportedly in a stainless steel tube, which may have disintegrated on impact or been driven deep into the seabed. Lloyd's had said it planned to start hunting this summer, using a mini-submarine to seek the gems among the wreckage, which lies in about 200 feet of water.

25 May 2000 – The Federal Aviation Administration today ordered airlines to replace insulation on over 700 Boeing aircraft, including the popular wide-bodied McDonnell Douglas DC-10 model, to minimise the risk of fire. The FAA ordered operators of 719 Boeing MD-80, MD-88, MD-90, DC-IO and MD-11 aircraft to replace insulation blankets covered with metalised Mylar, finalising rules it first proposed last August to minimise the risk of fire spreading aboard these types of aircraft. The FAA directive – estimated to cost approximately $368.4 million – requires operators to determine whether their aircraft have metalised Mylar-covered insulation materials and, if so, replace them with new insulation blankets within five years. The rules grew out of an investigation into the crash of an MD-11 (HH-IWF) operated by Swissair which crashed into the sea off the east coast of Canada in September, 1998, killing all 229 people on board after the crew reported smoke in the cockpit. Canadian investigators found charred wires from the ceiling of the cockpit in the Swissair wreckage. Replacement materials must meet the FAA's new flame propagation standard, based on an American Society for Testing and Materials flammability standard. "The risk of fire on board these aircraft is very low, but this is a prudent action to take to raise the bar on safety," FAA Administrator Jane Garvey said in a statement. The FAA said it was going beyond the current acceptable level of safety and would soon propose an even higher standard for testing insulation on all new aircraft. US operators affected by the FAA directive include Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Boeing, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Federal Express, Frontier Airlines, Midwest Express, Northwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Trans World Airlines, US Airways and World Airways.

22 June 2000 – Wuhan, China

A Chinese domestic Yun-7-200 carrying 38 passengers and four crew crashed today into a suburb of the central city of Wuhan, killing all on board, officials said. "There were no survivors among those on the plane," said a local police official. There were no casualties on the ground, he added. The Chinese-built Yun-7 aircraft operated by Wuhan Airlines was on a flight to Wuhan from Enshi, Hubei province. A fire services official in the Wuhan suburb of Hanyang said the plane broke into pieces on impact. A Wuhan Airlines official said the plane came down on the banks of a river. Flight WU343 took off at 13.33 hrs (05.33, UTC) and was due to land at 14.54 hrs (06.54, UTC), a Wuhan airport official said. The Yun-7 aircraft is a short-range twin turbo-prop plane manufactured by the Xian Aircraft Industrial Company that can carry 58 persons.

23 June 2000 – The pilot of an ageing Chinese domestic airliner which crashed after being struck by lightning, killing all 44 people on board, apparently tried an emergency landing, local police and state television said today. Police said the Chinese-made Yun-7 aircraft circled for 30 minutes over Wuhan airport in central China yesterday, waiting for a fierce thunderstorm and torrential rains to pass. In the end, the propeller-driven aircraft operated by Wuhan Airlines was hit by a bolt of lightning. State television said today the death toll had risen to 44 from the original figure of 42 as there were two unregistered passengers on board the aircraft. "They tried to land on a grass strip," said a police officer in the rural Wuhan suburb where the aircraft came down. The grass strip runs alongside a river, but instead of touching down the aircraft smashed into a water pumping station and broke into pieces. State television showed the tail sticking out of the river and other wreckage, including one of two "black box" flight recorders, strewn along the banks. There were conflicting reports about casualties on the ground. State television said four people were missing and one was wounded after the aircraft hit a boat they were working on by the side of the river. But a Shanghai newspaper, the Wenhui Daily, said today eight workers were unaccounted for after being blown off a boat by a fiery explosion as the aircraft crashed. State radio said there were no foreigners on board the plane. Wuhan's weather bureau recorded 451 thunderclaps in a ten-minute period as the aircraft circled, the Shanghai Morning Post reported. The China Daily quoted a Wuhan Airlines pilot as saying the company had grounded its remaining seven Yun-7s. Another newspaper said the airline had just 13 planes in its fleet.

24 June 2000 – The crash of an ageing Chinese airliner killed seven people on the ground as well as all 44 on the domestic flight, Xinhua news agency reported today. It said seven people in a boat were swept overboard by a wave when the Chinese-built Yun-7 crashed on June 18, beside a river near the central city of Wuhan. It gave no further details. The propellor-driven aircraft was apparently struck by lightning, during a thunderstorm, and the pilot appeared to have tried an emergency landing on a grass strip alongside the river, local police and state television said. The aircraft smashed into a water pumping station and broke into pieces. Police said the aircraft had circled for 30 minutes over Wuhan airport, waiting for the storm to pass. One of the aircraft's two black box flight recorders was found among wreckage strewn along the banks. Television pictures showed the tail of the aircraft jutting out of the river. The authorities originally reported all 42 passengers and crew aboard the plane were killed. State television said on Friday the toll had risen to 44 as there were two unregistered passengers on board. The China Daily quoted Chi Wenjun, chief engineer of the China Aviation Industry Corp., whose subsidiary built the Yun-7, as saying the aircraft was "flawlessly airworthy". Chi was quoted as saying the aircraft had passed strict airworthiness examinations, but it was too early to say whether the weather, the pilots or faulty maintenance were to blame for the crash.

27 June 2000 – Long Tieng, Laos

A passenger helicopter crashed into a mountain in Laos killing at least 15 people, diplomats said today. The helicopter of the national carrier Lao Aviation was travelling on a regular route between Xaysomboune and Xieng Khouang provinces when it crashed on Sunday (June 25). No foreigners were reported to be on board. Laotian authorities believe the crash site is at the side of a remote mountain north of Long Tieng, about 94 miles north of the capital Vientiane but had yet to reach it, diplomats said. The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. It happened in an area where anti-government ethnic Hmong insurgents, who have stepped up resistance this year, are active.

28 June 2000 – A civilian helicopter has crashed in a remote mountainous area in Laos, killing as many as 18 people. Lao Aviation airline officials say the helicopter was flying a regular route between Xaysomboune and Xieng Khouang provinces on Sunday (June 25) when it ran into bad weather and hit the Phasay mountain 27km short of its destination. Two children are believed to be among the 15 passengers and three crew who are all presumed dead. Officials said the crash site had not been reached yet because of the hazardous terrain and poor weather. The crash occurred in an area where Hmong rebels operate.

9 July 2000 – Bogota, Colombia

Police have said 13 people were killed today when a cargo aircraft crashed minutes after take-off from the city of Villavicencio on Colombia's eastern plains. The McDonnell Douglas DC-4 (Skymaster), with 20 people on board, was bound for the city of Mitu near the Brazilian border when it crashed on a farm and exploded on impact, according to police Lieutenant Ramiro Cobo. Cobo said seven police officers were travelling on the aircraft and at least two of them were among the dead. He said the cause of the crash appeared to be engine failure and added there were no reports of deaths or injuries on the ground. Television showed flames engulfing the downed aircraft, operated by the freight company Coral, SA. Seven people were being treated in local hospitals for injuries and burns.

9 July 2000 – Chiapas State, Mexico

All 19 people including four children on board a Mexican domestic airliner were killed when their British Aerospace Jetstream 1-32 aircraft crashed last night in southern Chiapas State, officials said. "There were 19 people on board, and there are no survivors," Enrique Cordero of the National Civil Protection Agency said. Authorities were removing the bodies from the crash site in a heavily forested area of southern Chiapas state today, he said. Aerocaribe Flight 7831 crashed after leaving the Chiapas capital of Tuxtla Gutierrez en route to Villahermosa in neighbouring Tabasco state, civil aviation inspector Miguel Esquinta said. Aerocaribe, an affiliate of Mexican holding company Cintra, said it was the worst accident in its 25-year history. Airline officials identified all the victims as Mexicans. The twin-engine aircraft was carrying 17 passengers, the pilot and co-pilot, Cordero said. It was discovered this morning in a mountainous region 42 miles from Villahermosa, he added. The cause of the crash was being investigated.

11 July 2000 – Authorities recovered the bodies of 19 victims late yesterday from a twin-engine passenger aircraft that crashed on a steep mountain peak in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas. The bodies were found in a 150 square-yard area at the site of Saturday's (July 8) crash, just below the peak, said Communications and Transport Secretariat spokesman, Lino Palacios. The bodies were lowered by ropes because the slope was too steep for helicopters to land. AeroCaribe Flight 7831, carrying 17 passengers and two crew members, crashed less than two minutes after pilots reported they were deviating slightly from their planned route due to bad weather conditions. The aircraft's flight recorder has been found and was being analysed, but the cause of the crash was unknown. "There was no report by the pilot of any mechanical failure, and the operating conditions were totally normal," said Miguel Esquinca, chief of flight inspection at the Tuxtla Gutierrez airport. However, the pilot reported bad weather conditions ten minutes before he lost contact with the control tower. The Jetstream 1-32 was flying from Chiapas state capital Tuxtla Gutierrez to Villahermosa. Witnesses reported an engine failure and fire on take-off. The aircraft descended into a farm area, crashed and burned. There were 19 persons on board, six survived.

17 July 2000 – Patna area, India

A passenger aircraft, with 58 people on board, crashed and burst into flames near the eastern Indian city of Patna this morning, officials said. The aircraft was 95 per cent burnt on crashing, Alliance Airlines Managing Director A.K. Goyal said. It was unclear if there were any survivors. Alliance Airlines is a subsidiary of state-run Indian Airlines. The aircraft was on a flight from Calcutta to New Delhi via Patna and Lucknow. The aircraft crashed between two buildings, as it was approaching Patna airport at around 07.30, local time (02.00 UTC), officials said.

17 July 2000 – An Alliance Air aircraft, carrying 58 people, crashed just before a scheduled 170 landing today, at Patna airport in eastern India, an airport manager said. There was chaos on the airport tarmac in Patna as relatives, police and airport workers mobbed the smouldering pile of metal wreckage, trying to find survivors and pull bodies from the flames and smoke. Witnesses said the aircraft crashed on a house a half-kilometre south-west of Patna airport, killing five members of the household. Some men grabbed a water hose and tried to help airport security put out the flames. More than 20 fire engines surrounded the rubble and put out the flames about three hours after the crash. Star News independent television said the aircraft was a Boeing 737. The television quoted witnesses as saying an engine caught fire before the crash. The television quoted airport officials as saying 51 passengers and six crew were aboard the flight that left Calcutta about 06.50, local time. It crashed just before its scheduled stop in Patna at 07.15, local time.

17 July 2000 – An Alliance Air flight, which left Calcutta at 06.51 today, crashed with 52 passengers and six crew members on board at Chitkohra, about 2.5km away from Patna. An official from the control room of Alliance Air, a sister concern of Indian Airlines, said that Flight CD7412 left Calcutta as per schedule and was bound for Delhi via Patna and Lucknow. According to initial reports, the aircraft crashed between two buildings.

17 July 2000 – A Boeing 737-200 crashed into a housing estate and burst into flames in eastern India today, killing 55 people and triggering a debate over the use of ageing aircraft. Witnesses said one of the engines of the 20-year-old Alliance Air aircraft was on fire as it came in to land in the city of Patna, about 650 miles south-east of New Delhi, at about 07.30 hrs. District Magistrate, Amit Khare, said 51 of the 58 people on board domestic flight CD7412, including the crew of six, were killed, along with four residents of the government housing estate. Some of the seven survivors said they felt sudden vibrations before the aircraft plummeted to the ground. Fire and smoke billowed from the scattered wreckage for a few hours as rescuers searched for survivors and bodies among the rubble of two houses which were flattened by the aircraft as it skidded along the ground. Officials said the aircraft, which had been on a flight from Calcutta to New Delhi via Patna and Lucknow, crashed one mile short of the airport. Civil Aviation Secretary, A.H. Jung, told a news conference that two "black box" flight recorders had been recovered from the wreckage and would be decoded in a week at the earliest. He said 46 bodies had been recovered, 12 of them charred beyond recognition. The bodies of the pilot, co-pilot and two air hostesses had been identified, Jung said. He said all the survivors were at the rear of the aircraft. Jung earlier told a news conference that although it was hazy, visibility – at 2.5 miles – was adequate and the aircraft's landing system appeared to be in working order." At no point in the approach was there any disturbance or anything that was wrong," Jung said, adding that pilot M.S. Sohan Pal – who had clocked up 4,326 hours of flying experience – may have been flying too low as he approached.

18 July 2000 – Aviation experts today investigated whether a sudden burst of wind may have forced down a Boeing 737-200 which crashed into a housing complex, killing 56 people. The Alliance Air aircraft crashed into the complex while trying to land at Patna Airport yesterday, killing 51 on board the aircraft and five people on the ground. The 56th body was recovered today, said S.P. Modi, director of Patna Airport Authority. It was apparently the remains of one of those killed in the housing complex, where several people were also injured. A judge was named to head an expert team to investigate the crash. Engineers have recovered the flight data and cockpit voice recorders. Analysis of the data could help experts determine if wind shear caused the aircraft to suddenly lose altitude, The Hindustan Times newspaper reported today. The aircraft crashed into the government employees' complex, just over a mile from Patna Airport, at about 07.30 hrs. Police said today that the wreckage of the aircraft was still at the crash site. In Seattle, Boeing spokesman, Russ Young, said the company had sent an investigator to the crash site at the request of the Indian government.

13 August 2000 – Democratic Republic of Congo

An Antonov cargo aircraft crashed yesterday in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing all 21 passengers and six crew members on board, sources at the national aviation authority said today. "The plane was approaching Tshikapa and was experiencing various technical problems. The [control] tower told him to land but the pilot attempted to return to Kinshasa. Then it crashed," one source said. Another source said there was a problem with one of the aircraft's tyres shortly before it crashed. Sources said the Russian-built aircraft belonged to a local operator called Stare Air and was piloted by a Ukrainian. The crash happened early yesterday afternoon 63km from Tshikapa, a diamond mining centre south-east of Kinshasa in Kasai Occidental province, one source said.

14 August 2000 – A total of 26 people died when an Antonov An-26 cargo aircraft crashed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on August 12, a source close to the airline operating the flight said today. Twenty-one Congolese passengers died in the accident, along with five crew members. The aircraft, operated by Stare Air, crashed after experiencing technical problems on a flight from Kinshasa to Tshikapa, in Kasai Occidental province. The aircraft was approaching Tshikapa and informed the tower that it was having difficulties with its landing gear. The tower requested the pilot to do a low fly by for an evaluation, but the pilot refused and attempted to return to Kinshasa, an aviation source said. The aircraft crashed 130 miles (210km) from Tshikapa, the source said. Stare Air is a Congolese-owned airline and the Antonov An-26 was its only aircraft.

15 August 2000 – BAe/Aerospatiale Concorde

British Airways Plc said it had suspended flights of its BAe/Aerospatiale Concorde aircraft with immediate effect this morning. "This unprecedented step follows latest advice from the British regulatory authorities," it said. The airline said it took the step after being told the aircraft's certificate of airworthiness was about to be withdrawn. "British Airways' first concern is always safety. All our aircraft are subject to continuing and exhaustive safety checks," BA Chief Executive Rod Eddington said in a statement. France said last week that Air France Concordes would stay grounded because of continuing doubts about July's Concorde crash near Paris in which 113 people died.

16 August 2000 – A burst tyre caused an Air France BAe/Aerospatiale Concorde (F-BTSC) to crash killing 113 people, the Civil Aviation Authority said today. Initial findings from air crash investigators have revealed that a tyre burst was "the primary cause of the accident". British Airways and Air France have grounded their fleets of Concorde and the aircraft's airworthiness certificate has been withdrawn while the CAA investigates tyre problems. The Air France Concorde crashed onto a hotel north of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport on July 25, killing all passengers and crew and four people on the ground. Such a blow-out on its own should never cause the loss of a passenger aircraft, said CAA chairman Sir Malcolm Field, at a news conference in London today. A safety recommendation from the accident investigators read: "The certificates of airworthiness of Concorde should be suspended until appropriate measures have been taken to ensure a satisfactory level of safety in so far as tyre safety is concerned." Sir Malcolm added: "The significant new development is the evidence now emerging that the tyre burst which occurred was, of itself, the primary cause of this accident." Sir Malcolm said the acceptance of the investigators' recommendation meant the certificates of airworthiness for each of the seven British Concordes had to be suspended. He said the Anglo-French manufacturers of the plane, together with the French civil aviation authority, would be asked to put together an action plan. The plan will include "appropriate measures which will ensure a satisfactory level of safety of Concorde as far as risks associated with tyre bursts are concerned". Sir Malcolm said it was not possible to say how long this would take, adding to speculation that Concorde may never fly again. Air accident investigators were confident the first significant event in the sequence of the accident was the "bursting of the front tyre number two of the port main landing gear".

16 August 2000 – Concorde faces being grounded "for months" as British Airways and Air France investigate whether it is possible to modify the aircraft following the crash of Air France Concorde F-BTSC. BA has suspended flights until September at the earliest. This follows the initial findings from air crash investigators that a tyre burst was the "primary cause of the accident" and there was no guarantee this would not occur again. BA and Air France have grounded their Concorde fleets and the aircraft's airworthiness certificate has been withdrawn while the Civil Aviation Authority and BA focus investigations on tyre problems. British Airways has confirmed it has cancelled all Concorde flights until September while investigations continue, but the aircraft will be ready to return to normal operations at 24 hours' notice. A safety recommendation from the accident investigators read: "The certificates of air worthiness of Concorde should be suspended until appropriate measures have been taken to ensure a satisfactory level of safety in so far as tyre safety is concerned." It could be "months rather than weeks" before Concorde flies again, said Mike Bell, head of the CAA's design and production standards division. The CAA is meeting with the British manufacturers of Concorde – BAE Systems – to discuss modifications. It will have to decide whether the seven BA jets can regain their operating certificate. Sir Malcolm Field told today's conference: "The significant new development is the evidence now emerging that the tyre burst which occurred was, of itself, the primary cause of this accident. At this stage of the inquiry what is uniquely different in this case is that tyre debris alone is thought to have led to this catastrophic accident, which has persuaded us to accept the recommendation from the investigation team."

15 August 2000 – Sabre Tech Inc.

A US judge sentenced former ValuJet maintenance contractor SabreTech Inc. to pay more than $11 million for failing to package properly oxygen canisters that caused a ValuJet DC-9 to crash, killing all 110 people on board. US District Judge James Lawrence King ordered SabreTech to pay a $2 million fine and $9,060,400 in restitution and put the company on three years probation for its part in the May 11, 1996, crash. ValuJet Flight 592 caught fire and plunged into Florida's Everglades shortly after taking off for Atlanta from Miami International Airport. The fire was blamed on improperly packed oxygen canisters, which supply oxygen for passengers in emergency situations. SabreTech, ValuJet's maintenance contractor at the time, was accused of mishandling the load of oxygen generators. Testimony during the trial indicated that SabreTech workers removed out-of-date canisters from two ValuJet aircraft and replaced them with new ones but failed to place 3-cent safety caps on the old ones to keep them from going off before loading them into the cargo hold of the doomed ValuJet aircraft. A federal jury found SabreTech guilty of nine hazardous material violations last December but cleared two SabreTech employees of criminal charges in connection with the crash. SabreTech was a unit of closely held Sabreliner Corp. of St Louis but its lawyers say the company is defunct, due largely to a decline in business following the ValuJet crash. ValuJet, once a leader in cut-rate air travel, changed its name to Air Tran and moved to Orlando, Florida when it merged with AirWays Corp. after the crash. The new company is AirTran Holdings Inc.

24 August 2000 – the sea off Bahrain

Gulf Air Airbus A320 crashed into shallow Gulf waters at 19.20 hrs (16.20 UTC) yesterday after circling and trying to land in Bahrain, killing all 143 passengers and crew aboard, an official said early today. Bahraini Civil Defence Commander, Brigadier Abdul-Rahman Bin Rashed Al Khalifa, reported all the bodies had been recovered and there were no survivors. Of the 143 people on the flight, which was en route to Manama from Cairo, 36 were children, officials said. Lists of passengers' names showed that 36 were under the age of 18. Three passengers were Chinese, 63 Egyptian, 34 Bahraini, 12 Saudi, nine Palestinian, six from the United Arab Emirates, two British and one each from Canada, Oman, Kuwait, Sudan and Australia. There was no immediate word on what caused the crash. Searchers also recovered both flight data recorders, but their contents were unknown. US Navy helicopters, destroyers and an ocean-going tug with a 10-tonne crane joined the night time search and rescue effort, 4-6km off the northern coast of Bahrain. US 5th Fleet spokesman Commander Jeff Gradeck's office said the waters at the crash site were about 10m deep. An air traffic controller at the Bahrain airport, described watching the aircraft attempt to land. "The aircraft was near the runway, but didn't land," he said. "It circled two times and the third time it crashed into the sea." Ibrahim Al-Hamer, Bahrain's under-secretary for civil aviation, said the circling was not unusual and the crew reported nothing out of the ordinary. He added the captain had 21 years' experience. Three US helicopters, ten small boats and the USS Katawba, a tug, joined Bahraini helicopters and boats in the search. Bahraini Crown Prince Sheik Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa personally directed the effort, the US military said. Sheik Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the emir of Bahrain, declared three days of mourning and said a committee of Bahraini and foreign experts would investigate the crash.

24 August 2000 – The registration marks of the Airbus A320-212 that crashed into the sea off Bahrain are A40-EK. The possibility of an engine fault is one of the points of focus for investigators after witness reports of the crash of a Gulf Air Airbus A320-212 (A40-EK) in the waters off Bahrain yesterday. One witness reported a flash of light from an engine before the jet plunged into the sea, killing all 143 on board. Another witness reported hearing an explosion. Details on the ultimate cause of the crash depend on study of the wreckage and data from equipment such as the "black box" flight and voice recorders giving details of the plane's last minutes in the air.

22 August 2000 – Surat Thani, Thailand

Human error has been blamed for the crash of Thai Airways International's Airbus A310-200 that killed 101 people in Surat Thani on December 11, 1998, a source in the Transport and Communications Ministry said yesterday. The source was quoting initial findings of an inquiry team headed by ACM Therdsak Sajjarak, the air force chief-of-staff. "The pilots did not see the runway when the aircraft was approaching the airport because of bad weather. They saw the runway only when the aircraft was very close to the airport. Then they descended suddenly but the aircraft was heading for the control tower. So they abruptly turned the aircraft which consequently lost its balance and crashed," the source said. "However, the probe team has yet to consider whether the pilots' decisions resulted from their communication with the control tower, and whether the aircraft was having any problems while the pilots tried to save the flight." Another source said the initial conclusion was based on the findings of a neutral aviation organisation in France. A check of the ill-fated aircraft's cockpit voice recorder revealed its pilots were shouting "trim, trim" just before the crash. In June, the Thai probe team had asked French experts to help find out whether the pilots or the plane's engine had caused the trim system to develop a problem. French aviation technicians who arrived here last week attributed the trim problem to the pilots, saying it was unlikely the Airbus had developed any engine trouble judging from the fact the pilots had made two landing attempts before the third fatal one. "It might be human error as the pilots might not have applied the trim system properly. Normally, the trim system is set on the automatic mode for a landing. After two landing attempts had not been successful, the pilots might have turned to the manual mode but failed to apply it properly," the source quoted the French findings. The probe team will discuss the conclusion this Thursday (August 24). The meeting will be attended by representatives of the air force, the Aviation Department and the national airline. Thai was expected to defend its pilots, the source added. "It is still uncertain if they will reach the final conclusion on the cause of the crash in the next meeting. However, Thai does not seem to have any good reason left to argue against the French finding," the source said. Sawat Sitthiwong, chief of the Aviation Department, confirmed yesterday the probe team had made an initial conclusion on the cause of the crash and would reach its final conclusion this Thursday. Mr Sawat and other officials concerned met at the Transport Ministry yesterday to discuss master plans and action plans on air safety. Apichart Pensupha, an air transport expert, said the plans would be implemented in the next five years. About 2.9 billion baht would be needed to have effective safety and rescue measures in place, he added. The measures include a 200-million-baht fee to join a satellite-based system for search and rescue operations, a 500-million baht plan to improve navigation facilities, and a 100-million-baht plan to procure a hydrofoil or a hovercraft, and resources for three rescue helicopters.