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MANAMA (AFP) - Investigations into the crash of a Gulf Air flight off Bahrain killing all 143 people on board are leading firmly to human error, a Bahraini aviation official said Tuesday.
"The investigators are looking at every aspect, including human factors," a Bahrain Civil Aviation Authority official, said. "Two people made calls on mobile telephones shortly before landing, including one woman on the first approach," he said, adding that as yet, however, investigators had not found any indication that this had interfered with any of the instruments. "All evidence points in one certain direction at the moment. It doesn't seem to look like anything else but human error," he said. "The pilot came in too high and too fast. He got it wrong. It should have been an easy landing. Certainly, human error or not, everything was normal with the flight. "There was no wind shear and visibility was clear. There has so far been no evidence in the flight data recorders of any malfunction in the aircraft. It was a lovely flying evening," he said. The official added, however, that he did not expect a definitive statement on the cause of the accident to be released before the end of the year. The aviation authority of this Gulf archipelago said in a statement Monday that the Gulf Air Airbus's speed at the moment of its final approach to the airport was excessive. Air traffic controllers had told the pilot to go back up 600 feet (180 meters) to an altitude of 2,500 feet (800 meters) for a second attempt at landing. Preliminary published results from the investigation indicate that the speed of the Airbus A320's final approach was around 200 knots (about 370 kph), higher than the plane's top speed for a final approach. The Airbus went into a very tight turn at maximum thrust before plunging into the shallow Gulf waters at a recorded speed of 280 knots (518 kph). The Airbus' two black boxes, which record cockpit conversations and technical data, are in Washington for analysis by the U.S. National Transport and Safety Board. |
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